TOPS System
I found these two pieces of information on the TOPS system out on the web. The first one is the most recent.
http://www.candsl.com/~bierman/tops.php
The second one has errors under "Mechanization to help the customer". When he mentions OSPS, he is actually referring to Nortel's Toll Service Desk.
I'm fascinated with the mechanization of operator services from the earliest of times. If anyone has information on PPCS, cordless "A" switchboards utilized with panel systems of the early 1920's, the British CSS1 cordless switchboard from the 1950's, or GTE's verson of the tollboard computer, MECOBS (some call it ACBOS), I would be
ecstatic.
Is it me, or should someone or a group of people write a book on the mechanization of operator services? I would be happy to help and contribute and be a key player. I'm sure all the information we would need is "out there" among private individuals and in public libraries.
Spokane public library has a multiple volume set of books about the history and development of telephony, including a volume devoted to operator services. I don't recall if they were Bell or AT&T publications, they were one or the other. I can remember working graveyard at Beaverton (Oregon) TSPS 20 years ago and finding these fascinating huge old dusty cordboard protocol notebooks in a cabinet.
Lastly, there is a video entitled, "Phantom of the Operator". A history of telephony, women's roles in the industry
and how mechanization affected them. Here's the link for the producer's website, with good information and video clips http://artifactproductions.ca/fantome/en/film/synopsis.htm. I haven't seen the movie yet and would love to own it, but it is VERY expensive.
Just for pHun, have you seen the toll switchboard currently on eBay? It is from the Goleta (Santa Barbara) office, pre 1980 and before being outfitted with MECOBS.
Ron