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Oct. 10, 1974 - New Lockheed Electronic Telephone Book: Instant telephone number retrieval for Post Office directory assistance operators was offered today as Lockheed Electronics Co. Inc. introduced a new high speed microfilm system in London. Called RADRU - Rapid Access Data Retrieval Unit - an earlier version of the device was tested in Dallas, Texas in 1971 and was the first microfilm system that was found to produce economically significant savings in the work time per call of the Directory Assistance operators. The system responds to an input of up to the first four letters of the desired last name. This information is entered through a keyboard and electronically compared by light sensors to an optical code on the microfilm. The first page on which the keyed input appears is displayed within 1/2 second after the fourth letter is keyed. Up to 600 listing lines per frame can be displayed on the 16 inch x 16 inch non-glare screen. The film capacity of 9000 telephone directory pages gives the RADRU system a total capacity of around five million listing lines. Photo shows A G.P.O. telephonist Anne Durrant operating the machine, with an example of the 900 telephone directory pages that it will save her thumbing throw

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9000 Access Appears Assistance Capacity Compared Dallas Data Desired Directory Displayed Durrant Earlier Economically Electronic Electronically Electronics Entered Example G.p.o Inch Input Instant Introduced Keyboard Listing Microfilm Offered Operating Operators Optical Pages Produce Rapid Responds Retrieval Save Savings Sensors Significant Telephonist Tested Throw Thumbing

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