AT&T Archives: We Make Telephones

A 1980 profile of Western Electric's Indianapolis Works — a wordless film (once you get past the intro) about the people, the phones they make, and how they manufactured and tested them.

The filmmaker liked shooting not just pretty employee ladies, but also some neat behind-the-scenes shots from the assembly line — detailed bits of the phone-making process, without exposition, right down to the packaging of the telephones. The filmmakers also venture into the testing department—the impact rooms and hot and cold rooms (exposition would actually enhance this film in these sequences).

After the breakup of AT&T, this plant only survived 2 more years...it was shut down in 1986. The Indianapolis Works, surprisingly, was still making rotary phones (among others, including the Trimline series) up until 1985! These were the same heavy-duty, long-lasting phones that were originally only available to rent, not buy — at least until the 1980s.

Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

To see more from the AT&T Archives, visit http://techchannel.att.com/archives

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• AT&T Tech Channel
• AT&T Archives
• AT&T History
• 1980s
• Manufacturing
• Technology
• Phone
• Communication
• Invention

[Bjaardker]

@RetroVintageItems27 Telecommunications companies had always been one of the best places to work. Stable, good paying, union jobs.

I miss those days.

[uswcboy]

Rare scenes from the America of today. They were so happy because they had a job during recession of 1980, they actually made something, and they worked for Western Electric a.k.a the Bell System. Those were the days that you could start and finish your career in one fell swoop.

[gleaming999]

And one of the employees looked like they were yawning.

[RetroVintageItems27]

I don't understand why there so happy. I was told the the wages weren't that great, the working conditions don't always look to good. Just my input.

Retro