Looks like there WAS Mobile phone tech in 1922. *New film footage lost for 90 years.

Thank you to all for your contributions to the Time Traveller Caught on 1928 Charlie Chaplin Film?

So in answer to the 1250 posts that said ...."but in the 1920s there were no cell towers they couldn't use a mobile phone....please see this sensational discovery on film below just coming to light today. They were able to use avaliable radio and electrical currents to recieve and transmit sound. (NB I am not advocating that that was a time traveller in 1928 )

This amazing, footage was just discovered of two women in 1922 setting up and speaking on a mobile phone device and listeing to a wireless radio. To view footage click the link.

The silent black and white film displays two women walking along an American street carrying a bulky flip-top phone. They then attach a wire from the device onto a fire hydrant before erecting an umbrella which has been converted into an aerial.

www.telegraph.co.uk...
This footage is not yet loaded onto you tube its pretty recent, if someone can oblige so we can embed

“The two ladies are using a small simple HF radio, probably a ‘Cat’s Whisker’ type. For it to work it needs to be earthed, which is why it’s connected to the fire hydrant. The antenna or aerial is the wire in the umbrella. On the receiving end the telephonist is using an HF radio and puts the microphone next to the record player. For the two ladies to hear she would be pressing the pressel switch.” British Pathé are dependent on bloggers and journalists, particularly with knowledge in specialist areas, to find clips that are rare and special.

britishpathe.wordpress.com...

Helmutt I'd like to credit for his research into this, and he has found a patent for a mobile phone which was patented in 1908. It also didnt require global cell towers. Now this phone is the size of a wagon....lol well at least it was still mobile right?

See link
www.google.com...=onepage&q&f=false

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Another quixotic bit of footage from Zazz! I love these old finds. Even if they are simply cases of us, as modern people, supplying incorrect context to these clips (this and the Chaplin thread) it's still fascinating and great to see the imagination and conversation that these clips spark!

I'd love to see one of our in house video experts come along and tell us if there is anything about this footage that might suggest it's been altered - as the video itself seems very rational to me, but the written parts of it don't feel right to me. Maybe the text was added later and filtered to match the age of the film?

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


The written parts seemed odd to me also!
Either way, It was found in a old film archive, though it does pay to have an expert look at it to quantify if it is original 1920s.

Its quality seems better than the Chaplin film.

what a nice footage, amazing
you know how to dig into the old historic files of media.
S+F

reply to post by zazzafrazz


I actually saw this footage on main stream media somewhere today, they were saying it was an ear trumpet........
Sure looks like a nice straight edge in her hand though when you slow it down.

S + F

Nice footage, but it doesn't look the same as the chaplin film. As I recal in the chaplin film the man/woman didn't had a umbrella..

reply to post by zazzafrazz


What are the odds that it merely is using the same frequencies as AM radio of the day?? (and today).

I think the odds are high. Compared to modern technology, back then the understanding of the EM specturm was vanishingly small......

Also, I didn't see a power source. It is true that a basic electronics craft kit can show you how to make a crude AM radio receiver that doesn't need a battery, or anything else, to power it....but to AMPLIFY the sound (through a speaker, for instance) AND to include a transmitter device, for true two-way communication, will require some energy source.

However........Since it was a silent film (par for the era)....I wonder if it was merely a flight of imagination??

Nothing like the Chaplin film but it's pretty amazing altogether that the idea of playing music over a wireless phone was around at all in the early 1900's

When does a radio receiver / transmitter become a phone? Or the other way round?
Isn't this more of a portable radio then a phone...

reply to post by Hefficide

if they are simply cases of us, as modern people, supplying incorrect context to these clips

Exactly right, and this is the problem with all of our Ancient History study and our supposed knowledge of Astronomy.

If we can't reconcile live video footage from just 80 years ago, when some people from the era are still around to explain it, and extensive documentation is present, then how are we supposed believe any of the theories of history from 100 or 500 or 5000 years ago?

If we look back at the relative young history of aviation or film or economics, and we see it through a warped perception by our own current paradigm, and we interpret it wrong, or we miss some key details, then any hope of a satisfactory explanation for more ancient history is completely lost.

We have no idea what it was like to live as our grandparents or great-grandparents lived, and we had the opportunity to get first hand knowledge and we still mess it up, so I can't believe some people presume to know so much about the distant past.

Has anyone seen V for Vendetta?

I'm not sure if it's just conspiracy paranoia setting in, but something about this '1922 Phone Tech' just doesn't sit right with me.

Now here's where V for Vendetta ties in. Remember after the begginning, our good ol' masked villian takes it upon himself to detonate the Old Bailey? Ofcourse you do. Now, remember the way the media acted when this event occured, lying to the masses about it being a 'controlled demolition' rather then a terrorist attack. What if, and I use that very strongly, WHAT IF the same thing is happeneing with our pre-depression era cell phone.

