Cell Phone, circa 1910

Author, journalist and renegade historian Steve Bartholomew has shared with me the following antiquarian book scans, which depict a working prototype for an early Twentieth Century wireless phone. He writes,

The pictures are from "Wireless Telegraphy & Telephony," pub. 1910. There's a dedication to Nicola Tesla, with a picture of his wireless power generating station. I think the book is an actual collector's item. I originally purchased it for 50 cents, long before you were born.

The device was designed to be worn, rather than carried, and apparently worked more like a two-way radio than a true "telephone" as we now understand the term.

This prototype did, however, exist in an era when communities shared "party lines" on which neighbors could eavesdrop simply by picking up their ear pieces and quietly listening. In light of that, it's fair to say the De Forest wireless telephone was not at all out of step with telephony standards of its day.





Please refer to by blog for the original scan, from which the two images above have been derived.

[edit on 27-10-2009 by flightsuit]

It's a shame cellphones don't look like that. Perhaps if that were the case teen girls wouldn't have to text on the street everyday. Yuck.

[edit on 27-10-2009 by Whine Flu]

Teen girls aren't the only ones, not by a long shot. I'd just be happy if folks would keep at least one hand on the wheel while texting and driving.

I love to see devices we know nowadays, were concepted during a time , of which we today think as "backwards" or "old-fashioned".

Thanks for sharing.

These phones would also propably be radiating less


Edit, to add that the science and technology section of ATS became my favorite, although i came here for the conspiracies^^


You guys represent the curious, playfull aspect of humans



[edit on 27-10-2009 by Dynamitrios]

Thanks for commenting! Besides being much less likely to cook your brain, the 1910 mobile phone may have had the potential to offer better call quality. Art Bell, for one, has asserted that the wireless radio technology associated with CB and ham radio just plain works better than current cell phone technology, which he sees as a giant step backwards and a sad downgrade from what could have been.

Also these older technologies didnt involve super-rare metals (eg. Coltane) that have to be hauled out the mountain by little african kids for our convenience.

All it took was iron, wood and propably copper wire

And there was no GPS to provide Big Brother with a record of where you've been.