Even in the early 1900’s, people were buzzing about the possibility of mobile telephones.
According to Wired, the world’s first car phone, invented by Lars Magnus Ericsson in 1910, had to be hooked into wires along the side of the road, but hey, it was still mobile!
Here, you can view a commercial by Eve’s Wireless from 1922 that highlights a “mobile phone” that does not need wires. In the video appear two women walking with said phone, which uses an umbrella as an antenna and ropes around the top of a fire hydrant. It then shows the women being connected to an operator on the other end.
BUT, it is not really a phone. Specialists have speculated that it was probably just an old fashioned radio. “For it to work, it needs to be earthed, which is why it’s connected to the fire hydrant”.
Apparently, in the early 20th century, when people referred to the “wireless telephone” they were actually talking about these old fashioned cat’s whisker type radio receivers (also known as crystal radio receivers).
Technology has changed so much over the years, but even then, folks were itching to go mobile!
