Telephone Register

a device used in telephone central offices to record the duration of telephone calls for billing purposes. In the USSR, telephone registers are only used in manual long-distance offices since local calls are billed on a flat-rate basis and automatic central offices make use of other equipment for recording the duration of calls.

In the manual offices, the registers are linked to the plug-ended cords used by the operator to set up connections. The register is started by the operator immediately after establishing a connection, that is, when the answering and ringing key is moved into the neutral position. It is stopped automatically at the time of the disconnect signal.

Electromagnetic registers are the most widely used; the simplest of these consists of an electromagnet and a counting mechanism. During operation, the windings of the electromagnet receive regular pulses from a pulse generator in the central office. In countries that do not use flat-rate billing, registers form part of the subscriber-loop equipment in central offices.