Call 911 Emergency

With the inventions of both the telegraph and telephone systems, emergency communication became a very important part of these systems. 41 years ago the single nationwide emergency number 911 was invented. When the telephone operations set up for emergency calling systems, some major changes took place. First, the telephone system equipment needed to provide the means to hold the originating calling line so the call could be checked should the calling party hang up or be disconnected and be able to call that party back. Second, there needed to be equipment changes to the public telephones that required a standard method of operation throughout the country. The public telephones had to provide dial-tone first. Telephones that required a coin deposit before the call originator would hear dial tone had to he changed to provide dial-tone-first. The public telephones had to be coin-free when dialing service codes and emergency service dispatch. These changes were a major hardship to operating telephone companies. Each of these changes involved much development and the need for new methods of handling public telephones and emergency call handling.