telephone museum
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
Happy Birthday, Trimline!
Happy Birthday, Trimline! ??? Guess you just missed it too? According to Events in Telephone History by AT&T, August 2 1965, was when “Michigan Bell became the first company to sell Trimline phones on a companywide basis.”
Interested in reading more about the Trimline? Check out the upcoming August 2015 issue of the Telephone Collectors International publication Singing Wires Journal. It contains an article “From Butt Set to Beauty” The Trimline is 50 Years Old by Paul Fassbender.
The JKL Museum of Telephony collection contains many antique telephones and a few not so antique. There are several telephones in the JKL Museum collection that are related to the Trimline development.
You can check them out on our site in the virtual exhibit “Pre—production models, prototype, display telephones, and related objects.”
Look for the Demitasse, Schmoo, Contour, Trimline I, a golden Trimline and others.
You are also welcome to come and see them for yourselves at our telephone museum. Check out our homepage or use the contact option in the menu bar to get in touch.
Also don’t forget to check out the Trimline page at Paul Fassbender’s site
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
We just created our Facebook page. All posts to the Updates section on our site are also visible on our Facebook page.
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jklmuseum
Joybubbles: The Documentary Film
Yesterday we had a documentary film crew shooting some footage for Joybubbles: The Documentary Film.
Joybubbles: The Documentary Film
“JOYBUBBLES is a feature length documentary film about a blind telephone hacker who legally changed his name from Joe Engressia, Jr. to Joybubbles, after declaring himself the age of five forever.”
- www.joybubblesthemovie.com
- Follow on Twitter @JoybubblesMovie
- On Facebook
filming at the JKL Museum of Telephony (photo by Jesse Hulcher)
Here is some sample footage on Vimeo:
American Automatic Telephone Company Dial
We acquired a new addition to the JKL Museum Collection. Keith Cheshire acquired this rare for our telephone museum through Steve Flocke at a recent telephone show.
We are very happy to be able to add this dial to our collection of dials at the JKL Museum of Telephony.
Keith Cheshire hopes to provide us with more information about this very interesting dial and its use. He is currently doing some research regarding this dial and we hope to be able to give an update in the not too distant future.
Scroll down for a short video of this dial.
American Automatic Telephone Company Dial
American Automatic Telephone Company Dial
Click here to view this movie on YouTube.
Google Custom Search Option for the JKL Museum website
We’ve added a Google Custom Search option to the telephone museum’s website.
The Google Custom Search helps our telephone museum’s website visitors find the information they’re looking for.
Get your own Google Custom Search Option:
Go to https://cse.google.com/cse/ to create a Google Custom Search for your own site.
Google makes it very easy to setup your own Google custom search. Just login to https://cse.google.com/cse/ using your Gmail account and following the instructions. Please note that the free edition of Google CSE comes with ads, you can upgrade to Site Search with optional ads.
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.
The SEEANDBEE Telephone at the JKL Museum
The SEEANDBEE Telephone at the JKL Museum
While working on the cataloging project at the JKL Museum, we discovered a small ships telephone made by Kellogg. The telephone is located in the telephone museum’s section for telephones made for use outside and or in hazardous locations or for the use on ships.
This little black telephone is made from sheet metal and fitted with a transmitter marked “STEAMER SEEANDBEE” and “KELLOGG” on the faceplate. The receiver is secured with a nickel plated clamp to prevent it from falling.
The Seeandbee telephone