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?"
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300 Year Old Library Tool That Enabled A Researcher To Have Seven Books Open At Once, Yet Conveniently Nearby (Palafoxiana Library, Puebla)
350 Year Old Pocket Watch Carved From A Single Colombian Emerald
In 1955, This Tiny Electric Narrow Gauge Train Was Installed In New York’s Holland Tunnel To Monitor Traffic Speed
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.
A British Couple Sleeps Inside A "Morrison Shelter” Used As Protection From Collapsing Homes During The WWII 'Blitz' Bombing Raids... March 1941
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
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.
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.
Philco Predicta Television From The Late 1950s
The World's Oldest Surviving Diving Suit: The Old Gentleman, From 1860
Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell Showing Off The Dynatac Portable Radio Telephone In New York City In 1973
And when it stops working, you can use it to put under an unsteady table or wardrobe
Kodak K-24 Camera, Used For Aerial Photography During Ww2 By The Americans
The Old "Telefontornet" Telephone Tower In Stockholm, Sweden, With Approximately 5,500 Telephone Lines C. 1890
A Rail Zeppelin And A Steam Train Near The Railway Platform. Berlin, Germany, 1931
Helen, An American Indian Telephone And Switchboard Operator, Montana, 1925
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
Soviet Peasants Listen To The Radio For The First Time, 1928
Motorized Roller-Skate Salesman In California, 1961
FBI's Fingerprint Files, 1944.
The Open Side View Of An Old Calculator
One-Wheel Motorcycle, Germany, 1925
The Hindenburg Takes Shape, 1932
The First Public Demonstration Of A Computer Mouse, Graphical User Interface, Windowed Computing, Hypertext And Word Processing, 1968
TV Glasses Decades Before Google Glass, 1960s
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."
Bikes For Your Feet
Jay Ohrberg's 'Double Wide' Limousine. Built By The Man Who Also Created The 'American Dream' Superlimo
A 5mb Hard Disk Drive Being Loaded Onto A Plane, In 1956
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
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
And then his friend would prank him by farting in front of the device.
1911: Chester Mcduffee And His Ads Diving Suit, Aluminum Alloy Weighing 485 Lbs/200 Kg
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
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)
The Sea Shadow - An Experimental Stealth Ship Built For The Us Navy To Test New Technologies For Surface Ships. 1980s
Steam Locomotive On A Cable Car, Crossing The Canyon Of The Rio Grande River In New Mexico, USA, In 1915
Judy Sullivan, Lead Engineer For The Apollo 11 Biomedical System, 1969
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
A Look Into The Future Or A Blast From The Past? Gas Resistant Pram From 1938, Ww2.
Ford Model T With Optional High Water Kit Sold By Trilacoochee Ford In Green Swamp Florida.
The World's 1st Digital Image, 1957
Forging Press In The Krupp Factory, Essen, Germany, 1928
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.
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
I can see one way of killing someone. Yourself, by leaving it open like this.
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
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
The New York Central Streamliner 'Mercury' Passes Through New York City Hall, 1936
Portable TV, 1967
This 'Device' That Was Created Aiming To Develop Leg Muscles
The Armor Of A 19-Year-Old Antonie Fraveau, A French Soldier Who Died In The Battle Of Waterloo In 1815 With A Cannonball
Poor guy didn't suffer long... And poor guys who had to retrieve his body. Must have been a gnarly sight.
Transportation Technology Incorporated People Mover. January 1971
Just like a scene from James Bond movies in 70's. And you know what's next when something like this appears...
Austro-Hungarian Tail Gunner Armed With Ten Mauser C96 Handguns, Wwi
It's WWI because World War 1 and the capital i stands in for the Romsn numeral. Wwi is just a stupid noise.
Giant Italian Gun Captured By Austro-Hungarians During Caporetto Breakthrough, November 1917 [colorized]
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.
1972 Maserati Boomerang – Steering Wheel
I don't know why, but somehow, I believe this car can be used to go back to the future
The British Using Inflatable Dummy Tanks To Assert Presence On The Battlefield In Ww2
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.
