Communications

The Communications area at the Canada Science and Technology Museum embraces all forms of electrical communication, from telegraphy and telephony to wireless communication and radio and television broadcasting. It also includes mechanical and electrical sound recording and reproduction.

Communication technologies bind people through space and through time. With them we send messages over distance and we preserve important stories, ideas and images. Canadians have always occupied a few scattered pockets in a vast expanse of land. We have been, aside from the First Nations, immigrants or their descendants. Given such a large territory and such shallow roots, we have long looked to communication technology for a sense of control and community.

As a result, Canadians have been world leaders in developing communications technologies and in applying communication systems to specific Canadian needs. Though new technologies have often been introduced as tools of business or government, the public has quickly adopted those that have proven useful and affordable.

Given the significance to the field and the fact that there is no other public museum in the country with a mandate to preserve this area of our heritage, this Museum has tried to look at the way communications technology has affected the country as a whole. We have also developed an extensive collection representing the developments that have taken place from coast to coast. The collection has been developed with the idea of documenting the technological, economic, social and cultural changes that have taken place over the years.

The collection not only allows for major exhibits in the Museum, but it also provides for travelling exhibits and meets the demand for loans to other institutions across Canada. It is also a national resource for study by researchers and scholars in the field.

In some cases we are preserving the only extant examples of the technology, while in others we are retaining typical examples of artifacts that were mass produced. Collections in some areas (e.g. radios and TV sets) contain not only examples that are technically significant, but some that represent styles of different periods or that are representative of major Canadian firms that were or are a significant force in the Canadian economy.

Communications is a field of extremely rapid growth and technological change. While the pressure to collect in the historical area is lessening, there is a constant effort required to keep abreast of modern developments and to continue to collect into the foreseeable future.

Take A Closer Look at the Collection

Submarine cable long-distance recorder: This instrument was used to receive signals over the early trans-Atlantic cable between Britain and Newfoundland from about 1870 to 1925.

Telegraphy:
Includes instruments used on both land-line (keys, relays, sounders) and submarine (underwater) cables (recorders, cable keys), cable and wire samples, insulators, tools and test equipment. It also includes various types of automated telegraph instruments such as transmitters, receivers and teleprinters.

Lorimer wall set: The Lorimer brothers developed and built an automatic telephone system in Canada starting in 1906. The system was sold and used in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. It was not compatible with the Strowger system so it went out of service in the early 1920s.

Telephony:
Includes telephone sets, switching and transmission equipment, power plants, paging equipment, wire and cable samples including optic fiber cables, tools and test equipment.

Shipboard spark wireless station ca. 1910 consisting of key and spark coil making up the transmitter and the magnetic detector, multiple tuner and headphones making up the receiver.

Radio:
Includes both communications and broadcast receivers, transmitters, transceivers, studio equipment such as microphones, control consoles, mixers, recording and reproduction equipment, tools and test equipment and components.

Drummondville transmitter: Marconi transmitter installed in Drummondville, Quebec in 1926. It was installed as the first short-wave link between England and Canada and was a complete success. At first it could only transmit morse code but later was modified to transmit voice as well. (Peter Lindell/CSTM)

Rogers Batteryless receiver introduced at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Ontario in 1925. It was one of the first successful batteryless sets on the market.

Scanning disk television receiver built for Canadian Television Limited in Montreal, Quebec in 1932 by Alphonse Ouimet. This very first attempt at broadcasting television in Canada was by CKAC in Montreal.(Peter Lindell/ CSTM)

Television:
Includes receivers, cameras ranging from large studio to amateur models, cassette to full broadcast quality recorders, tools and test equipment. See our Collection Profile - Television.

Sound Recording and Reproduction:

Berliner model "E" Gram-O-phone, manufactured in Montreal, Quebec ca. 1906. This machine played 78 rpm records that were 7 inches (17.75 cm.) in diameter.

This area includes artifacts ranging from a model of Edison's first tinfoil machine to examples of the first models of "Walkman" and "DAT" recorders to come into Canada. It includes many types of acoustic, electronic and magnetic equipment, both for recording and playback and covers the home entertainment, office and professional fields. There is a strong collection of early Berliner equipment, since Emile Berliner retained his patents in Canada when he gave them up elsewhere, and a number of unique machines were built here. See our Collection Profile - Sound Recording.

Regina automatic disk-changing musical box, ca. 1900. This machine played one tune for a nickle and held 12 fifteen and one-half inch (39-cm) diameter disks.

Mechanical and Electronic Music:

Many of the instruments in the collection are the work of Hugh Le Caine, Canadian physicist, inventor, composer and pioneer in the design of electronic instruments. This section also includes a small selection of cylinder and disk musical boxes, a piano player, player piano, two reproducing pianos and organettes and related music for these instruments. See our Collection Profile - Electronic Music.

Vacuum Tubes and Transistors:
The Museum has a good collection of vacuum tubes representing their development in North America over the years. This collection is not expected to grow dramatically since this technology has been replaced by solid state devices. The Museum has a much smaller collection of transistors and integrated circuits. It consists of a sampling of early transistors made in Canada and a few integrated circuits in various stages of production to show the steps involved.

Other links

Curator's Choice - Connexions
Connexions - The Plugged in World of Communications

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