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Twenty years ago, you would have been the coolest kid on the block for carrying a Nokia 3310. But time flies and technological innovation accelerates along with it. Today, we live in a world ruled by touch screens, face recognition, and machine learning, so imagine what the technology was like a century ago, or two.
In order to find out, we’re taking you on a historical roller coaster to see what ancient technologies defined the future a hundred years ago. From motorized roller-skate salesmen in 1961, aka the proud ancestors of today’s hoverboards, to giant mechanical tricycles from 1896 and orgone accumulators of the '50s, these are some of the most interesting retro-historical devices.
Some were truly incredible, others look kinda cool, and the rest… make you think "what on earth were they thinking?"
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
300 Year Old Library Tool That Enabled A Researcher To Have Seven Books Open At Once, Yet Conveniently Nearby (Palafoxiana Library, Puebla)
Cathy Jo Baker 5 years ago
Yes, go! Puebla is one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico with wonderful people and wonderful cuisine! I can even tell you a great Airbnb for lodging in the downtown area! You will love it!
Load More Replies... cassiushumanmother 5 years ago
What an amazing library. Those tiles and wonderful woodwork, i'm in love!
FunFactBot 5 years ago
College students memes in 1700 like: when you have 20 parchments open, but you still have no information for your finals
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
The interior of the library looks beautiful based on the photographs I saw on Google Images), so I will definitely need to add it to my every increasing "travel bucket-list."
Cathy Jo Baker 5 years ago
Do it, do it! Puebla is a gorgeous city with kind people and delicious food! I can even tell you a great play to stay in the downtown area! You will have a ball!
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RELATED:
#2
350 Year Old Pocket Watch Carved From A Single Colombian Emerald
Sandra Schmidt 5 years ago
I have absolutely no practical use for something like this, but damn it i want one!!!
Aleksandra Elias 5 years ago
Here you can see how big it actually is: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335913/The-emerald-dial-Priceless-350-year-old-watch-single-jewel-lost-floorboards-centuries-cheapside-hoard.html
#3
Robo-Vac, A Self-Proppeled Vacuum Cleaner Part Of Whirlpool’s Miracle Kitchen Of The Future, A Display At The 1959 American National Exhibition In Moscow, 1959
Martha Meyer 5 years ago
More like her great grandmother, or have you ever seen anything male vacuum a home in the fifties?
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Grumble O'Pug 5 years ago
Time for everyone to rent the Doris Day wonderfully-awful "Glass Bottom Boat"
Alastair Stell 5 years ago
Hey wait... this doesn't look all that different from my Roomba. I wonder if her cat rode the machine like mine does?
Three decades ago, smartphones did not exist (the first phone of the "smart kind" was the Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994,) while just over half a century ago (the first personal-use computer Altair was developed in 1974,) nobody had a computer in their home. Just let this sink in for a little. It feels like technology is accelerating at an immense pace.
According to Ray Kurzweil and his book “The Singularity Is Near,” technology’s quickening pace is not just a feeling, but actually real. It turns out, “the pace of technological progress—especially information technology—speeds up exponentially over time because there is a common force driving it forward.”
In other words, every generation of technology improves over the last as it achieves some kind of rate of progress.
#4
This Car Is A French 'Delahaye 175s Roadster', Introduced At The Paris Motor Show In 1949. Only One Was Ever Made. It Was Recently Sold At Auction For Around Five Million Dollars.
Blackheart 5 years ago
cars used to be aesthetically well designed. today they are nearly all a similar design
Marta Dyrgała 5 years ago
Sadly that's true. But that's probably at least partially caused by safety reasons.
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Damon Gates 5 years ago
I'm having a bit of difficulty imagining how this could be maneuvered in a crowded parking lot.
Bettye McKee 5 years ago
The good old days when cars had STYLE. It looks like it has a personality.
#5
Philco Predicta Television From The Late 1950s
Deson 5 years ago
I would love to see this redone with modern tech either as a TV or a computer/gaming monitor.
Mike Scott 3 years ago
this is a modern tv not a philco.it was built in the early 2000's by Telstar in Wisconsin ,so yes it has modern tv tec including a remote
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#6
The World's Oldest Surviving Diving Suit: The Old Gentleman, From 1860
Lillukka79 5 years ago
This is wrong. The museum was established 1862, but the suit is over a hundred years older. There's also a hilarious video at the museum of them testing a replica at the Raahe harbour. It is an excellent museum.
When taking two separate innovations from different eras, from the birth of the first modern car in 1886 to the beginning of the self-driving car era in 2012, every step of progress speeds up from one version to the next.
The Singularity Hub explains that the more effective technology is, the more attention it receives, and the more efficient flow of new resources it has. “Increased R&D budgets, recruiting top talent, etc. are directed to further improving the technology.”
With that in mind, we can suspect that technological innovation will look very different in a couple of decades' time from now. It may not be the flying cars as we’ve seen in retro-futuristic movies, but it may well be an AI friend who talks to you like a real person. Oh, wait, we don’t need to wait that long, since that already exists.
#7
Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell Showing Off The Dynatac Portable Radio Telephone In New York City In 1973
Aleksandra Elias 5 years ago
And when it stops working, you can use it to put under an unsteady table or wardrobe
wyatt hollingsworth 5 years ago
Or you can use it as a building material such as a large brick or a cinder block!
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Alastair Stell 5 years ago
Well it certainly made more sense than the shoe phone (Get Smart TV Show from 1965!
