They were well enough for five hundred wires but not for five thousand.

In some exchanges as many as half a dozen operators were necessary to handle a single call; and the clamor and confusion were becoming unbearable.

Some handier and quieter way had to be devised, and thus arose the Multiple board.

The first crude idea of such a way had sprung to life in the brain of a Chicago man named L.B.Firman, in 1879; but he became a farmer and forsook his invention in its infancy.
In the Multiple board, as it grew up under the hands of Scribner, the outgoing wires are duplicated so as to be within reach of every operator.

A local call can thus be answered at once by the operator who receives it; and any operator who is overwhelmed by a sudden rush of business can be helped by her companions.