13 results for: Telecommunications
Western Electric 1-B Transmitter Microphone used by KOMO radio, 1927-30
KOMO radio was founded in 1926 by Birt F. Fisher and O.D. Fisher of Fisher Flouring Mills (no relation between these Fishers). It replaced Seattle radio station KTCL whose lease was expiring. The first broadcast was on December 31, 1926, and the next year the studio moved to downtown Seattle. Today, KOMO 1000 AM and 97.7 FM is primarily an…
ID Number:1954.745.9
Date:Circa 1925
Telegraph key and sounder from Manhattan Electric Supply Company, ca. 1900
This telegraph instrument, known as the Morse key, is typical of those used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to send messages across the country about recent riches from the Klondike-Alaska Gold Rush.
ID Number:1962.2764.14
Date:Circa 1900
Dubilier Wireless Telephone, 1910
On June 21, 1909, at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), inventor William Dubilier amazed fairgoers with his wireless telephone. The device used a capacitor, and was surprisingly small—two advances that had a big impact on radio technology in years to come.
ID Number:1968.4479.1
Date:1910
The "Wonderphone," made in Seattle by Universal High Power Telephone Co., ca. 1917
The Universal High Power Telephone Company operated in Seattle from about 1910-1933. The company produced the "Wonderphone," a specialized, high-power carbon microphone designed for early wireless arc transmitters and improved telephone line transmission. It featured a larger transmitter than the standard at the time, offering superior modulation capabilities for early radio and telephony. The Wonderphone was developed to overcome the…
ID Number:1968.4479.3a
Date:Circa 1917
The "Wonderphone," made in Seattle by Universal High Power Telephone Co., ca. 1917
The Universal High Power Telephone Company operated in Seattle from about 1910-1933. The company produced the "Wonderphone," a specialized, high-power carbon microphone designed for early wireless arc transmitters and improved telephone line transmission. It featured a larger transmitter than the standard at the time, offering superior modulation capabilities for early radio and telephony. The Wonderphone was developed to overcome the…
ID Number:1968.4479.3b
Date:Circa 1917
High-powered industrial telephone used by Seattle City Light, 1916
The amplifier on this telephone was invented in Seattle by P.J. Hackett and produced by the Universal High Power Telephone Company. Hackett was an assistant to William Dubilier who created the first successful wireless telephone in 1910. After Dubilier left Seattle, Hackett continued to work on microphones and amplifiers that could handle the heavy currents of radio and landline telephones…
ID Number:1972.5366.1
Date:1916
OKI Electric car phone in briefcase, ca. 1985
This briefcase phone was collected by Jordan Roderick who had 25 years of leadership experience in the cellular industry, beginning in 1980 and retiring in 2005. He began with McCaw Cellular and then worked for AT&T Wireless. These phones were often called "luggables," and they had stronger signal power than the early handheld "brick" phones. But they weighed several pounds,…
ID Number:2006.58.2
Date:Circa 1985
First Windows Mobile Phone, "Sagem WA 3050 Pocket PC Phone," 2001
This early mobile phone and Pocket PC (Personal Computer), released in 2001, is part of a collection donated by a Microsoft employee who worked at the software company from 1999 to 2004. Microsoft would develop the software and prototype devices and then work with a manufacturing company, like Sagem, to build the phones. The Sagem WA 3050 was one of…
ID Number:2018.99.5
Date:2001
Prototype Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone, ca. 2003
This prototype, developed in 2003, is part of a collection donated by a Microsoft employee who worked at the software company from 1999 to 2004. Microsoft would develop the software and prototype devices and then work with a manufacturing company to build the phones. This prototype features a hard plastic detachable keyboard sleeve that attaches to the bottom of the…
ID Number:2018.99.6
Date:2003
Prototype Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone, ca. 2003
This prototype, developed in 2003, is part of a collection donated by a Microsoft employee who worked at the software company from 1999 to 2004. Microsoft would develop the software and prototype devices and then work with a manufacturing company to build the phones.
ID Number:2018.99.7
Date:2003