General Information

Serial #

1049

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

Binaural dummy

Patents

N/A

General Description

Synthetic body with metal attachment points, connections and fasteners and a synthetic tube.

Dimensions

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

Length

75.5 cm

Width

44.0 cm

Height

24.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Sound

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Industrial Research

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Illinois

City

Elk Grove Village

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

Used for binaural audio recording. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Technical

Shaped to resemble a human head and torso, this binaural dummy, allows for more realistic audio recordings that more resemble real world conditions. (From the Acquisition Proposal, see Ref. 1)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

On the stickers on the proper right side: "nt/ FOR/ INDICATION/ ONLY"/ "BNR [logo]/ ACOUSTIC DESIGN"/ In recessed lettering on the proper right side of the dummy, toward the proper back: "KEMAR/ KNOWLES ELECTRONICS MANIKIN FOR ACOUSTIC RESEARCH"/ On the silver coloured sticker on the proper front of the base: "L- 14069 [logo]"/ On the white and purple sticker on the proper bottom: "Bell-Northern Research [logo]/ L0014069"/ On the manufacturer's plate: "INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH PRODUCTS, INC./ ELK GROVE VILLAGE ILLINOIS/ MODEL DB 4004 MADE IN/ USA/ SER. 1049/ VOLTS/ CYCLES"/ In white on the proper right side of the head, with an arrow pointing to a line going under the chin: "CDN"

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

The torso of the dummy is beige with a black base and a dark brass-coloured metal attachment on the proper right arm with an angled silver-coloured bar. On the proper right side of the torso there is a pink sticker with black markings and a grey sticker with black markings. On the black base there is a round blue sticker and a silver coloured label with purple markings. The proper bottom is predominantly black and there are silver-coloured metal fasteners and equipment connections, a black and silver-coloured manufacturer's plate, a white, black and purple sticker, and a round red attachment. Coming out of an opening in the bottom is a tanslucent colourless tube with black markings and two wires: one black wire and one red wire. The head of the dummy is a slightly lighter and greener beige than the rest of the body. It has a grey tube in its "mouth," white drawn-on markings on the face and sides of the head, a recessed section on the proper right side that is a pinker beige colour and has silver coloured connection or attachment points. On the proper left there is a small white panel being apparently held in place by strips of black adhesive tape.

Decoration

N/A