General Information

Serial #

Prototype

Part Number

1

Total Parts

8

AKA

Proper front casing part

Patents

N/A

General Description

3D printed synthetic casing with a synthetic speaker cover

Dimensions

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

Length

22.2 cm

Width

17.1 cm

Height

4.2 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Telephony

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Nortel

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Ottawa

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

ca. 1996-1997

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

Used to test speaker placement and enclosure design for the Nomad 8500 telephone. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Technical

Rapid prototype (early 3D printed plastic) of the Nomad 8500 portable telephone. This was used as part of the interactive design process when developing the Nomad 8500. According to David Cuddy, former former director of the Nortel Acoustics Laboratory, this particular prototype was used to develop the best placement of speakers and microphones as well as to design their housing within the telephone. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

None apparent.

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Predominantly translucent white synthetic with a dark grey synthetic speaker cover, white tabs covering certain areas, and a piece of black adhesive tabe on the proper front.

Decoration

N/A