Load More Replies... Marilyn Holt 5 years ago
Hey c'mon, these were amazing at the time. Even in the 1980's they were that big.
Sian Edwards 5 years ago
This would have been the prototype model, not the finished product if this picture was taken in 1973. It took the company 10 years from 1973 until 1983 to actually fine tune and work out charging logistics. The phone didn't go into mass circulation until 1984.
#8
Kodak K-24 Camera, Used For Aerial Photography During Ww2 By The Americans
Ian Koch 5 years ago
I was expecting some idiot to say: "nO tHe CaMeRa Is BiG nOt ThE pErSoN bEiNg TiNy!"
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Brandy Grote 5 years ago
My grandfather used these on Liberators. His last duty station was Bikini Atoll. He then became the photographer for the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for decades. He was very talented.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
That is amazing. I bet that he had some really fascinating stories to tell and photographs to share.
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Full of Giggles 5 years ago
Why didn't he just use his cellphone? God put cameras on them for a reason.
FunFactBot 5 years ago
This is unfair. This is a very funny joke, and I can tell it’s satire, but all of a sudden when *I* try satire I get a -131 point count? I don’t understand this website.
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#9
The Old "Telefontornet" Telephone Tower In Stockholm, Sweden, With Approximately 5,500 Telephone Lines C. 1890
Aleksandra Elias 5 years ago
You know, how sometimes, when you want to take a picture and there's a electricity cable there in the picture?
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
Let me read a letter I recently received. "Dear Dr. Breen. Why has the Combine seen fit to suppress our reproductive cycle? Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen." Thank you for writing, Concerned. Of course your question touches on one of the basic biological impulses, with all its associated hopes and fears for the future of the species. I also detect some unspoken questions. Do Our Benefactors really know what's best for us? What gives them the right to make this kind of decision for mankind? Will they ever deactivate the suppression field and let us breed again? Allow me to address the anxieties underlying your concerns, rather than try to answer every possible question you might have left unvoiced. First, let us consider the fact that for the first time ever, as a species, immortality is in our reach. This simple fact has far-reaching implications. It requires radical rethinking and revision of our genetic imperatives...
#10
A Rail Zeppelin And A Steam Train Near The Railway Platform. Berlin, Germany, 1931
Cip IESAN 5 years ago
The Rail Zepp (with a pusher propeller at the rear) could reach 143 mph / 230.2 km/h in 1931!
Alastair Stell 5 years ago
So, capable of 143mph. Which means it's faster than anything currently running in the USA. We are sooo advanced these days *cough*.
Roe Rainrunner 5 years ago
But the negative points were too bad, that's why we don't have them anymore ;)
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Thomas Turnbull 5 years ago
If that hit you while crossing the railway line you would be spread over the countryside as compost.
Roe Rainrunner 5 years ago
This is actually the backview. It's being "pushed" by propelling force.
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Saint Thomas 5 years ago
I may be going on a limb here, but maybe to propell itself :-) ? It was a prototype, only one was ever build and it was never used "commercially". What we see is actually the back of the "Schienenzeppelin" (aerotrain). The front is quite modern as well and look a little like the japanese Shinkanzen .
Load More Replies... #11
Helen, An American Indian Telephone And Switchboard Operator, Montana, 1925
The Pansexual MELONLORD 5 years ago
So they considered a Native American to be an 'incredible and futuristic technology'? I have concerns
M Kate McCulloch 5 years ago
I hear that some of the people actually prefer the term "Indian" but what I'd like to know is the tribe. What tribes were indigenous to Montana?
Charlotte A. 5 years ago
"Incredible technology that looks old today - look at this switchboard operator". o.O
Leslie Mildiner 5 years ago
Great - a bunch of non-indigenous people confident they know exactly what indigenous people feel about the subject - what a step a forward!
Ian Milne 5 years ago
Surely anyone can voice an opinion? If a subject is only discussed by those that are directly affected that would result in everybody else remaining ignorant about said subject. We all learn by reading, listening and discussing. If that door is closed then how can anyone take a step forward? By involving everyone in a discussion is the easiest, most inclusive way of understanding.
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#12
A Thin TV Screen (Only 4 Inches Thick) With An Automatic Timing Device To Record TV Programs For Later Viewing Is The Wave Of The Future As Shown At The Home Furnishings Market In Chicago, Illinois, On June 21, 1961
Baron Simone Von Bianco 5 years ago
Know this is merely a prototype. Probably if these hit the shelves would have been sold at astronomical prices (like any other designer item with a "from the future" sticker on it).
2WheelTravlr 5 years ago
It wasn't possible with the technology of the time, unless it used some sort of projection and the actual TV tube was somewhere nearby.
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#13
Soviet Peasants Listen To The Radio For The First Time, 1928
Full of Giggles 5 years ago
Who would have thought it started with Rasputin?
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Peter Kelly 5 years ago
The adults: "This new fangled technology is terrifying!" The kid: "Whatever..."
Ruth Beaty 5 years ago
And the kid is like, "Dude, I didn't know this kind of music was hot!".
Layla Corman 5 years ago
"This is the water and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes, dark within". -The Woodsman : Twin Peaks
Nia Loves Art 5 years ago
Pretty sure that’s a woman judging by the babushka scarf.
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#14
Motorized Roller-Skate Salesman In California, 1961
Marta Dyrgała 5 years ago
I can't focus on anything in this picture besides gasoline pump being shocked and touching it's face. Anyone? Just me? Ok. 😂
Katrina Hunt 5 years ago
Nooo!! I scrolled through specifically to see if I was the only one! Hes all 😱
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Zophra 5 years ago
Wouldn't this also be at the time where everybody smoked? Seems dangerous in light of that.
