early 12c., one of the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college (short for cardinalis ecclesiae Romanae or episcopus cardinalis), from Latin cardinalis principal, chief, essential (see cardinal (adj.)). Ecclesiastical use began for the presbyters of the chief (cardinal) churches of Rome.
In 1889, the rotary telephone dial was invented by Almon B. Strowger , a Kansas City undertaker. The first dial exchange was installed at La Porte, Indiana, in 1892. In 1943, Philadelphia was the last major area to give up dual service.
The rotary dial phone used a wheel to dial a sequence of numbers. It went into use as early as the 1890s to overcome the need for an operator to connect all calls. The rotaryâ¦ dial remained in use until the 1980s and beyond.. Even today, many telephone exchanges still support the rotary dial signalling.