Leonid Kupriyanovich – a phone that no one needs

Leonid Kupriyanovich was born on 14 July 1929. There is little information about his biography, we only know that he graduated from The Bauman Moscow State Technical University. The reason why we don’t find much about him is that this talented engineer and inventor lived in the times when there was a lot of tension between the USSR and the USA. In fact, he worked in one of the secret scientific research institutes and the information about him was and still is confidential or it has been lost forever. Fortunately, not everything is a secret thanks to the patents and.... specialist magazines.

It is from them that we know how groundbreaking Kupriyanovich’s devices could have become. Already in 1955, he developed his first model of a shortwave radio station. The prototype weighed almost 2 kg, but the inventor, very fond of mountain climbing, considered its weight as too much. During the next few years, he made efforts at inventing a miniature version of the device, and eventually succeeded at that, as he managed to build a model that weighed only 0.3 kg and could achieve a range of 3 km. However, this was only the beginning for Kupriyanovich, and the success encouraged him to continue work.

A mobile phone for everyone – LC1

The above story describes how the first radiophone, which could nowadays be called a mobile phone, was invented. Its first version weighed over 3 kg and could operate in a range of 30 km from the nearest relay station. Also, the device had a built-in battery, which was enough to let it run for a whole day (many current mobile phone users will certainly state that even nowadays such operating time is not less than a standard). Nevertheless, a device of this size didn’t satisfy Kupriyanovich’s ambitions, so he started working even harder on miniature versions of various prototypes and on enhancing their functionalities. Again, he succeeded. The final mobile phone model weighed only 60 g (a bit more than today’s Mars candy bar), and its range was 80 km. It was small enough to fit in a hand, and it even had a miniscule dial.

Why isn’t Kupriyanovich famous?

Kupriyanovich’s invention had a lot of potential to succeed. Building relay stations and popularisation of radiophones could have changed the course of the history of telecommunication; certainly, it could have transformed the USSR. Perhaps this was the reason why the device failed and wasn’t commercialised; eventually, radiophones were used in a very limited number of state institutions. Kupriyanovich’s story may resemble that of Jacek Karpiński, whose computer design projects were much better than the ones from previous years, but didn’t get the government’s approval. Irrespective of the reasons why the Soviet engineer’s idea was rejected, Kupriyanovich changed his field of interest into medicine, and started working on a device that could help in sleep disorder therapy.

Out of range?

Some people say that “a mid-20th century man would be surprised by today’s world.” An average person – maybe would, but an engineer – definitely wouldn’t. Kupriyanovich’s radiophone is a perfect example of the kind of world we live in. It’s not the time of huge industrial revolution, but of popularisation and miniaturisation. The GSM module is currently a basic electronic component. It’s treated almost as a toy that can be used by amateurs in their own projects. The same applies to products used in wireless communication. A miniature antenna, which transfers millions of bits per second, is a very inexpensive solution. Electronic circuits such as amplifiers, encoders, etc. can have a size of even a few millimetres. What’s more, even though the mass production of those components did help popularise electronics, their capabilities aren’t as impressive as those of Kupriyanovich’s device...

Note that although Kupriyanovich’s invention didn’t become well-known and was a non-standard solution, it did offer some new features. Above all, it offered a great range. Certainly, a great deal of people would be happy for current mobile network operators to get inspired by the work of Kuptiyanovich at least in this respect.