Amanda Hunter 5 years ago
I'd have loved to have seen him going like the clappers down the road!
#15
FBI's Fingerprint Files, 1944.
Tim Douglass 5 years ago
Surprisingly quickly. The prints are filed by category (loops, whorls, etc) so you can break them down quickly to a small subset and then hand compare. A good print expert could locate a match (assuming there was one) from a good print in an hour or less.
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Kathryn Baylis 5 years ago
This was back in the “round up the usual suspects” days, when confessions were generally “coerced”, and forensic science consisted of hunches.
Marilyn Holt 5 years ago
They were filed and sorted by eye-recognizable features. Computerized fingerprints didn't begin until sometime in the 80's.
F. H. 5 years ago
Each episode of CSI would take months in real life anyway.
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#16
The Open Side View Of An Old Calculator
Cori 5 years ago
That's funny. I thought it was one of Kanye's ridiculous new shoe designs.
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Bender Bending Rodríguez 5 years ago
So many small moving pieces. What a brilliant mind that came up with the idea and engineered this masterpiece.
Kevin Camp 5 years ago
Proof that even some of the most mundane devices are actually an engineering masterpiece.
Kathryn Baylis 5 years ago
My father had one of these. You punched in each line of numbers (and you had to push them hard to get them to register) and pull the handle on the side (like a slot machine) to get the machine to remember them and print them on the roll of paper tape. Then when you wanted to total them, you pumped the handle twice. Labor intensive, in comparison to now.
Tami 5 years ago
Mine too! That was the sound of Monday afternoon when he did the bookwork for the restaurant, chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk...ker-chunk...chunkchunkchunkchunk...kerchunk, kerchunk!
Load More Replies... #17
One-Wheel Motorcycle, Germany, 1925
Łukasz Markuszewski 5 years ago
In alternative reality at Bored Koala page there was a picture of two-wheel motorcycle and someone posted the same question in the comment.
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Brandy Grote 5 years ago
Hard to turn, and when you brake... you've seen a hamster on a wheel, right?
RavenclawQueen 5 years ago
I imagine that's like being inside a unicycle wheel, with a motorcycle added in the mix.
Dotzilla 5 years ago
something similar is in my sister's favorite game Donut_Cycl...100a68.png 
#18
The Hindenburg Takes Shape, 1932
jenjie.newt 5 years ago
I don't think that's the most hazardous thing in the picture
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J Rob 5 years ago
You are right: https://www.vintag.es/2018/02/amazing-vintage-photos-of-uss-macon.html
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Alexandru Bucur 5 years ago
That's not the Hindenburg, it's the USS Macon (ZRS-5), one of the only two airborne aircraft carriers made for the US navy in the mid 1930s.
tuzdayschild 5 years ago
Ironically, this is pretty much what it looks like the last time we see it too.
#19
The First Public Demonstration Of A Computer Mouse, Graphical User Interface, Windowed Computing, Hypertext And Word Processing, 1968
Marilyn Holt 5 years ago
In 1968 we were learning to use punch cards in a computer that took up half a city block.
MrTree1779 5 years ago
If you like this, check out "The Mother of All Demos": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos ----- Here is the full-length video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY
sebastian nye 5 years ago
steve jobs never invented nothin. he just figured out how to capitalize on other people's stuff.
Matthew Smith 5 years ago
And in the 1980's the BBC MICRO computer had a game that came with a mouse, circa 1985
Kisses4Katie 5 years ago
This was a VERY big deal! We take these things for granted, but using a computer was a completely different experience before then!
#20
TV Glasses Decades Before Google Glass, 1960s
Kathryn Baylis 5 years ago
Boycotted by “Don’t sit so close to the TV, it gives off radiation” mothers everywhere. That’s why they never caught on. Plus, having it so close to my eyes would strain them and give me a thumping headache.
Tye Dye Llama 5 years ago
Just imagine all the things those antennas would get stuck on, though.
#21
Orgone Accumulator, A Device Sold In The 1950s To Allow A Person Sitting Inside To Attract Orgone, A Massless 'Healing Energy'. The Fda Noted That One Purchaser, A College Professor, Knew It Was "Phony" But Found It "Helpful Because His Wife Sat Quietly In It For Four Hours Every Day."
Brett 5 years ago
Four hours?! “Honey sit down in this box while I got to the bar here is some books to keep you entertained”
BusLady 5 years ago
I hope he remembered to set his watch. Oh, it's time to go, gotta let the wife out.
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Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
She probably went in there when he got home so that she could avoid talking to him.
ChickyChicky 5 years ago
But who enjoyed the silence more? The dude or his wife, who didn't have to deal with his every whim?
Adam Hart-Dyke 5 years ago
Could also market it as the "Husband Isolation Booth - Get Away From Your Old Man For Hours"
Weezie Ray 5 years ago
Lol, for sure. It's easy to imagine her holding the cans while sitting in that thing, now that you mention it.
Load More Replies... Peter Kelly 5 years ago
He 'thought' she was in there for four hours... never found out about her affair with the young man from next door...
#22
Bikes For Your Feet
Brett 5 years ago (edited)
How to be the coolest kid on the block Step one: get a pair of these bad boys Step two: there is no step two
Layla Corman 5 years ago
Step 2- learn to wizz around on these while looking fantastically dapper.
