Used in fiber optic repeater (1982.0529.01). A GTE optical repeater set on a circuit board. Seven leads connect the board to the unit which in turn feeds an orange plastic insulated glass fiber. One label reads: "Property of GTE / 47-3T1-034 / Laboratories", second label reads: "Property of GTE / 111-374 / Laboratories". Dymo label reads: "TLA". Using this equipment, GTE opened a fiber-optic telephone line between Long Beach and Artesia, California, in 1977. The transmitter employed a light-emitting diode (LED). Later systems would use lasers." Reference: http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Underwater-web/uw-optic-05.htm.
Fiber optic cable sample. Used with fiber optics system that includes repeater (1982.0529.01). No extant makers marks. Plastic insulated glass fibers running parallel with an insulated copper line. Internal insulation includes paper and plastic wraps. A foil wrap separates layers within the cable.
About 800 meters of optical glass fiber wound onto a black anodized aluminum drum. Connector cables are mounted on either end of the fiber to connect to other devices on a demonstration board. Unit was once mounted on a demonstration board that included an infrared light generator (light emitting diode), a fan / lens / relay assembly, a photo detector, audio playback media (probably a tape cartridge), and a speaker. Music played through the system was transmitted through the glass fiber to demonstrate "A Working Optical Communications Link." The drum was apparently dismounted from the display and donated by Bell Telephone Laboratories to the US International Communications Agency for a 1983 exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya. After the exhibition returned, USICA transferred the drum and other items to the Smithsonian.
Phyllis Diller wore this head band with a white pompom at the end of a rod as part of an outfit also including a red and white Santa dress with belt, pair of red panties, red pantyhose, and white gloves when she joined Bob Hope’s USO tour of the Persian Gulf in 1987. Other members of the 1987 tour included I Dream of Jeannie actress Barbara Eden, Connie Stevens and her daughters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood, and Miss USA Michelle Royer.
Diller was lifelong friends with Bob Hope, co-starring with him in 3 films and many TV specials. In 1978, the USO of Philadelphia, Inc. awarded Diller the USO Liberty Bell Award “for demonstrating concern for the welfare and morale of America’s armed forces.” The award is also at NMAH (Catalog Number 2003.0289.42).
