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Charles Ezra Scribner

Charles Scribner


Date of birth : 1858-02-16
Date of death : 1926-06-02

Thomas Edison himself once described Charles Ezra Scribner as “the most industrious inventor I have ever known."

Charles Ezra Scribner chief engineer at Western Electric, held more patents (441) than any man in an electrical industry. His most important contribution was the development of the multiple switchboard, an important component of networks. Charles Ezra Scribner was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, February 16, 1858, son of Charles Harvey and Mary Elizabeth (Morehouse) Scribner.

In 1876 his inventive promise attracted the attention of Enos M. Barton, then president of the Western Electric Manufacturing Co., Chicago, and in 1877 Scribner left the Gold & Stock Telegraph Co. to become assistant to the inspector of Gray printers at the Western Electric Manufacturing Co., which became the Western Electric Co. in 1882. In 1896 he became chief engineer in Chicago and in 1908 chief engineer for the company in New York city, in charge of experimental and development work. He continued in that post until his retirement in 1916.

During his career he filed approximately 700 patents and took out approximately 500, most of them relating to early telephone switchboards and to switching systems. The electrical circuits employed in intercommunication, switchboards and signaling apparatus, as devised by him, were adopted throughout the world. He also fostered Western Electric’s research and development department, which in 1924 became the Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Under his direction the de Forest audion was acquired and refined by one of his assistants into the first modern vacuum tube, enabling the first transcontinental telephony in 1915. He was author of Western Electric Company’s “Contribution to Early Telephone Development” (West. Elec. News, February 1913).
The multiple switchboard permitted an operator to reach any subscriber’s line in the exchange without having to trunk the call to another operator.

He was a fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and a member of the Engineering Foundation, Telephone Pioneers, United States Engineering Society, the Machinery Club of New York city, and the Wanbanakee Golf and Ethan Allen clubs of Burlington, Vt. In 1900 he was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exposition for his inventions. http://www.browsebiography.com/bio-charles_ezra_scribner.html

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Created by Dale Pond. Last Modification: Saturday April 1, 2023 01:52:11 MDT by Dale Pond.