BU 313 Building Utilities 2: Electrical and Mechanical Systems

1st semester AY:2015-2016 Ar. Jane Anne Carlos-Manuel

Report Outline/ Contents: Telephone System in Buildings
1. History of Telephones
2. Types of Telephones and its Parts
2.1. POTS-Plain Old Telephone Service (Analog)
2.2. VoIP- Voice over Internet Protocol
2.3. Wires and Ports
3. Telephone system and circuit in buildings
3.1. Residential Telephone Systems
3.2. Multiple-dwelling Telephone Systems
4. Intercommunication Device (Intercom)
4.1. Residential
4.2. Intra & Inter-office Voice Communication Systems (Intercom)

TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

1. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF TELEPHONES

During the 1870's, two well known inventors both independently designed devices that
could transmit sound along electrical cables. Those inventors were Alexander Graham Bell and
Elisha Gray. Both devices were registered at the patent office within hours of each other. There
followed a bitter legal battle over the invention of the telephone, which Bell subsequently won.
The telegraph and telephone are very similar in concept, and it was through Bell's
attempts to improve the telegraph that he found success with the telephone.
The telegraph had been a highly successful communication system for about 30 years
before Bell began experimenting. The main problem with the telegraph was that it used Morse
code, and was limited to sending and receiving one message at a time. Bell had a good
understanding about the nature of sound and music. This enabled him to perceive the possibility
of transmitting more than one message along the same wire at one time. Bell's idea was not
new, others before him had envisaged a multiple telegraph. Bell offered his own solution, the
"Harmonic Telegraph". This was based on the principal that musical notes could be sent
simultaneously down the same wire, if those notes differed in pitch.
By the latter part of 1874 Bell's experiment had progressed enough for him to inform
close family members about the possibility of a multiple telegraph. Bell's future father in law,
attorney Gardiner Green Hubbard saw the opportunity to break the monopoly exerted by the
Western Union Telegraph Company. He gave Bell the financial backing required for him to carry
on his work developing the multiple telegraph. However Bell failed to mention that he and his
accomplice, another brilliant young electrician Thomas Watson, were developing an idea which
occurred to him during the summer. This idea was to create a device that could transmit the
human voice electrically.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

Antonio, Giaan Carlo P. | Marculita, Gladdys Anne F.| Portugal Revie V. | BSAR3B

BU 313 Building Utilities 2: Electrical and Mechanical Systems

1st semester AY:2015-2016 Ar. Jane Anne Carlos-Manuel
Bell and Watson continued to work on the harmonic telegraph at the insistence of
Hubbard and a few other financial backers. During March 1875 Bell met with a man called
Joseph Henry without the knowledge of Hubbard. Joseph Henry was the respected director of
the Smithsonian Institution. He listened closely to Bell's ideas and offered words of
encouragement. Both Bell and Watson were spurred on by Henry's opinions and continued their
work with even greater enthusiasm and determination. By June 1875 they realised their goal of
creating a device that could transmit speech electrically would soon be realised. Their
experiments had proven different tones would vary the strength of an electric current in a wire.
Now all they had to do was build a device with a suitable membrane capable of turning
those tones into varying electronic currents and a receiver to reproduce the variations and turn
them back into audible format at the other end. In early June, Bell discovered that while working
on his harmonic telegraph, he could hear a sound over the wire. It was the sound of a twanging
clock spring. It was on March 10th 1876 that Bell was to finally realise the success and
communications potential of his new device. The possibilities of being able to talk down an
electrical wire far outweighed those of a modified telegraph system, which was essentially
based on just dots and dashes.
According to Bell's notebook entry for that date, he describes his most successful
experiment using his new piece of equipment, the telephone. Bell spoke to his assistant
Watson, who was in the next room, through the instrument and said "Mr Watson, come here, I
want to speak to you".
HISTORY / TIMELINE:
1874 - Principal of the telephone was uncovered.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, beating Elisha Gray by a matter of hours.
1877 - The very first permanent outdoor telephone wire was completed. It stretched a distance
of just three miles. This was closely followed in the U.S. by the worlds first commercial
telephone service.
1878 - The workable exchange was developed, which enabled calls to be switched between
subscribers rather than having direct lines.
1879 - Subscribers began to be designated by numbers and not their names.
1880's - Long distance service expanded throughout this period using metallic circuits.
1888 - Common battery system developed by Hammond V. Hayes, allows one central battery to
power all telephones on an exchange, rather than relying on each units own battery.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

