Zipper-Bag Airplane (1958)

The camping trips of tomorrow will not only include throw-away clothes, but apparently stow-away airplanes. This edition of Closer Than We Think appeared in the October 19, 1958 Chicago Tribune.

Airplanes that can be stowed away between trips, like camping equipment, may be a common sight in the world of tomorrow. They could be folded up like tents, then spread out and inflated to shape.

The secret lies in a new kind of fabric being developed by Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. This material has a network of internal threads connecting the outside surfaces - the longer the threads, the greater the distances between those surfaces. Varying thread lengths could thus make possible any kind of shape, strong enough to be flown when inflated. Rubberizing makes the fabric airtight.

Flying machines constructed of this "cloth" have already been successfully test.

Next week: "Highway Space Wagons"

See also:
Closer Than We Think! Throw-Away Clothes (1959)

Santa's Reindeer Out of Work (1900)

The December 22, 1900 Duluth Evening Herald (Duluth, MN) ran this illustration of the 20th Century Santa who, naturally, uses a flying machine. Those poor reindeer, now out of work, have been replaced by machines.

KRISS KRINGLE UP-TO-DATE

No old-fashioned reindeer for him - he skims over house tops in a flying machine.

Twentieth Century locomotion alone appeals to good St. Nicholas. Reindeer were all right for him a few years agone, but now he demand the swiftest of automobiles. There is something fine in this conception of the good old man making the rounds on the last Christmas of the century.

See also:
Latest Type of Flying Machine (1901)
Boy's Flying Machine of the 20th Century (1900)
Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
New London in the Future (1909)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Flying Machines (circa 1885)
French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
Pears Soap Flying Machine (1906)

Latest Type of Flying Machine (1901)

The May 10, 1901 Lincoln Evening News (Lincoln, NE) ran this illustration of "the latest type of flying machine."

A model of the very latest form of flying machine, shown in the accompanying illustration, is now on exhibition and has proved quite successful, being perfectly dirigible and easily controlled. As a flying machine of this type costs only $10,000, it is possible that wealthy Americans will soon be flying about in private aerial cars as tehy now speed over the county in their automobiles. "Own your own flying machine" will probably be the advice of dealers in "aerials" in the very near future.

This machine is the invention of M. Gaudron, a Frenchman, who claims that in this perfected "aerial torpedo boat" 100 feet long five passengers can be carried at a speed of 30 miles an hour. It will be driven by petroleum motors, with propellers, and the lifting power is hydrogen gas.

See also:
Boy's Flying Machine of the 20th Century (1900)
Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
New London in the Future (1909)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Flying Machines (circa 1885)
French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
Pears Soap Flying Machine (1906)

Take Me With You Dearie (1909)

A friend just sent me a link to Early Aviator, which has some great images of flight from the early 20th century. Some are serious photographs while others are fanciful illustrations of what aviation was to be.

Some of the sheet music imagery and titles feel like they could be part of a Mr. Show sketch. The image above is from sheet music published in 1909 by Junie McCree and Albert von Tizler, titled "Take Me Up With You Dearie."

See also:
Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)
Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular (1906)
Pears Soap Flying Machine (1906)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Flying Bicycle (1919)

Sky Toboggan (1935)

Forget personal jet packs, where's my sky toboggan? The April, 1935 issue of Science and Mechanics featured this wonderful "Sky Sled" on its cover.



See also:
Cyclonic Rocket (circa 1930)
'Flying Saucer' Buses (1950)
New York in 1960 (1935)
Amphibian Monorail (Popular Science, 1934)

Boy's Flying Machine of the 20th Century (1900)

This image ran in a supplement to the December 29, 1900 Minneapolis Journal called The Journal Junior. The caption reads, "A look to the future: The boy of the present has a glimpse of the twentieth century boy." Minneapolis Journal cartoonist Charles Lewis Bartholomew, better known as Bart, drew it.

My nerd-excitement was off the charts when I found this image. In the lead up to 1901 there were many illustrations (speculating about future technology) which were syndicated in newspapers across the country. Because so many illustrations were re-used in newspapers, it's rare for me to find images of this era that I've never seen before. This illustration, however, was completely new to me and I'm thankful to the Minnesota Historical Society for keeping their microfilm in such great condition.

