Bell System
The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania sign
Today several signs were mounted in and outside of the museum. Something interesting was discovered while mounting a Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania sign.
The old 1964 Bell System logo was covered with the 1969 Bell System logo. The replacement 1969 Bell System logo has now been mounted above the sign. You can see the mounting holes in the sign were the replacement logo was mounted. It must have been a lot cheaper to create covers for the old logo than create more signs.
The sign is a very heavy one that has been cast in bronze.
The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania sign
Western Electric PicturePhone Model II
We thought you might enjoy this photo of the Western Electric PicturePhone Model II:
Western Electric PicturePhone Model II (June 1970)
“PICTUREPHONE® sets come rolling along conveyor belt toward final packaging at Western Electric’s Indianapolis plant. Most of Western Electric’s 19 plants funnel parts to Indianapolis for final assembly in preparation for the inaugural of PICTUREPHONE service on July 1 in Pittsburgh by the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania.”
For more information about the Western Electric Picturesphones see:
- http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/telephones-picturephone.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videophone
- http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/70picture.html
- http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/Picturephone/BLR0569/picturephone.pdf
PDF of the May 1969 Bell Labs Record about the Western Electric PicturePhone Model II
GPO (BT) Vision of the Future
Western Electric 1964, Model I, Picturephone
Last week Jerry & Chris managed to get one of our Western Electric 1964, Model I, Picturephones working. There is still work to be done but we hope to be able to put this on display at the JKL Museum.
For more information about the Western Electric Picturephones:
- http://www.paul-f.com/wepic.html
- http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/telephones-picturephone.html
Virtual Exhibits created with PastPerfect Museum Software
Up till now we’ve added the following so-called Virtual Exhibits created with PastPerfect Museum Software to our telephone museum’s website:
- Early Telephone Apparatus
- AUTOVON: Telephones and equipment
- Batteries: Various types of batteries and battery containers as used by the Bell System and others
- Pre—production models, prototype, display telephones, and related objects
The Virtual Exhibits show various objects that are on display at the JKL Museum.
We plan to add more Virtual Exhibits to our website in the near future.