The May 9, 1897 St. Paul Globe (St. Paul, MN) ran an interesting article titled, "Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies." The article describes proposed flying vessels of the future, as well as newspapers around the United States that had were printing questionable accounts of flying machines already in use. Many of the illustrations from the article are similar to the flying machines we looked at from 1885.

I had no idea that so many newspapers reported -- with questionable intentions -- flying vessels throughout the country. If that's true, I imagine someone has written a book on this late-19th century phenomenon, no?

Mechanical Birds: Dreams of Flight in 19th Century Journalism. See? I already came up with a title for you. Go write the book. Yes, I'm looking at you. Just write it. I promise to buy a copy. But if you really want your non-fiction book to sell, make sure to put "...The Blankity Blank That Changed America Forever" in your subtitle. You'll thank me later. When you're rolling around in piles of money. Cuz that's a million dollar idea.

You can read, "Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies," in its entirety on Scribd.

This is the age of the airship. The evolution of the balloon to the flying machine is nearly complete, and it is not improbably that within a few years great aerial vessels for passenger service and monster engines of war and commerce will be seen sailing through space.

Recently the newspapers of the whole country have been exploiting stories of airships seen hovering over various towns and country places in districts very far apart. The testimony seems impeachable, especially in the face of so many witnesses, but certain details are always lacking to complete the evidence. Now it is a story of a wonderful vessel seen on the Pacific coast in the neighborhood of San Francisco or maybe Sacramento. Next a report comes of one having been seen in Nebraska, or a farmer in some Iowa county reports seeing a bright light and moving object in the air on a dark night. Then the scene shifts, and a man or a score of men report seeing a wonderful what is it from some other remote quarter of the United States.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Flying Machines (circa 1885)
• Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)

This illustration by Alexander Leydenfrost appeared in the fiftieth anniversary issue of Popular Mechanics (January, 1952). It depicts "science on the march" and even includes a chart explaining the various elements of the image.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Atomic Power Plant of the Future (1939)
• The Domination of Space (1950s)
• The Future of the Helicopter (1955)
• Our Friend the Atom (Book, 1956)
• Disney's Magic Highway (1958)
• Nuclear-Powered Aircraft (1960)

It seems Eddie Rickenbacker's passion for futurism started early. A of couple weeks ago we looked at his excitement over the prospect of post-WWII frozen dinners, plastic skyscrapers, and the wireless transmission of electricity. But as early as 1924 Rickenbacker predicted that the flying automobile -- complete with folding wings -- would soon take to the air.

This article is from the November 23, 1924 Zanesville Times Signal (Zanesville, OH).

Imagine the convenience of being able to drive around in the city, as is done nowadays, and then when you start for some other town and get on a straight of way or enter a nearby pasture, to unfold the wings on the machine and take to the air! It will mean quicker transportation for the suburbanite, for people living at a distance from a large city, and for traveling salesman, who now uses the motor car and highways to cover his territory.

 

1924 Nov 23 Zanesville Times Signal - Zanesville OH Paleo Future

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Latest Type of Flying Machine (1901)
• Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
• Future Plane Travel (1920)
• Gernsback Imagines Life 50 Years Hence (1925)
• The Family Plane of 2030 (1930)
• Personal Helicopter (1943)
• "Aerocar" Hits the Road (1950)

The April 24, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think imagined a futuristic world of robot-driven trains. Looking at this image makes me think that someone could produce some pretty awesome steampunk art featuring James J. Hill and a Katrina Van Televox type robot, even though the "robots" described in this strip weren't of the humanoid variety.

Future trains will be fully automatic -- robots that can regulate their own speed and control their own movements to meet the most precise schedules.

The Union Switch and Signal Division is currently working on two kinds of electronic "brains" to make this possible. One type would be a trackside "decision maker," to regulate train speed, routing, starting and stopping. The other would be a "control servo," to signal that the robot train is obeying orders -- or isn't, and why. A central monitoring panel would oversee train movements for hundreds of square miles. The first such installation may be on the New York subway shuttle trains.