Antonio, Giaan Carlo P. | Marculita, Gladdys Anne F.| Portugal Revie V. | BSAR3B

BU 313 Building Utilities 2: Electrical and Mechanical Systems

1st semester AY:2015-2016 Ar. Jane Anne Carlos-Manuel
1891 - First automatic dialling system invented by a Kansas City undertaker. He believed that
crooked operators were sending his potential customers elsewhere. It was his aim to get rid of
the operators altogether.
1900 - First coin operated telephone installed in Hartford, Connecticut.
1904 - "French Phone" developed by the Bell Company. This had the transmitter and receiver in
a simple handset.
1911 - American Telephone and Telegraph (AT & T) acquire the Western Union Telegraph
Company in a hostile takeover. They purchased stocks in the company covertly and the two
eventually merged.
1918 - It was estimated that approximately ten million Bell system telephones were in service
throughout the U.S.
1921 - The switching of large numbers of calls was made possible through the use of phantom
circuits. This allowed three conversations to take place on two pairs of wires.
1927 - First transatlantic service from New York to London became operational. The signal was
transmitted by radio waves.
1936 - Research into electronic telephone exchanges began and was eventually perfected in
the 1960's with the electronic switching system (SES).
1946 - Worlds first commercial mobile phone service put into operation. It could link moving
vehicles to a telephone network via radio waves.
1947 - Microwave radio technology used for the first time for long distance phone calls.
1947 - The transistor was invented at Bell laboratories.
1955 - Saw the beginning of the laying of transatlantic telephone cables.
1962 - The worlds first international communications satellite, Telstar was launched.
1980's - The development of fibre optic cables during this decade, offered the potential to carry
much larger volumes of calls than satellite or microwaves.
1980's, 1990's, to present - Huge advances in micro electronics technology over the last two
decades have enabled the development of cellular (mobile) phones to advance at a truly
astonishing rate. A cellular (mobile) phone has its own central transmitter allowing it to receive
seamless transmissions as it enters and exits a cell.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

Antonio, Giaan Carlo P. | Marculita, Gladdys Anne F.| Portugal Revie V. | BSAR3B

BU 313 Building Utilities 2: Electrical and Mechanical Systems

1st semester AY:2015-2016 Ar. Jane Anne Carlos-Manuel

EVOLUTION:

Sequence: From left to right

1. Bells liquid transmitter
2. Candlestick Telephone
3. Rotary Telephone

4. Push-Button Telephone
5. Answering Machine
6. Portable Telephone

7. Motorola DynaTAC
8. Mobile Phones
9. Smartphones

TELEPHONE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

Antonio, Giaan Carlo P. | Marculita, Gladdys Anne F.| Portugal Revie V. | BSAR3B

2. TYPES OF TELEPHONE SYSTEMS AND ITS PARTS

2.1 POTS-Plain Old Telephone Service (Analog or PSTN)

Landline telephone systems are part of the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), the
analog service with copper wiring that is the direct descendant of the original telephone system
courtesy of Alexander Graham Bell. The advantages of this system include standardized
equipment, predictable sound quality, and due to direct connections to the central office of
the company no need to share the systems capacity with others. Because switches are in
place, creating a private circuit for each phone call, it is also called the Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN).
Another system is for cellular phones, with individual companies having their own
networks with varying technology. Like POTS systems, cellular telephone systems are fullduplex systems, meaning that both people on the call can talk at the same time, but cell phones
use radio frequencies, rather than copper wire. Though cellular networks began as mobile voice
networks only, they now carry both voice and data. Some networks are national, while others
are international, and new technologies are continually in development. The networks known
as 3Gsupport not only cell phones, but also netbook computers, smartphones, and
wireless modem air cards.

