By BEN CLERKIN
It was the size of a dustbin lid and had a range of just half a mile.
The world's first mobile phone could hardly be more different to today's devices, which are small enough to slip inside a pocket and can call almost anywhere in the world.
But its inventor, Nathan Stubblefield, is finally being recognised as the father of mobile phone technology exactly 100 years after he patented his design for a "wireless telephone".
The melon farmer came up with his invention in 1902 after devoting every spare hour and penny he had to establishing a telephone service in his rural home-town of Murray, Kentucky.
Field test: Receiver in hand, Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates his invention in his orchard (the mast can be seen in the centre of the picture)
He constructed a 120ft mast in his orchard, which transmitted speech from one telephone to another using magnetic fields.
However, the total amount of wire required for the coils in the phones was far longer than what would be required to simply connect them - but the invention allowed mobility.
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# Posted by Michelle Moran @ |
Tuesday, May 13, 2008