Soon after-wards came a "buzzer," and then the magneto-electric bell.

In 1887 Joseph O'Connell, of Chicago, conceived of the use of tiny electric lights as signals, a brilliant idea, as an electric light makes no noise and can be seen either by night or by day.

In 1901, J.J.Carty invented the "bridging bell," a way to put four houses on a single wire, with a different signal for each house.

This idea made the "party line" practicable, and at once created a boom in the use of the telephone by enterprising farmers.
In 1896 there came a most revolutionary change in switchboards.

All things were made new.