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Shull GaRett 5 years ago (edited)
Damn... id probably try those in 2020... Ok lets wait till 2021 just to be on the safe side...
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
No, it's not the same thing. The Skikes are like short skies with a wheel in each end but the foot bike in the photo seems to be driven forward by an up-down movement of the foot.
Load More Replies... Patty Stier 5 years ago
A 'head over heels' toy - get a flat, wheel comes off, hit a bad area on the sidewalk and there you go ... head over heels!
#23
Jay Ohrberg's 'Double Wide' Limousine. Built By The Man Who Also Created The 'American Dream' Superlimo
Cip IESAN 5 years ago
If it rains it becomes a "pool-on-wheels"! You can also put some sand inside, to keep the kids quiet.
Bettye McKee 5 years ago
You could put on some music and dance. You could have a picnic. What you couldn't do was turn a corner.
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Marek Yanchurak 5 years ago
Roads? Where we're going we won't need roads.
Load More Replies... Jaime 5 years ago
Yeah that sounds awesome! I don’t know how you would fit that through a doorway though.
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Ruth Mayfly 5 years ago
If you want to turn round and go in the other direction....you have to find someone already travelling that way and swap cars.
#24
A 5mb Hard Disk Drive Being Loaded Onto A Plane, In 1956
Sirio Romagnoli 5 years ago
And yet we can't even write megabyte (or MB) correctly.
Load More Replies... Bardhi's Dad 5 years ago
My first pc, back in the beginning of 1990's, had an 20 MB hard disc. I could work only in DOS, if you know what it is 😉
Andrew Gibb 5 years ago
my Dad had the first 'portable computer' an Osbourne with 64Kb of Ram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
Philly Bob Squires 5 years ago
I still have my KayPro II, IV and Microbee machines. And a few Commodores!
Load More Replies... Curry on... 5 years ago
This made me look up how we got from the big box to the microchip. Interesting information.
#25
The 'Isolator' , By Hugo Gernsback: A Helmet For Insulating The Senses Against Distraction; From The Journal Science And Invention, Vol. 13, No. 3, July 1925
Petra Christovová 5 years ago
Oh yeah .. this is from times where people were sane and actually understood that creative/mentally challenging/studying activity demands focus and at least relative silence. While nowadays ... open space offices, lack of privacy and noise everywhere.
wyatt hollingsworth 5 years ago
Its all fun and games until somebody replaces the Oxygen with something else.
Mama Panda 5 years ago
If covid/or the threat of it persists, I wouldn't be surprised if we could be wearing something similar in the near future
#26
Using A Two-Horn Listening Device At Bolling Field In Washington, D.c., In 1921 Before The Invention Of Radar, To Listen For Distant Aircraft
Caffeinated Hedgehog 5 years ago
And then his friend would prank him by farting in front of the device.
martin734 5 years ago
In the UK on the South and East coasts you can still see "acoustic mirrors" which look like concrete satellite dishes and were also used to detect the sound of approaching aircraft.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Interesting. "See How Innovative Sound Mirrors Helped Detect Enemy Aircraft" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB5C1OMloeI
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Gabriel Proulx-Jalbert 5 years ago
False alarm guys it was just a bee passing in front ... again :P
2WheelTravlr 5 years ago
...and then some car backfires and blows the poor guy's eardrums out.
Randy Klefbeck 5 years ago
There were actually dish shaped concrete monoliths set up around the English coast during WWII that if you stood in front of, you would be able to hear planes coming from the channel that were a hundred miles or so out.
#27
1911: Chester Mcduffee And His Ads Diving Suit, Aluminum Alloy Weighing 485 Lbs/200 Kg
Whovian 5 years ago
I have a question... might be stupid.... but how would one come up wearing thaaat?
Brittney Sparks 4 years ago
Looks like it's attached to a crane so I'm guessing they'd lower it down then bring it back up? Just a thought idk honestly
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OhForSmegSake 5 years ago
Looks like something from a b-movie like "It's The Thing From Uranus"
Vaida Kuodytė 5 years ago
Oh god I love the nipples. No suit is complete without the nipples, OF COURSE.
#28
A Man With A Punt Gun, A Type Of Large Shotgun Used For Duck Hunting. It Could Kill Over 50 Birds At Once And Was Banned In The Late 1860s
plush n puppet shenanigans 5 years ago
punt guns were so powerful that they had to be shot from a boat called a punt hence the name punt gun to absorb the recoil, they were usually 2 gauge in caliber and they were used for putting food on the table (though not necessarily your table as it was used to supply large amounts of birds to markets)
Ian Koch 5 years ago
Thanks for the history dude! Also, would you have a shoulder if you fired that thing?
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Andrew Gibb 5 years ago
Don't know why you have been down voted @Caffeinated Hedgehog. I hated that laughing dog as well
Load More Replies... Brett 5 years ago
I don’t see why this was banned it seems completely safe kinda like lawn darts
Full of Giggles 5 years ago (edited)
Glad they banned it. Someone would eventually use this thing as a weapon of mass murder.
Niffler_13 5 years ago
People ate passenger pigeons in huge amounts, but they were also killed because they were perceived as a threat to agriculture. As Europeans migrated across North America, they thinned out and eliminated the large forests that the pigeons depended on
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Jan Doucet 5 years ago
There is a museum on the eastern shore of Maryland near Salisbury that has one of these guns on display with photographs of its' use "in the olden days" of duck hunting.