POTS system diagram

Analog telephones

Parts of Analog Telephones

Parts of Telephone with display screen and feature buttons

2.2 VoIP- Voice over the Internet Protocol

Internet Protocol (IP), also called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), another type of
telephone system that is in use in the 21st century. This service piggy-backs on existing Internet
connections, either cable service or DSL broadband. A device called an Analog Telephone
Adaptor is the go between that connects whatever phone a person happens to have with either
the broadband modem or the router.
IP systems can be set up with a single line for both Internet and telephone service,
which can save money. With an Integrated T1 line, instead of being set up for voice or data, the
T1 line is able to handle both. With Dynamic T1, the line is capable of assigning bandwidth as
needed, given the current use.

VoIP System diagram

VoIP telephones

2.3 WIRES AND PORTS

Cable ports at telephone

Splitters

cable with hub (left) | coil wire (right)

3. RESIDENTIAL TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

Prior to court decisions permitting users install their own telephone equipment, the
actual wiring within a structure was done only by the utility, in the users raceway system. For
some years now, work beyond the service entrance may be done by the owner, in fashion
similar to other signal work. In residential work the telephone company normally follows the
route of the electric service, entering the building overhead or underground as desired. In both
cases a separate service entrance means must be provided: if aerial, a sleeve through the wall;
if underground, a separate service entrance conduit. Unless a residence has many entering
lines, no source of power is required for the telephone equipment.
Wiring of telephone instruments when installed after completion of the residence
consists of a single surface-mounted cable that, even if skillfully installed, is unsightly at best
and completely objectionable at worst. Pre-wiring consists of running the cables on the wall
framing and into empty boxes to which instruments are later connected.

Telephone cable may enter a building underground, originating on overhead lines or in manholes.

(Applicable to residential, large building, or other)

4. MULTIPLE-DWELLING TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

As in the small residence, the telephone service normally follows the same entrance
path and method of entrance as the electric power service. For the sake of economy in
underground construction, the two services often share the same trench, albeit in different
raceways, and utilize twin manholes where such as required.
The service entrance requirements vary with the size of the building and telephone
capacity. For a small apartment house of garden or three-storey type, a clear wall space of 2 to
4 feet is sufficient. A terminal room is required only in very large buildings.
Apartment buildings and dormitories differ from commercial structures in that the floor
plans of all floors are similar, so that the arrangement of risers is relatively simple. It is common
practice to utilize cable only, in risers that extends through vertically aligned closets in
apartments. To accommodate this cables, a sleeve through the floor between closet is
necessary. If a riser is located in a shaft other than a closet, conduit is normally utilized to allow
for easy installation, protection, and repair. If the location is accessible, as in an alcove, only a
sleeve is provided. When the riser is located outside the apartment, each dwelling is connected
to the riser by conduit with a junction box at either end.

Typical telephone riser diagram in multiple-level dwellings. Note the need for conduit between apartments when
installation is made inaccessible, as in a wall

Typical telephone riser diaram in multiple storey building

5. INTERCOM- INTERCOMMUNICATION DEVICE

An intercom (intercommunication device), talkback or doorphone is a stand-alone
voice communications system for use within a building or small collection of buildings,
functioning independently of the public telephone network. Intercoms are generally mounted
permanently in buildings and vehicles.
Intercoms can incorporate connections to public address loudspeaker systems, walkietalkies, telephones, and to other intercom systems. Some intercom systems incorporate control
of devices such as signal lights and door latches.

5.1 RESIDENTIAL INTERCOM

Residential Intercom System (with camera and view screen)

5.2 INTRA & INTER-OFFICE VOICE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (INTERCOM)

Different models of Intercoms used in office and the like buildings

Intercom System diagram in office using Plain old telephone system (POTS or PSTN)
PSTN-Public Switched Telephone Network
PBX-Private Branch Exchange

SOURCES / REFERENCES:

http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/telephone-timeline-a-brief-history-of-the-phone/
http://EzineArticles.com/26910
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-different-types-of-telephone-systems.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercom
Google Images
Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, 8th edition, Stein, B., Reynolds, J.S.
Architectural Utilities 2: Electrical and Mechanical Equipment, 3rd edition, Saluan, G.S.