See also:
Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)
In the Twentieth Century (Newark Daily Advocate, 1901)
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
The Next Hundred Years (Milwaukee Herold und Seebote, 1901)
What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years (Ladies Home Journal, 1900)
Flying Machines (circa 1885)
French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)
The Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)
More Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (1901)

French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)

Flying FiremenThe National Library of France (BnF) has an amazing collection of prints from 1910 which depict life in the year 2000. They are credited to Villemard.

There's speculation that they were included with "foodstuffs" of the era, much like the German postcards we looked at back in April.

Car ShoesThe BarberThe Avenue of the OperaA Curiosity
I wonder if the "curiosity" referred to is the horse as an uncommon means of transportation, or the extinction of all animals as referenced in the 1900 Ladies' Home Journal article we looked at a while back.The Electric Train From Paris to BeijingA RescueSpeak to the Caretaker
This image clearly takes its inspiration from another French futurist, Albert Robida, and his book The Twentieth Century.Sentinel Advanced in the HelicopterCyclist ScoutsPhonographic MessageOne For the RoadLady In Her BathroomHeating With RadiumHearing The NewspaperCorrespondence CinemaCars of WarBuilding SiteAt SchoolA Festival of FlowersA Chemical Dinner
It's amazing how long the idea of synthetic food has been with us. Before starting this blog I had assumed that the idea started with the Jetsons.Airship On The Long CourseThe TailorFlying Police

See also:
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Evening Fashions of the Year 1952 (1883)
The Air Ship: A Musical Farce Comedy (1898)
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)
No One Will Walk - All Will Have Wheels (Brown County Democrat, 1900)
The Next Hundred Years (Milwaukee Herold und Seebote, 1901)
What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years (Ladies Home Journal, 1900)
Flying Machines (circa 1885)

Flying Machines (circa 1885)

This image, depicting many different flying machines, is from the Library of Congress, dated circa 1885. The full image appears below along with many different cropped versions showing the detail of the piece. The Library of Congress description of the engraving also appears below.

No. 18 shows a collapsible Montgolfier balloon from 1784; no. 23 is the design for a glider balloon as described in "Reflections on the aerostatic sphere," 1783 (September); no. 24 depicts Jean-Charles (l'avocat) Thilorier's plan for transporting troops across the English Channel to invade England, ca. 1800; and no. 32 shows the dirigible balloon glider used by Charles Guillé for an attempted ascension in Paris, November 13, 1814.










See also:
Going to the Opera in the Year 2000 (1882)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Paleo-Future Wallpaper: Round 2

Paleo-Future Wallpaper: Round 2

Back by popular demand, we have a whole new batch of paleo-futuristic wallpapers. We even have a size for those of you who can't be bothered to capitalize the first letter in your phone's name.

I'll try to make wallpapers a regular thing from now on. I can't promise the consistency of say, Fish Fry Fridays, but I will try for a leap year type of schedule. (If leap years happened every few weeks.)


Personal Flying Machines (circa 1900)
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Flying Machines of Tomorrow (circa 1885)
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Gyroscopic Rocket Car (1945)
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See also:
Paleo-Future Wallpaper
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Gyroscopic Rocket Car (1945)

Pears Soap Flying Machine (1906)

This fanciful flying machine was used to sell Pears' Soap in the July, 1906 issue of the Atlantic Monthly Advertiser. This image can be found in the Smithsonian Institution Images Catalog.


See also:
Futuristic Air Travel (circa 1900)
Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular (1906)
Paleo-Future Wallpaper

Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular (1906)

The August 14, 1906 Lake County Times (Hammond, Indiana) ran an article by Sir Hiram Maxim titled, "Aerial Navigation Will Never Be Popular." An excerpt, as well as the original article in its entirety, appears below.

But I do not think the flying machine will ever be used for ordinary traffic and for what may be called "popular" purposes. People who write about the conditions under which the business and pleasure of the world will be carried on in another hundred years generally make flying machines take the place of railways and steamers, but that such will ever be the case I very much doubt.


See also:
A Hundred Years From Now. (New York Times, 1909)
Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)
Collier's Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)
Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)
The Next Hundred Years (Milwaukee Herold und Seebote, 1901)
What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years (Ladies Home Journal, 1900)