#29
The Sea Shadow - An Experimental Stealth Ship Built For The Us Navy To Test New Technologies For Surface Ships. 1980s
Fred Drinkwater 5 years ago
Sea Shadow lived in a covered dock in Redwood City just south of San Francisco. I originally that dock was built to conceal the Glomar Explorer, supposedly a ocean research ship, but actually a CIA operation attempting to recover a sunken Soviet nuke sub.
#30
Steam Locomotive On A Cable Car, Crossing The Canyon Of The Rio Grande River In New Mexico, USA, In 1915
#31
Judy Sullivan, Lead Engineer For The Apollo 11 Biomedical System, 1969
Brandy Grote 5 years ago
A "bump" of artificial hair at the back, an iron, and orange juice can curlers. And looooots of AquaNet hair spray!
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#32
Morris And Salom Electrobats In Front Of The Old Metropolitan Opera House On Manhattan's 39th Street In 1898. The Electrobats Are Electric Battery-Powered Cars That Served As Early Taxis In NYC
Victoria Lenny 5 years ago
Electric cars have been around for such a long time. It's a shame that we can't stop funneling money to big oil long enough to fund electric transport.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
When you went out for a Sunday drive back then you went out with full flair.
#33
A Look Into The Future Or A Blast From The Past? Gas Resistant Pram From 1938, Ww2.
Jon S. 5 years ago
In the build up to the war, they assumed it would be fought with chemicals. Both sides had massive stocks. They projected civilian death tolls in the millions from gas attacks.
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Jean Thompson 5 years ago
WW2 didn't begin until 1939. It was feared that Britain would be subject to gas attacks from Germany, so everyone, including babies and children, were issued with gas masks, which had to be carried at all times. This pram was an idea from the early days, but mothers, understandably, hated it and it never went into production.
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
Because you can't leave babies alone when you go places?
Load More Replies... #34
Ford Model T With Optional High Water Kit Sold By Trilacoochee Ford In Green Swamp Florida.
Grady'sRaider 5 years ago
They had one that you could put tracks on, like a tank uses. They were meant to travel on snow.
#35
The World's 1st Digital Image, 1957
Daniel (ShadowDrakken) 5 years ago
Funny you say that... the first television signal ever broadcast was a live feed of a stuffed Felix the Cat sitting on a shelf :D
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Raine Soo 5 years ago
BusLady: Happy Birthday, luv! Many happy returns of the day.
Load More Replies... Bacony Cakes 5 years ago (edited)
Yeah, i got some here: █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
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#36
Forging Press In The Krupp Factory, Essen, Germany, 1928
Kevin Camp 5 years ago
These type of forging hammers are buried in the ground now to protect the surrounding area from the sound they make. Very few are left in operation in the US.
M O'Connell 5 years ago
The US built 10 large forging presses (ranging from 8,000t to 50,000t) as part of the Heavy Press Program immediately following WWII. Eight of them remain in daily operation.
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ProductofNZ 5 years ago
It's amazing what engineers came up with before the days of CAD. All meticulously drawn and measured on paper and then manufactured. Awesome!
Bob Belcher 5 years ago
Took an artictechtual drafting class in high school since my dad was a draftsmen who regularly worked on E size paper. He worked for Hamilton Standard ( now Hamiltion Sunstrand) a subcontractor for NASA. They work on the backpack, toliet and several other items. It was always cool to see hand drawn drafts of items in space. I loved drafting with pencils and slide rulers. Then everything turned to CAD and I hated it lol.
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ADHORTATOR 5 years ago
You can use this machine to other things than making canons
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#37
Multi-Bladed Folding Knife Made In Germany Ca. 1880 For John S. Holler, Cutlery Merchant, New York City. It Can Kill In 100 Different Ways, Including A Pistol On The Upper Left Side
Steve Barnett 5 years ago
I can see one way of killing someone. Yourself, by leaving it open like this.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to wait for the next fifteenth minutes why I decide what murder weapon is dastardly enough to kill you. Oh s**t, just stabbed myself trying to open the bloody thing...
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
Edward multibladed-knife-and-a-tuning-fork-multiple-ornamented-saws-pliers-corkscrew-very-tiny-scissors-shears-screwdriver-pistol-weird-thing-that-looks-like-a-golf-club hands.
Load More Replies... F. H. 5 years ago
Look at the razor and scissors in the handle. I think the gun might be full sized.
Load More Replies... #38
The Antarctic Snow Cruiser On The Drive Towards The Ship That Would Take It South To The Pole. The Vehicle Provided Living Space And Laboratories To Five Scientists. Unfortunately, It Was Found To Have No Traction On Snow Unless Driven In Reverse And Was Eventually Abandoned. 1939
wandile dludlu 5 years ago
Imagine developing something for years and then discovering that it doesn't work where it is supposed to work. Why didn't they just try develop it in canada or something
Niffler_13 5 years ago
That's what happened to the MRAPs the US Government uses. My friend was in a unit with a dozen of them, got special training on how to drive them, only to find out they were too large for the roads. They abandoned all of them. $25 million each.
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Steve Haigh 5 years ago
Behold, the mobile lab of the future - its only weaknesses are snow and ice. I call it the Snow Cruiser.
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
Imagine one day this washes ashore off the coast of japan or something.
#39
The New York Central Streamliner 'Mercury' Passes Through New York City Hall, 1936
M O'Connell 5 years ago
It's a translation error. This photo was taken in front of the Syracuse, NY City Hall on the trains way to New York.
