Western Electric model KS-21432 cassette reproducer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1969
name: label: maker
content: Western Electric
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A unit to reproduce compact cassette tapes for data distribution. Button on top opens tape bay, control buttons on front. Voice and data controls on bottom, along with serial port, fuse holder, and power connector. Fuse rating: 0.75 amp, 125 volt "slo blo" [sic]. Label on front: "[Bell logo] Western Electric / KS-21432 cassette / reproducer / Serial No. 4084 / Mfd. By Telex Communications, Inc."
label: Description (Brief)
content: Transmission of data by means of magnetic recording tape was developed in the 1950s and ‘60s, mostly using large, bulky reel-to-reel spools. The development of compact cassettes by Philips in the early 1960s, dramatically reduced the physical size of the equipment needed for using magnetic data tapes. That format revolutionized audio entertainment, and also was adopted by makers and users of computers. This unit was designed to interface with a computer to produce data tapes quickly for the Bell Telephone System.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0278.15
label: accession number
content: 2022.0278
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0278.15
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cassette reproducer
label: Object Name
content: magnetic recorder
label: Object Name
content: tape recorder
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 14 1/4 in x 10 1/2 in; 12.7 cm x 36.195 cm x 26.67 cm