It seems to me that over the course of history, mankind (and womankind) have always marveled at our accomplishments in technology, and it seems to me that especially in this day and age, that if there was rudimentary cellular technology in the 1920's, it would have been a bit bigger deal before now, don't you think?

It just seems to me all a little to convenient for there to be "new" evidence right after this story was aired on one of the countries largest news networks. I think we should just embrace the truth, that a Temporal Agent screwed up somewhere and the government, with obvious knowledge, is shielding the masses to protect them from an altered view of our 'perfect' reality.

Or ....I could be completely bonkers and simply jumped into a reply without consulting some research first. Either way, it's still a great story

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Thanks for referring me to this thread from your Chaplin one.

I too felt immediately when watching it that the written pieces seemed contrived. Even the terminology of "wireless" assumes that the viewers then wouldn't need any further explanation.
If authentic, this is pretty impressive and makes me wonder if Tesla's work had any influence. But if it IS authentic, why did the technology not progress and advance?

Either way it raises many questions for me and it was a good find.

This was probably based on crystal technology which would be restrictive in most real use situations. If you are conspiracy minded the fact that we were between WW1 and WW2 might have lead to concerns about national security. It might have been secret technology of the day. What was it Mary Poppins was muttering about superhetero no that wasn't it, something about eggs. Maybe there will be more about it in the next Dan Brown novel.

reply to post by DasFunky


This "new" evidence is from May, several months before the Chaplin Film discovery.

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Going to give you a star for the find, I hope that's good, I'm new.

I say the only reason these finds are coming to light now, is because "time travelers" from the neighboring realities come here with there tech when it was the twenties here, and the future there and thus polluted our time stream because they couldn't travel to their own past. I know this is a crazy conspiracy theory but I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place.

Just having a bit of fun. Great find.

OK, I am calling BS on this......
1. It comes out so 'conveniently' after this whole alleged cell phone/time traveler thing
2. Where's the power source? Batteries? not hardly, everything I believe was vacuum tubes or hand crack

Nice try tho on those folk

Originally posted by HomerinNC
OK, I am calling BS on this......
1. It comes out so 'conveniently' after this whole alleged cell phone/time traveler thing
2. Where's the power source? Batteries? not hardly, everything I believe was vacuum tubes or hand crack

Nice try tho on those folk

Yes, batteries!
Seems like someone is too young to remember B+ batteries which were 45v and made specifically to power vacuum tube equipment. Just put them in series to get the required plate power. It is always better to check facts prior to calling BS, you just might step in your own pile.

I still call BS
this is the ONLY video or anything mentioning this? Why hasnt there been anything else found, a write up, diagram, patent blueprint? military applications
All we have is this one 2 minute film
Still BS

Originally posted by HomerinNC
I still call BS
this is the ONLY video or anything mentioning this? ........

I was referring only to your comment about batteries, I agree with you on the rest of the BS. I should have been more clear.

Now for a history of technology lesson for everyone. Any portable equipment using tubes, for today that is anything that will be transmitting or receiving radio waves, will be using 2 or 3 batteries:

B battery to provide the +DC high power main supply. The base voltage is 45 but are available in 22.5, 45, 67.5 and 90. Some batteries are made with a common and connections for these voltages. A common size for a 45vdc B would have been (if my memory is working OK) 4"x3"x1.5" and weighed about a pound. The higher the plate power, the higher the output power of the device.

A battery for the tube filament or heater. A 2v lead-acid cell later replaced by a 1.5v dry cell when more efficient tubes with smaller current required filaments were introduced. Smaller than a B but heavier.

C battery A large 9v dry cell with banana plug taps every 1.5v for grid bias voltage. The bias voltage set a no input signal current level in the vacuum tube. Smaller and lighter than a B.

So to be portable the old tube gear needed to be packed with some space hungry, heavy batteries. This gives you an idea of the impact that the introduction of transistor products had. Something the size of a current airplane carry-on was replaced by something that fit in your shirt pocket.

Until the next time the cobwebs and rust shake loose from this old brain.......

reply to post by zazzafrazz


technically cell phones are high frequency (HF) Ham radios with packet switching TCP/ICP stacks.

Battery, vacuum tube, and antenna tech wasn't terribly advanced in the 20's, but it worked.

you don't need cell towers, but you do need 2 units!

OF course in the chaplin film, who was that manly woman talking to on her 'cell' phone?

now, THAT's the million dollar question!

That doesn't change my mind about the "time travel" assumption.

Great find! Sorry, the one thing I dislike about this topic is that it's literally everywhere on the net and time travel is even put into the question.