Charlie Chaplin’s 80-year-old clip baffles film buffs as woman appears to use phone

A clip from Charlie Chaplin’s movie “The Circus” has gone viral after film buff George Clarke spotted an elderly woman chatting while cradling her left cheek in her right hand.Very few things might be as baffling as spotting a character from a 1928 movie talking over a cellphone.



The video garnered millions of views on YouTube, feeding conspiracy theorists ideas of a possible time travel incident. George Clarke said,”I have been studying this footage for over a year now and I just can’t explain it.” He adds,” Some people have come up with a few theories but to me her actions and gestures are exactly those of someone talking on a mobile.” Even after presenting the video to more than 100 people, Clarke said that none of them had an answer.


However, upon careful research, what happens in the clip can be explained. Around that time, Siemens was developing a new portable hearing aid technology. In 1924, Siemens had filed a patent for a device called the carbon amplifier. It described it as “a compact, pocket-sized carbon microphone/amplifier device suitable for pocket instruments.”They also mention how the device works as,”The electrical energy controlled by the carbon microphone was not fed to the receiver directly. It first drove the diaphragm of an electromagnetic system connected to a carbon-granite chamber. Current was transmitted across this chamber from the vibrating diaphragm electrode to the fixed electrode plate. The amplified current produced mechanical vibrations in the electromagnetic hearing diaphragm that were then transmitted to the ear as sound.”



The description has similarities with how speakers in mobile phones work, thus providing us with a possible answer to the bizarre time travel question.

FAQs:

1. Movie name of the viral clip?
   The circus.
2. What is time travel?
   Time travel is a very broad concept which can be simply put as - travelling between specific points in time.