Charles E. Alden

Charles E. Alden
A picture of Alden on the April 29, 1906 issue of the New York World
Nationality	American
Occupation	Inventor
Known for	The invention of the "vest-coat telephone" in 1906

COTTAGE CITY, Mass. April 28 [1906]. Charles E. Alden of New York has been pursuing experiments here since last fall in wireless telephoning. Has, he says, solved the problem of wireless telephoning and the result is so simple that is likely to create a sensation in the business world as well as in scientific circles.

—New York World, April 29, 1906

Charles E. Alden (fl. 1906) was an obscure inventor mentioned in a 1906 edition of the New York World who was claimed to have created the idea of a vest pocket telephone, a device that was the precursor of the cell phone. He envisioned the idea in 1906, sixty-seven years before the first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973.^[1]

References

1. ^ "TELEPHONE FOR YOUR VEST POCKET - Pilfers Messages from Wires Three Miles Off—is of the Wireless Variety" — New York World, April 29, 1906