Dec. 18, 1962 - The era of push-button telephoning moved a little closer today. The Chardon Telephone Company of Chardon, Ohio, put into service its first pushbutton model and offered others to subscribers in the northern Ohio community. The instrument, manufactured by the Stromberg-Carlson division of General Dynamics, has 10 buttons on its face in place of the customary dial — three rows of three buttons each and a single Operator button centered below. Push-button phones, or “touch tone” dialing, have been under development for some years. The high cost of the new phones, which must be used with electronic controls at the telephone exchange, has been the main reason for delay in their general introduction. The push-button unit uses electronic tone signaling rather than the electro-mechanical signaling system used by current dial models.