Next week: Lunar Power Pack

Thanks to Tom Z. for supplying the color version of this strip.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Closer Than We Think (1958-1963)
• Farm to Market (1958)
• Speed is Key to Future Travel (1965)
• Car-on-Train Pallet System (1968)
• Robot Drivers (1985)

My friend Andy, an Unsolved Mysteries nerd of the highest order, introduced me to an episode of the series which looked at the Dale; an economical three-wheeled car of the future. The Dale was to be produced in the mid-1970s by the not-quite-futuristically-named Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation, and bore some resemblance to the General Motors three-wheeled concept car (in reverse) from 1964. 

"We went to the research and development lab and observed what appeared to be people appearing to be busy but in wandering through the lab I saw no evidence that they were designing a vehicle or were in the process of making a vehicle." 

Previously on Paleo-Future: 

• General Motors Three-Wheeled Runabout (1966)
• GM's Shopping Cart Car (1964)
• Inventors Die Testing "Flying Ford Pinto" (1973)
• 100 Miles Per Gallon! (1992)

The Official Guide Book to the 1939 New York World's Fair includes this illustration of an exhibit from the Chrysler Motors Building. The exhibit imagined the rocketport of the future and was designed by industrial designer Raymond Loewy. The text below was used for publicity purposes and can be found in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Focal Exhibit on Transportation in THE CHRYSLER MOTORS BUILDING at the New York World's Fair 1939.

A dramatic visualization of the possibilities of swift travel over long distances by rocketship in the World of Tomorrow will be part of the Transportation Focal Exhibit in the Chrysler Motors Building at the New York World's Fair 1939. The exhibit will occupy the rotunda at the Chrysler Motors Building in the Fair's Transportation Zone.

Shown in the photograph is the rocketport of the future as sketched by Raymond Loewy, industrial designer, for the intricate model which will be used in the Chrysler exhibit to demonstrate trans-ocean transport through the stratosphere by rocket. The rocketgun is pictured at the moment of its discharge; this is to be accompanied by a brilliant flash of light, a muffled explosion and ingenious effects which make it appear that the rocket vanishes in the sky-like ceiling enroute to the stratosphere, to cross the sea and reach London.

As many as a thousand Fair visitors at a time will be able to watch the presentation of the rocketport with signal lights blinking, warning sirens sounding, machinery humming, while futuristic liners, trains, buses and automobiles discharge voagers. When the moment of departure nears, a crane equipped with a magnet picks up the rocketship, and, as the breech of the rocketgun opens, deposits the vehicle of the future in the gun. After an interval, the rocketgun discharges and the rocketship appears to be winging its way into the stratosphere.

Before the rocketship demonstration, the story of transportation from the dawn of history to the present is told by a series of moving picture episodes flashed across the map-screen. Man is shown walking; then jeweled lights on the map indicate the distance he could travel afoot. Similar treatment shows his progress through the eras of the Viking ship, the camel, the wooden wheel, the sailing ship, and so on to the day of the airplane when the final episode portrays man circumnavigating the world in a week.

 

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Chrysler VP Predicts Solar-Powered Cars (1958)
• Rocket Ship (1956)
• Railroads on Parade (1939)
• Metal Man Comes to Life (1939)
• Official Guide Book: 1939 World's Fair

Imagine a Hypercolor t-shirt. Now, instead of a t-shirt, imagine a car. And instead of a lame 90's fashion fad, imagine a lame 90's automotive fad.

The September 21, 1958 edition of Arthur Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think illustrated just such a possible fad. I mean... innovation.

 The automobile industry is studying a new kind of specially sensitive car body finish whose color can be changed at will. An electromagnetic gun would emit rays that would instantly "repaint" the car in any desired hue or combination -- perhaps to harmonize with milady's new fall outfit.

D. S. Harder, retired executive vice-president at Ford, recently described research in this direction. He added that this new kind of "photosensitive" surface would also be self-cleaning -- with the silent energy of static electricity or a supersonic vibrator driving off all dust and dirt.

 

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
• Closer Than We Think (1958-1963)
• Chrysler VP Predicts Solar-Powered Cars (1958)
• Cars Detroit Forgot To Build, 1950-1960
• Flying Family Car (1958)
• GM Car of the Future (1962)