From Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone to videophones, this collection traces the evolution of communications technology over more than 100 years. Additionally, this exhibit honors those who built America’s telecom infrastructure by erecting poles, burying cables, and finding technological solutions.
Visitors can experience antique telephone equipment ranging from wooden three-box wall phones with magneto or electric generators and switch hooks, Princess phones, manual system telephones imported to Edmonton in 1885, working Central Office step switches including operator panels and crossbar electromechanical switching, as well as an extensive library of phone publications.
The History of the Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell and his colleagues finally achieved international communication via voice telephony with their revolutionary system for transmitting human voices across long distances, shrinking a vast world by instantly connecting people across continents and time zones.
Bell’s 1876 patent included both a transmitter, or microphone, and receiver, or earphone, that allowed users to speak into one and receive its response on the other side. Furthermore, his invention could transmit electrical signals along a wire using long, short, or paused pulses.
The museum boasts an impressive collection, from rotary dial wall phones and novelty Princess and candlestick phones imported to Edmonton in 1885 to working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical Central Office step switches, working private automatic branch exchange exhibits featuring antique line insulators and tools, an operating automatic branch exchange exhibit, outside plant displays including antique line insulators and tools as well as an extensive library cataloged with unique phone publications. All these collections demonstrate how far telephone technology has advanced over time – an example of its inextricability in our lives yet we must never take this vital communication tool for granted!
Early Telephones
Established by retired employees of ED TEL telephone company, this museum showcases tangible history of communications. It includes a working Central Office step switch and hundreds of telephones dating back to late 1880s.
From Alexander Graham Bell’s Gallows Frame and Thomas Watson’s Thumper Phone to modern wireless devices, the collection provides a glimpse into the development of communications technology. Additionally, the museum houses extensive research archives including microfilm copies of early directories as well as at-risk scrapbooks and binders.
After Bell’s 1876 patent, telephone instruments quickly adopted an effective design that has barely evolved over the last two centuries. A basic telephone contains three parts: receiver, transmitter and battery. Early phones had separate receiver and transmitter units; later on this evolved into the candlestick phone where receiver and transmitter became one instrument known by hook operated switch while bell magneto induction coil and battery were housed separately within its own separate ringer box.
Telephone Switchboards
The telephone switchboard was at the heart of all telecommunications activities. Through electrical cords and switches, it connected multiple lines through manual procedures carried out at central offices. This was also where first telephone conversations took place – giving women an opportunity to enter this sector of employment while providing visions of an interconnected world where distance no longer separated people’s voices.
Early telephone subscribers would call their local exchange and request that a connection be made by name, which the operator would plug a patch cord into. Urban centres had such large switchboards that operators needed to memorize every subscriber to make calls successfully; eventually these systems were replaced by automatic panel switches or other electromechanical exchanges.
Manual System Telephones
In the 1890s, a new style of telephone was developed that separated transmitter and receiver for easier use. These phones, known as candlestick wall phones, featured bells in separate boxes, magneto or electric generators, batteries, switch hooks, switch buttons and an audio connection system – less likely than earlier models to become “off the hook,” they quickly became an affordable and popular option in homes across America.
Sound-powered telephones are used in applications where reliable communications are essential, even during periods of no electricity. Such places include airports, railways, public utilities, oil and gas plants, mining sites, arsenals and shipyards – anywhere where reliable communications must remain possible in spite of power fluctuations. This type of phone relies on energy produced when someone speaks into its microphone to maintain uninterrupted service.
The Telephone Historical Centre offers an innovative step-by-step Private Automatic Branch Exchange exhibit as well as working Central Office step switches and an operable Central Office operator switchboard, along with outside plant displays featuring poles cables splicing tools and an extensive library of cataloged telecommunication reference books. In Edmonton Alberta’s city museum lies an incredible variety of antique telephones such as rotary dial wall phones and novelty Princess phones; wooden three box candlestick wall telephone which first arrived in Alberta back in 1885 and many manual system telephones from that same period – not forgetting some rare manual system models from that same time frame!
