George Willard Coy

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George Willard Coy (born November 13, 1836 in Freedom , Maine , † January 15 or 23, 1915 in Revere , Massachusetts ) was an American mechanic , inventor and entrepreneur . He ran the first commercial telephone exchange since 1878 and was involved in the production of the first telephone directory .

Telephone exchange

On January 28, 1878 , the first telephone switchboard went into operation in New Haven , Connecticut . It was established by Coy, Herrick P. Frost, and Walter Lewis and with a $ 600 investment; the switching equipment was developed and built by Coy. The company was named District Telephone Company of New Haven . Coy took over the switching operation and thus became the world's first operator , Frost the first salaried operator . Eight telephone lines were available to the company's initial 21 customers. After Lewis left, Coy and Frost sold a blocking minority to investor Jay Gould as capital requirements increased . The Southern New England Telephone Company was formed from the company in 1882 .

phone book

Coy was involved in the publication of the world's first telephone directory on February 21, 1878. It consisted of a single sheet of paper and contained 50 names. It was produced by Coy and the District Telephone Company financiers .

supporting documents

  1. ^ Joseph Nathan Kane, Famous first facts. A record of first happenings, discoveries and inventions , 1st edition New York 1933, cited after the 3rd edition New York 1964, p. 600, there with reference to AT & T's Telephone Almanac without further information. The contradiction that Frost on the one hand was employed and on the other hand was a co-founder and seller of the telephone company is not resolved in the source.
  2. ↑ Online exhibition, accessed on September 3, 2008 Archive link ( Memento from September 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Tom Buckely, SBC SNET Celebrating 125th Anniversary, in: CECA [Connecticut Educators Computer Association] Newsletter, Volume 17, Issue 3 of January / February 2003, p. 5, PDF ( Memento of July 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coy, George Willard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American inventor
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Freedom , Maine
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1915 or January 23, 1915
Place of death Revere , Massachusetts