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#40
Portable TV, 1967
Petra Christovová 5 years ago
Looks comfy, just do not turn aside while watching, you might kill someone.
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
Wear it for too long and you become fused with Crocodile DNA, turning you into a crocodile person.
#41
This 'Device' That Was Created Aiming To Develop Leg Muscles
Chris Kane 5 years ago
it's like a mobile, the kid kicks the sticks to make it spin I believe.
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#42
The Armor Of A 19-Year-Old Antonie Fraveau, A French Soldier Who Died In The Battle Of Waterloo In 1815 With A Cannonball
Saint Thomas 5 years ago
Poor guy didn't suffer long... And poor guys who had to retrieve his body. Must have been a gnarly sight.
Erin Kavik 5 years ago
Unlike one poor guy called Nurhaci - took a cannonball to the stomach, lived for two more days of agony.
Load More Replies... ADHORTATOR 5 years ago
I have seen this piece at the Army Museum Les Invalides in Paris. the breastplate is so small...
cassiushumanmother 5 years ago
Les Invalides is also an hospital for army or terrorists attacks victims, an office for army high authorities, a cathedral and a military necropolis (with Napoléon The first body).
Load More Replies... #43
Transportation Technology Incorporated People Mover. January 1971
Bardhi's Dad 5 years ago
Just like a scene from James Bond movies in 70's. And you know what's next when something like this appears...
#44
Austro-Hungarian Tail Gunner Armed With Ten Mauser C96 Handguns, Wwi
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
It's WWI because World War 1 and the capital i stands in for the Romsn numeral. Wwi is just a stupid noise.
Grady'sRaider 5 years ago
Probably a propaganda piece. Handguns don't shoot that far. Hit a moving target from a moving plane, both doing excess of 150 mph. Naw.
Andrew Gibb 5 years ago
the guns could be timed to fire between the moving propellers on some planes
Jon S. 5 years ago
But you couldn't fit it in a plane. During WWI there was no consensus on how to effectively arm a plane so the crew improvised. It wasn't until one German engineer developed a clockwork device to shoot between propeller rotations that a suitable solution was found.
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#45
Giant Italian Gun Captured By Austro-Hungarians During Caporetto Breakthrough, November 1917 [colorized]
![Giant Italian Gun Captured By Austro-Hungarians During Caporetto Breakthrough, November 1917 [colorized]](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/clipimage-5fb77831ae19b__700.jpg "Giant Italian Gun Captured By Austro-Hungarians During Caporetto Breakthrough, November 1917 [colorized]")
ADHORTATOR 5 years ago
This photo was taken near Cividale, my family comes from there. My grandfather was injured when the Autro-Hungarians attacked...he was 10 years old and almost lost his leg.
#46
1972 Maserati Boomerang – Steering Wheel
Bardhi's Dad 5 years ago
I don't know why, but somehow, I believe this car can be used to go back to the future
Aleksandra Elias 5 years ago
pretty dopey from outside as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_Boomerang
#47
The British Using Inflatable Dummy Tanks To Assert Presence On The Battlefield In Ww2
Dave In MD 5 years ago
Please do more research. This was not on a battlefield. This was part of a deception program prior to the invasion of Normandy. Operation Fortitude South, fictitious First US Army Group.
Corey Smith 5 years ago
And they put Patton in charge to get the attention of the Axis powers.
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Giles McArdell 5 years ago
Even better - "Das Briticher LuftenTank" (apologies for my crap German) :)
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Caffeinated Hedgehog 5 years ago
Trying to scare the enemies by showing how strong their soldiers are
Jon S. 5 years ago
Th British faked armies multiple times during WW2. In Crete, Normandy, north Africa. My favourite example is from Somalia where they were trying to get the Italians to reinforce one position and leave another undefended. The deception was so complete that the Italians retreated instead, doubling up the defence in the place the British were actually trying to attack.
Damon Gates 5 years ago
Something similar was used in Operation Desert Storm, and they also matched temperature and EM transmissions expected of an actual tank.
Jon S. 5 years ago
The guys in the picture are in British uniforms. But late in the war British, Canadian and US forces were fighting under a joint command, so national distinctions are hard to make.
Load More Replies... #48
Concorde’s Cockpit - One Of The Most Complex Cockpits In History.
Stephanie Did It 5 years ago
The SST, Super Sonic Transport operated from 1969 - 2003 between the UK and the US. It reached speeds up to Mach2, twice the speed of sound (1354 mph/ 2180km/h).
Smitten Kitten 5 years ago
My dad flew in a Concorde several times, he said it was really small inside. Only 4 seats wide.
Andrew Gibb 5 years ago
I can recommend 'The Concorde Story' by Christopher Orlebar if you are interested in Concorde- the Duxford Museum has the test plane which you can go inside as well
Fred Drinkwater 5 years ago
My father was the US certification test pilot for Concorde. He was a long-time NASA test pilot and flew pretty much everything.. He said Concorde was his favorite.
ADHORTATOR 5 years ago
the Concorde was my father in laws first project when he started working in the 60s
L.Maverick 5 years ago
Somehow i miss the Concorde. As a kid i dreamed of to fly only once in a Concorde, but this will never happen. Why they stopped it at all?
