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Powers of Deduction - What is this a picture of?

dougw

The forum has been a bit spotty lately, so I thought I would try injecting a little fun quiz to keep our brains ticking.

Can you identify what the picture is of? Can you identify all the components?

I wouldn't go nuts with Google searches just yet. Clue number one is that it was made before the Internet existed, so Google may not work.

You can treat it more like the game 20 questions. I will answer one or more questions per day, from any speculation that appears in the comments below, until the answer reveals itself.

image

If you recognize it right away, please indicate how you came by this info.

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  • 0

    It's the battery backup that's caught me off guard, but that may be justified considering it has a battery so you may want it to be useable if your phone line isn't next to a mains outlet, hence the on/off button, it looks like there's another button underneath it which may have been to answer the phone with? The on/off is therefore for any necessary power gain/boost.

    Multiple pole 3.5mm jacks for headphone+microphone combo's were probably not common, I remember them being introduced and thinking they were witchcraft, so this could easily be for separate headphone and microphone to use on a phone line rather than having to use a standard telephone headset. Perhaps the additional power may have been needed for the drivers of a headphone/microphone.

    RJ11 on the device probably meant that it would plug into the earpiece socket/plug of the phone or comms rather than at the wall directly to act as a phone.

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  • 0

    It's the battery backup that's caught me off guard, but that may be justified considering it has a battery so you may want it to be useable if your phone line isn't next to a mains outlet, hence the on/off button, it looks like there's another button underneath it which may have been to answer the phone with? The on/off is therefore for any necessary power gain/boost.

    Multiple pole 3.5mm jacks for headphone+microphone combo's were probably not common, I remember them being introduced and thinking they were witchcraft, so this could easily be for separate headphone and microphone to use on a phone line rather than having to use a standard telephone headset. Perhaps the additional power may have been needed for the drivers of a headphone/microphone.

    RJ11 on the device probably meant that it would plug into the earpiece socket/plug of the phone or comms rather than at the wall directly to act as a phone.

Children