Early Experiments in Portable Phones

Early Experiments in Portable Phones

phone

When Edison invented the telephone, the first reaction was not amazement that voices could travel long distances, but “That’s nice, but when will I be able to take it anywhere?” These prototypes of “Head Phones,” as they were called (also known as  “Walk and Talks,” and”Teleyaps) enjoyed a short lived popularity.  While customers liked the convenience of having their phone with them anywhere, the compressed neck vertebra resulted in most conversations being peppered with lines like “I’d like to talk more, but there’s a shooting pain down my spine and I can’t feel my extremities.” Seeking to make the best of a bad marketing decision and questionable medical research, the slogan “It hurts to talk, but you’re worth it” was tried, and failed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *