On This Day in Telephone History December 4TH 1877 the first hard-drawn copper wire was strung at Ansonia, CT. Thomas B. Doolittle, promoter and manager of a mutual telegraph company, who had become interested in the telephone, made arrangements to begin manufacture at Bridgeport of hard-drawn copper wire with the Ansonia Brass Company. The first lines were strung in the Ansonia Brass Company’s plant on what was effectively a private exchange system. These early hard-drawn copper lines were not wholly satisfactory, but Doolittle's process was perfected within two to four years. The hard-drawn wire made possible better transmission over longer distances than had been possible with iron wire. Copper wire up to this time had been heat-treated or annealed, which made it a good conductor but rendered it too soft to be used on open spans. Heat-treated or annealed copper would break of its own weight unless made too thick (or of too heavy a gauge) to be of practical value.

On This Day in Telephone History December 4TH 1877

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On This Day in Telephone History December 4TH 1877, the First Hard-Drawn Copper Wire was strung at Ansonia, CT. Thomas B. Doolittle, promoter and manager of a mutual telegraph company, who had become interested in the telephone, made arrangements to begin manufacture at Bridgeport of hard-drawn copper wire with the Ansonia Brass Company. The first lines were strung in the Ansonia Brass Company’s plant on what was effectively a private exchange system. These early hard-drawn copper lines were not wholly satisfactory, but Doolittle’s process was perfected within two to four years. The hard-drawn wire made possible better transmission over longer distances than had been possible with iron wire. Copper wire up to this time had been heat-treated or annealed, which made it a good conductor but rendered it too soft to be used on open spans. Heat-treated or annealed copper would break of its own weight unless made too thick (or of too heavy a gauge) to be of practical value.