View source for CMS:Outline of the Connections Museum

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Connections Museum:

The '''[[CMS:Connections Museum|Connections Museum]]''' is a [[wikipedia:Museum|museum]] in [[wikipedia:Seattle|Seattle, Washington]] that collects, maintains, and displays objects related to connecting people to each other, most notably [[wikipedia:Telephone|telephones]] and [[wikipedia:Telephone_exchange|telephone switching systems]].

== City-scale telephone switches ==
The museum contains several operational city-scale switching systems, most of which were originally installed in cities in the Pacific Northwest:

* a [[wikipedia:Western_Electric|Western Electric]] [[Western Electric 355 A|355 A]] [[wikipedia:Strowger_switch|Strowger Step-by-Step (SXS)]] [[CMS:Strowger Step-by-Step (SXS) Switch|switch]]
* a Western Electric [[CMS:Panel Switch|Panel switch]] from the Rainier/Parkway exchange in Seattle
* a Western Electric [[CMS:Number One Crossbar Switch|No. 1 Crossbar (1XB)]] [[CMS:Number One Crossbar Switch|switch]] from the Vermont/Kenwood exchange in Seattle
* a [[North Electric]] [[CMS:CX 100 Switch|CX 100]] from the Battleship California, towns of Wilkeson and Lester, and Camp David and Camp Pigott in Monroe, Washington
* a Western Electric [[CMS:Number Five Crossbar Switch|No. 5 Crossbar (5XB)]] [[CMS:Number Five Crossbar Switch|switch]] from the Adams exchange on Mercer Island
* a Western Electric [[Number Three Electronic Switching System|Number Three Electronic Switching System (ESS)]] [[CMS:3ESS (Electronic Switching System)|switch]] from the 890 exchange in Crosby, WA
* a [[wikipedia:Nortel|Nortel]] [[CMS:DMS-10|DMS-10 switch]] from ADTRAN's headquarters in Huntsville, AL. Previously from a small town in the DFW area of Texas.

== Business-scale telephone systems ==
The museum contains several smaller scale manual and automatic switching systems:
* a [[CMS:Private Branch Exchange (PBX) Collection|collection]] of [[wikipedia:Business_telephone_system#Private_branch_exchange|private branch exchanges]]
* a [[CMS:Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX) Collection|collection]] of private automatic branch exchanges
* a [[CMS:Key System Collection|collection]] of [[wikipedia:Business_telephone_system#Key_telephone_system|key systems]]
* a [[CMS:Low Voltage Switchboard Display|low voltage switchboard]]

== Telephone exhibits ==
The museum contains several collections of different types of telephones:

* a [[CMS:Comprehensive Phone Collection|comprehensive collection]] of phones throughout history
* a [[CMS:Design Line Phone Collection|collection]] of AT&T's [[wikipedia:Design_Line_telephone|Design Line phones]]
* a [[CMS:Payphone Collection|collection]] of [[wikipedia:Payphone|payphones]]
* a [[wikipedia:Mobile_phone|mobile phone]] [[CMS:Mobile Phone Display|display]]
* a Western Electric [[CMS:Train dispatching telephone system|train dispatching telephone system]] used on the [[wikipedia:Pennsylvania_Railroad|Pennsylvania Railroad]]

== Telephone adjacent exhibits ==
The museum contains exhibits of devices, tools, and infrastructure that is directly or indirectly related to telephony:

* an [[CMS:Early Telephone History Display|early telephone history display]], including a working telegraph and replicas of experimental transmitters
* [[wikipedia:AT&T_Communications_(1984–2010)#AT&T_Long_Lines|AT&T Long Lines]] [[wikipedia:Microwave_transmission|microwave transmission]] [[CMS:AT&T Long Lines Microwave Equipment|equipment]] from several stations in the Pacific Northwest
* a [[CMS:Power Board|power board]] used to control and monitor power used by telephone switches
* a [[CMS:803C Ringing and Tone Plant|ringing and tone plant]] used to generate alternating current for ringing and acoustic tones played over phones
* a [[CMS:Western Electric Appliances Collection|collection of appliances]] manufactured by Western Electric, the main manufacturer of [[wikipedia:Bell_System|Bell System]] equipment
* a [[CMS:Clear Cubes Display|collection]] of telecommunications engineer tools and [[CMS:Picturephones Display|Picturephones]]
* a [[CMS:Outside Plant Display|phone lines construction display]]
* a [[CMS:Portable Step-by-Step|portable step-by-step]] switch custom built to be easily transportable and show the inner workings of step switching

== Other telecommunications equipment ==
In addition to telephony, the museum covers other forms of telecommunications such as the transmission of text and data:
* a [[CMS:Teletype Collection|collection]] of Teletype brand [[wikipedia:Teleprinter|teleprinters]]
* a [[CMS:Retro Computers Display|collection]] of computers from the 1980s to 2000s