This Western Electric Telephone Ad is a fascinating piece of technology history:
Western Electric: we make Bell telephones.
We’re also making them smarter.* and # buttons are going into Bell telephones we make today. And someday, they will help telphones do things they never did before.
Like routing calls to follow you when you’re not at home. Or letting you talk to five people at once. Or signaling a busy phone when you have to get through.
Behind these services is the largest single communications development ever undertaken by Western Electric for the Bell System. The Electronic Switching System. We call it ESS for short. A revolutionary new computer-controlled electronic call routing system.
Designed by Bell Labs, and manufactured and installed by Western Electric, ESS will be the brains and backbone of tomorrow’s telephone service. It will route calls faster and more dependably than ever before. And it will offer you many more services at the push of a * or #.
Western Electric
Manufacturing and Supply Unit of the Bell System