General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Paper poster with a metal frame, a glass panel and cardboard backing.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

101.0 cm

Width

2.6 cm

Height

102.1 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Sound

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Unknown

Canada

Bell Northern Research, was the research and development subsidiary of Northern Telecom (later Nortel Networks) and Bell Canada. It was built by Northern Telecom at its Trans-Canada plant in Montreal. Northern Telecom and its predecessor, Northern Electric, was for decades Canada’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. Originally a subsidiary of the AT&T-owned Western Electric, for which it manufactured American-designed products for the Canadian market, Northern Electric became Canadian-owned in the 1950s and in the 1960s began to design and produce equipment to meet the distinctive needs of Canadian telecommunication companies. In the 1970s, through its new research subsidiary, Bell Northern Research, the company made a concerted shift from conventional analogue equipment into the emerging field of digital communications, becoming in the 1980s the first equipment supplier to provide a complete line of fully digital switching and transmission gear. During this decade the company moved aggressively into export markets, and opened manufacturing and R&D operations in several countries. The company’s sales soared during the internet boom of the 1990s, but a combination of poor financial decisions and a failure to maintain its technological edge led eventually to its bankruptcy in 2009. The original Bell Northern facilities were designed with cutting edge telecommunications research and development in mind with the first three buildings on the campus featuring laboratories, an extensive research library, and an anechoic chamber. The anechoic chamber was the focal point of the Bell Northern Research acoustics research examining both the technology and placement of speakers and microphones in telecommunication devices. The anechoic chamber group was organized under the Industrial Design and working together with design were responsible for the development of the acoustic properties of most products. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Function

Convey information in a graphical manner. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Technical

Developed to convey specific promotional material about the Nortel Acoustics laboratory and their role within the research and development process. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Near the proper top: "The Acoustic/ Design Laboratory/ Acoustic experiments are performed in the laboratory's/ anechoic chamber. The walls are highly sound absorbing/ to ensure that acoustic measurements are not affected/ by reflections. The chamber is shielded from noise,/ vibration and electromagnetic interference."/ Under the upper inset photograph on the proper left: "New or modified acoustic designs are theoretically/ analyzed and their structures optimized using a/ sophisticated computer modeling system developed/ by our scientists."/ Under the lower inset photograph on the proper left: "The structures to be tested are created or altered/ with the laboratory's contruction and electronic/ facilities. A large inventory of commerical and custom/ transducers (e.g. loudspeakers, microphones) is/ constantly updated to accomodate evolving/ products and exploratory research."/ Hand written on the proper back with black marker on both the proper left and proper right sides: "DO NOT USE WIRE/ USE 2 HOOKS IN WALL/ 39" APART"/

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Poster is predominantly a photograph of the interior of the "anechoic chamber" at Nortel. The walls are made up of red structures that jut out from the surface. Inside the room is an individual adjusting, or posing as if adjusting, a black piece of equipment on a stand. There is also a black table with white lines with a black telephone with blue and red buttons sitting on it. Inset on the proper left of the poster are two other images: one of an indivudual in a red shirt working at a computer terminal with a light grey keyboard; and an individual with a blue shirt standing at a workstation with a light brown proper front and several predominantly black pieces of equipment. The proper back is a brown piece of cardboard.

Decoration

N/A