#49
Dive Suit From 1878, Housed At The Maritime Museum In Paris
#50
This Is The First Computer Mouse Invented By Douglas Carl Engelbart. It Was A Wooden Box With Only One Button
Daniel (ShadowDrakken) 5 years ago
And by 1968 it had 3 buttons (in the "first public demonstration" photo)
#51
Amphibious Bicycle, This Land-And-Water Bike Can Carry A Load Of 120 Pounds; Paris, 1932
Francisco Scaramanga 5 years ago
I wonder where the dip line is ... Those top tanks suggest the cyclist is down to the buttocks in the water. : /
BusLady 5 years ago
Just what I was thinking. Only children or slender women could use it.
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Early Gps. Yesteryear’s Tomtom, A Rolling Key Map That Passes Through The Screen In A Tempo Determined By The Speed Of The Car; 1932
Triv 5 years ago
Not if the course takes turns into consideration. Side notes and arrows could indicate "turn here".
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Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl) 5 years ago
Looks like one of those cheap kids racing games, that were all the range in the 90's.
#53
Polish Policeman In Full Assault Gear, 1934
Tom Susala 5 years ago
This man died ten minutes after this picture was taken because he couldn't inhale...
#54
Giant Mechanical Tricycles By The Boston Woven Hose And Rubber Company, 1896
#55
Radio Stroller, Stroller Equipped With A Radio, Including Antenna And Loudspeaker, To Keep The Baby Quiet; USA, 1921
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
*sound of coastal defence gun turning towards you*
Load More Replies... Katy McMouse 5 years ago
Seems to me you wouldn't hear the baby over that loudspeaker - hence a "quiet" baby.
#56
So Ahead Of Its Time
#57
Tsar Tank (Tank Lebedenko), 1915
Saint Thomas 5 years ago
Just a prototype. It was never used in real battle. Too heavy and the small directional wheel on the back would get stuck in soft ground.
#58
Pilots Of American 8th Bomber Command Wearing High Altitude Oxygen Masks And Flight Goggles, 1942
Andrew Gibb 5 years ago
I am guessing that the things on hinges are to protect their eyes from a nuclear blast
Kevin Camp 5 years ago
They are like the sun visor in your car. Can tilt the down to shield the eyes.
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All-Terrain Car, This All-Terrain Car Can Descend Slopes Up To 65 Degrees; England, 1936
#60
Extensible Caravan. Built By An Unknown French Engineer In 1934
Guy MacGregor 5 years ago
The wheel are onlyu needed to move it. And it is retracted at this time.
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#61
Supertrain, The Failed TV Series That Bankrupted Nbc. This Model Cost Over $500,000
BG 5 years ago (edited)
Wait, wait, wait... this model is the 1-1/4 inch = 1foot scale model. There is also a full scale model which is over 570 feet long and a 1/4 scale model. The three models cost NBC over 10 million dollars to build in 1978! Also, this one was fully operational with model cities, towns and bridges which it passed through, and they CRASHED it!
#62
People Wearing Earbuds Listening To A Phonograph With For The First Time During A Cattle Show In Tonstad, Norway, C. 1890's
M O'Connell 5 years ago
They definitely aren't "earbuds" by any modern definition, but simple hollow tubes connected to a chamber with a diaphragm directly moved by the needle. Like these: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1096024A/en
#63
The Scalp Molester – A Massager Made Up Of 480 Articifical Fingers
wandile dludlu 5 years ago
Wow... it stimulates blood circulation, brain cells and also removes dandruff and loose hair. Basically, it does everything
Bacony Cakes 5 years ago
Our new machine simulates the universe in real time, to give you the greatest scalp massage possible.
Load More Replies... Caffeinated Hedgehog 5 years ago
I initially thought the caption below was "Using the new vibrator. Inset shows four d***s."
Jean Thompson 5 years ago
Can you imagine how much this would tangle up your hair!!! You'd never be able to get the massage "wheels" off of your head!!
KrabbyGramps666 5 years ago
Wait from trailer park boys if so I love that show.
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#64
Futuristic Wwii German Ho-229 Jet Fighter Prototype. 1940s
ProductofNZ 5 years ago
German engineers were really ahead of their time. Too bad their skills were used for nefarious purposes.
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
If the Germans had succeeded in taking these into production they would have been able to wipe out the British and American air forces and we'd be all speaking German now.
F. H. 5 years ago
Unlikely. And even then they would have needed to solve the problem of Hitler changing the production plans at the last minute and asking for a complete redesign when the planes were already ready to go.
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#65
Dr. Guy Brewster’s Bullet-Proof Armor, 1917
Jon S. 5 years ago
Famously how Ned Kelly was brought down. A shotgun blast to the legs, bypassing the armour.
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#66
Israel's Weizac At The Weizmann Institute, One Of The World's First Computers
Tom Susala 5 years ago
With this computer, the operator was able to determine the square root of 4 in less than three days!!
M O'Connell 5 years ago
Interestingly, it was the only computer in Israel until 1961. Also, researchers used it to discover an unknown spot in the South Atlantic ocean that does not experience a tide.
Ben Steinberg 5 years ago
No, Turing did the mathematics behind computational theory.
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Robot Policeman, 1967
#68
The Hull Of A Hughes Hercules, The Largest Flying Boat Ever Built, Owner Of The Largest Wingspan Of Any Aircraft That Has Ever Flown Under Construction, 1945
Bonnie Jarrett 5 years ago
Seen it in person! Thing is freaking ginormous!!
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#69
Royal Flying Corps Pilot Cadet Practices Deflection Shooting From A Moving Platform Installed On Rails And Launched At High Speed, In Egypt, July 17th, 1918
#70
A Box That Blasted Your Head With Ultraviolet Rays In Hopes Of Curing Diseases
Jean Thompson 5 years ago
"... when fully tested and approved ..." !!! What about the poor s*d sitting in there!!!
