1

Garth Building
Circa 1927
Montréal, Québec, Canada

Credits:
Northern News - Sept. 1927

2

Telephones were initially manufactured mostly by Charles Williams' shop in Boston. However, because of Canadian rules, instruments had to be made in Canada so a Canadian supplier in the name of James Cowherd was found in Brantford, Ontario. Following his death, in 1881, the Bell Telephone Co. of Canada (BTCo), needed to ensure a supply of Canadian sets so it established, in 1882, its Mechanical Department in Montreal, Quebec.

3

Blake or Three-Box Phone
1880 - 1900
Throughout Canada

Credits:
Bell Canada Historical Collection

4

The No. 1 Telephone Set, also known as the Blake set or the three-box set, was the first set manufactured in 1882 by Bell's Mechanical Department. It was identical to the USA model except it had two red bands painted on the receiver, to distinguish it as a Canadian model because it could not be exported to the USA. Those with a single red band were made elsewhere in the world.

The top box contained the switch-hook with its long pole red band receiver and the bells. The middle box was the Blake transmitter and induction coil. The lower box housed a wet cell battery, dry cells only started to be manufactured in 1906.

5

Blake Desk Set
1880 - 1890
Throughout Canada

Credits:
Ken Lyons
Bell Canada Historical Collection

6

Blake Transmitter
1880 - 1900
Throughout Canada

7

Blake Transmitter Patent
1880 - 1900
Throughout Canada

8

Blake Transmitter Interior
1880 - 1900

9

The Blake transmitter and its induction coil proved to be a far superior transmitter than Bell's original long pole receiver, which was retained as a receiver only.

10

Early Wall Phone Wiring
1880 - 1909
Throughout Canada

11

Wiring methods were dictated by early materials, wires were not always insulated they were routed within small groves in the wood as depicted here. When wires were insulated they used a textile, such as silk wrapped over the wires.

12

Alfred Howell
1856 - 1942
Montréal, Québec, Canada

Credits:
Northern News - Sept. 1927

13

To get a better understanding of the early days of telephone manufacturing here is the story of Alfred Howell who joined Bell's Mechanical Department in 1883. This story is an adaptation from an original article that appeared in the September 1927 Northern News, a publication destined to Northern Electric employees and from his obituary.

Alfred was born in England in 1856, he started working in the testing department of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company in 1871. He later inspected the early Trans-Atlantic telegraph cables as they were being loaded on board the "S.S. Great Eastern". He kept a section which is believed to be from one of these early cables which is pictured here.

14

Telegraph Cable - Undersea
Circa 1882
North Atlantic - Valentia Island Ireland

Credits:
Donald Beauprie
Mark Steadman, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, Penzance, UK