General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal/ synthetic parts

Dimensions

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

Length

57.5 cm

Width

35.5 cm

Height

53.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Sound

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

University Loudspeakers

Country

United States of America

State/Province

New York

City

White Plains

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

mid 1930s +

Canada

Used by les Soeurs de la Charité de Montreal, the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Soeurs Grises/Grey Nuns). The order was established by Mme Marguerite d'Youville in Montreal in 1737 to serve to poor and sick. The Grey Nuns run hospitals, orphanages, schools, homes for the aged, institutions for the blind, and other social services and works of charity in various parts of Canada and the United States. D'Youville was officially recognized as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1990.

Function

Used to convert an electrical audio signal into sound waves.

Technical

An example of a horn loudspeaker. A horn loudspeaker consists of a tapered horn coupled to a sound reproducer. The latter consists of a vibrating diaphragm or coil actuated by an electromagnet. These convert an electrical signal into vibrations. When this "driver" is coupled to the narrow end of a suitably designed horn, the vibration of the diaphragm or coil causes similar vibrations in air pressure within the horn. These are propagated through space in the form of sound waves. The use of horns for sound reproduction dates back to Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877. This pre-electric system employed purely mechanical means of generating vibrations; i.e. a stylus attached to the diaphragm. Development reached a new level of sophistication in the 1920s, as horns were adapted for electrical sound reproduction for use in radio receivers, record players, and public address systems [notably in movie theatres]. The Western Electric 31A is based on patents by David G. Blattner [1935] and Henry C. Harrison [1929], engineers with Bell Telephone Laboratories, Maurray Hill, NJ. Their designs were concerned with optimizing the shape of the horn to transmit a broad band of frequencies efficiently, uniformly and without distortion. Western Electric's Bell Labs was a major centre of development in electrical sound reproduction systems between the World Wars. Horn speakers are known for their efficiency and low distortion. However in order to handle low frequencies they must be very large. For this reason they have been largely superseded by dynamic, or cone, speakers in consumer sound systems. Even here, small horns may be incorporated as tweeters to handle the high end.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

red and gold label on sound reproducer partially obscured by paint reads 'MODEL SAH/ UNIVERSITY/ LOUDSPEAKERS INC/ University [script, logo] WHITE PLAINS/ NEW YORK/ 25 WATTS/ 16 OHMS/ SERIAL NO/ 40616/ MADE IN U.S.A.'/ raised lettering on sound reproducer reads 'UNIVERSITY REFLEX MODEL SAH'/ raised lettering on horn reads '31A HORN/ PER R6108/ PATENT/ 1730425/ 1996743'/ raised lettering on clamp reads 'MB SKINNER CO/ SOUTH BEND IND USA/ PAT FEB 23 1927/ E11/4T' on one side and on other 'SKINNER SEAL/ EMERGENCY/ PIPE CLAMP/ FOR/ 1 1/4 INCH STANDARD PIPE/ PAT NO 2063702/ E-1 1 1/4 B'; raised lettering on bolts reads '33/ SKINNER/ SEAL U'

Missing

unknown

Finish

original glossy grey? largely painted over with flat beige/ green painted clamp

Decoration

white red and black logo on label reads in script 'University'