Vintage Telephone Exchange

My mate Ian and I discovered this in a pub in New Zealand while downing a few beers.

It's an old telephone exchange.

I understand these use bantam jacks. They are spring loaded so when not in use fit back into their home socket. Nice and tidy.

Of course the idea of using patch cables in the modern modular synthesizer comes from telephone exchanges.

..

 I think this was once part of the "dial" mechanism