SimplySarcastic40 5 years ago
Unless you want to sanitize yourself LOL....Infrared is way better HA!
#71
[1200x926][the Year Of 1918] These Photos Of German U-Boat, After Which She Was Dismantled And Sold As Scrap
![[1200x926][the Year Of 1918] These Photos Of German U-Boat, After Which She Was Dismantled And Sold As Scrap](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/5fb63d9f71259_xmkc5lfzdwu51__700.jpg "[1200x926][the Year Of 1918] These Photos Of German U-Boat, After Which She Was Dismantled And Sold As Scrap")
#72
American Built Tank Called “America”, Designed By Professor E.f. Miller Of The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. 1918
#73
New Zealanders Posing With World's First Anti-Tank Rifle, German "Tankgewehr M1918", Grévillers, August 25th, 1918
#74
Testing Early Television Technology, New York, 1959
Bardhi's Dad 5 years ago
I don't think 1959 is so early for television technology. But this is interesting, anyway.
Marilyn Holt 5 years ago
Yes--we had a tv in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
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Mimeograph
Stephanie Did It 5 years ago
The first thing you did when you got your mimeographed page was take a deep sniff because it smelled so good!
Luther von Wolfen 5 years ago
The only good thing about tests and quizzes in the '70s.
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Patti Vance 5 years ago
i remember using this damn machine. the ink was messy, the product you used for the template was a pain and heaven help you if you made a mistake on the template! then you have to use some weird stuff similar to white out but made for the template material to fix and correct. first lesson learned after using it: hair spray applied to your blouse will take out ink stains.
#76
During World War II, Almost Every Motorized Vehicle In Continental Europe Was Converted To Use Firewood As Fuel. The Imbert Gasification Generator Was Mass Produced From 1931 On
Francisco Scaramanga 5 years ago
"Almost Every Motorized Vehicle In Continental Europe".. nonsense
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
Some of them were. But people needed wood to cook and warm their houses, so they weren't going to waste it on driving a car. You had no place to go to anyway.
Dorothy Parker 5 years ago
My only exposure to vehicles in Europe during the war is in movies. This hasn't figured in any of them.
Aileen Grist 5 years ago
My great uncle had a 1920s rolls royce with running boards and everything - he converted it to run on paraffin - never did go well after that
#77
Computers Used To Be Much Larger Than They Are Now. This Photo Testifies To This. It's Just 1 Gb In 1981
bern Habubbi 5 years ago
You ever see the computing power on the rocket they sent to the moon? It's insane, they had to get weavers to thread metal wires then polorize them as either a 1 or 0.. By HAND
#78
This Old Thermostat Tells What Temp To Use By A Mercury Sensor
Dave In MD 5 years ago
Not that old. And the mercury didn't tell what temp to use. The bi-metallic spring behind it would tilt the glass tube based on the ambient temp and the mercury would either make or break a electrical circuit.
Daniel (ShadowDrakken) 5 years ago
These things are awful, and they're all over shitty apartments in the US still
BusLady 5 years ago
I had one in a house I lived in just a few years ago. Didn't work too well.
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Richard Portman 4 years ago
I remember those. I remember when we kids we used to break the capsules and play with the mercury, once or twice. We didn't know that it was dangerous.
Dorothy Parker 5 years ago
We just replaced a thermostat with mercury like this, but on a spring. I, of course, kept it.
#79
A Hungarian Soldier With A Swiss Solothurn S18/1000 Anti-Tank Rifle. Southern Soviet Union, 1941-1942
Jen-Jae 4 years ago
And when he shoots, he only shoots almost near the tank but misses with a sniper and only heat the ground beneath the tank
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The World's First Nuclear Ramjet Engine, "Tory-Iia," Is Being Readied For Testing In 1961 As Part Of Project Pluto. The Rise Of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Technology Reduced The Need For Such A Complex Thrust Mechanism And The Project Was Eventually Canceled
M O'Connell 5 years ago
It's a highly ethically-questionable propulsion method. Being a 'ramjet' it requires a certain flow of air through it in order to start (provided by a conventional rocket motor or jet engine). Once sufficient air is flowing, it uses an UNSHIELDED NUCLEAR REACTOR to heat that air, causing it to expand out the engine nozzle, generating forward thrust. And spewing radiation the whole way. Thankfully, this technology was rendered unnecessary by advancements in ballistic missile technology.
Load More Replies... #81
Fowler Steam Engine 19th Century Australia
Luther von Wolfen 5 years ago
People used to display steam engines at local county fairs. They were crazy, loud contraptions.
Amy Hufford 5 years ago
They still do around where I live. There are shows dedicated to steam engines. When I was a kid, the big tractor and engine show where I live had a steam engine that would blow its whistle at noon (absolutely hated that if we were near it). They do demonstrations with them, using one as the engine for a saw mill and using the saw dust to create an awesome spark show at the end of the day.
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#82
A Modern Smart Phone On A Vintage Telephone Operator Booth From A Small Town Of A Third World Country
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
Those switchboards were used in every country around the world. Not just in the USA.
MiniMaus 5 years ago
Title does say " third world country"... oh ....USA qualifies now in 2020
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What do you think ?
Bored Little Panda 5 years ago
Very interesting, I like that I can see into the past in just a few photos. 📷
Bored Little Panda 5 years ago
Very interesting, I like that I can see into the past in just a few photos. 📷
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