Apparatus for connecting selectively a telephone answering device or additional equipment, such as a facsimile machine, to telephone lines

Claim 1

In a telephone system that receives different incoming telephone calls on a telephone line, an automatic switching device for connecting alternately a telephone answering device and an additional apparatus, such as a facsimile machine, to the telephone line, comprising: means for detecting incoming calls on the telephone line from a caller who desires to access only one of the telephone answering device and the additional apparatus; means responsive to a first one of said incoming calls for connecting only one of said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus to the telephone line, whereby as a result of the first call there is a fifty percent probability that the caller will access a desired one of said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus; and means responsive to the next incoming call on the telephone line for connecting only the other one of said telephone answering device and the additional apparatus to said telephone line, whereby the caller can hang up the first call immediately and place the next call to access the other one of said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus when the caller realizes that the desired one of said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus has not been accessed; said first and second connecting means connecting alternately said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus in response continuously, to successive incoming calls; wherein the telephone answering device has a prerecorded outgoing message which instructs the caller to call again if access by the caller as a result of said first call is not to the desired one of said telephone answering device and said additional apparatus.