Design Elements Incoroporated Model 79-O/A Modem
date: label: date made
content: ca 1972
name: label: maker
content: Design Elements, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: In order to transmit signals over a telephone line, early microcomputers and other electronic equipment used modems (modulator/demodulators). These converted from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as a telephone. This device, with its black plastic case and metal base, has two wells that held a phone handset, three switches, a power cord, and internal circuitry. It is marked on a tag on the bottom: DESIGN ELEMENTS, INC. (/) COLUMBUS,OHIO(/) MODEL 79-O/A (/) SERAL 7930770-00382 (/) PATENT PENDING. It is marked on another tag on the bottom: PROPERTY OF (/) RCA SERVICE COMPANY (/) L13155. A logo on the front reads: dei.
label: Description
content: Richard D. Fretwell of Columbus, Ohio, applied for a patent for a "data terminal automatic control circuit" in 1972, assigning the patent to Design Elements, Inc. of Columbus. The patent was granted in 1973 (U.S. patent 3,745, 251). He envisioned signals sent from teletype machines.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Columbus
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Jon Eklund
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2006.0132.06
label: catalog number
content: 2006.0132.06
label: accession number
content: 2006.0132
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Modem
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 3/4 in x 5 3/4 in x 10 in; 12.065 cm x 14.605 cm x 25.4 cm