And they put Patton in charge to get the attention of the Axis powers.
Load More Replies...Even better - "Das Briticher LuftenTank" (apologies for my crap German) :)
Load More Replies...Trying to scare the enemies by showing how strong their soldiers are
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.
Something similar was used in Operation Desert Storm, and they also matched temperature and EM transmissions expected of an actual tank.
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...Concorde’s Cockpit - One Of The Most Complex Cockpits In History.
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).
Dive Suit From 1878, Housed At The Maritime Museum In Paris
This Is The First Computer Mouse Invented By Douglas Carl Engelbart. It Was A Wooden Box With Only One Button
Amphibious Bicycle, This Land-And-Water Bike Can Carry A Load Of 120 Pounds; Paris, 1932
I wonder where the dip line is ... Those top tanks suggest the cyclist is down to the buttocks in the water. : /
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
Polish Policeman In Full Assault Gear, 1934
Giant Mechanical Tricycles By The Boston Woven Hose And Rubber Company, 1896
Radio Stroller, Stroller Equipped With A Radio, Including Antenna And Loudspeaker, To Keep The Baby Quiet; USA, 1921
So Ahead Of Its Time
Tsar Tank (Tank Lebedenko), 1915
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.
Pilots Of American 8th Bomber Command Wearing High Altitude Oxygen Masks And Flight Goggles, 1942
All-Terrain Car, This All-Terrain Car Can Descend Slopes Up To 65 Degrees; England, 1936
Extensible Caravan. Built By An Unknown French Engineer In 1934
Supertrain, The Failed TV Series That Bankrupted Nbc. This Model Cost Over $500,000
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!
People Wearing Earbuds Listening To A Phonograph With For The First Time During A Cattle Show In Tonstad, Norway, C. 1890's
The Scalp Molester – A Massager Made Up Of 480 Articifical Fingers
Wow... it stimulates blood circulation, brain cells and also removes dandruff and loose hair. Basically, it does everything
Futuristic Wwii German Ho-229 Jet Fighter Prototype. 1940s
Dr. Guy Brewster’s Bullet-Proof Armor, 1917
Israel's Weizac At The Weizmann Institute, One Of The World's First Computers
With this computer, the operator was able to determine the square root of 4 in less than three days!!
Robot Policeman, 1967
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
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
A Box That Blasted Your Head With Ultraviolet Rays In Hopes Of Curing Diseases
[1200x926][the Year Of 1918] These Photos Of German U-Boat, After Which She Was Dismantled And Sold As Scrap
American Built Tank Called “America”, Designed By Professor E.f. Miller Of The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. 1918
New Zealanders Posing With World's First Anti-Tank Rifle, German "Tankgewehr M1918", Grévillers, August 25th, 1918
Testing Early Television Technology, New York, 1959
Mimeograph
The first thing you did when you got your mimeographed page was take a deep sniff because it smelled so good!
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
"Almost Every Motorized Vehicle In Continental Europe".. nonsense
Computers Used To Be Much Larger Than They Are Now. This Photo Testifies To This. It's Just 1 Gb In 1981
This Old Thermostat Tells What Temp To Use By A Mercury Sensor
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.
A Hungarian Soldier With A Swiss Solothurn S18/1000 Anti-Tank Rifle. Southern Soviet Union, 1941-1942
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
Fowler Steam Engine 19th Century Australia
People used to display steam engines at local county fairs. They were crazy, loud contraptions.
A Modern Smart Phone On A Vintage Telephone Operator Booth From A Small Town Of A Third World Country
Those switchboards were used in every country around the world. Not just in the USA.
The author of this article wrote "A decade ago, smartphones didn’t exist, while three decades ago, nobody had a computer in their home." What? My family had a computer in the 80s. And iPhones came out in 2007, and Blackberrys were before that.
Thank you for your observation! The pandemic must be getting to our heads! We fixed the article! - Post editor.
Load More Replies...Very interesting, I like that I can see into the past in just a few photos. 📷
The author of this article wrote "A decade ago, smartphones didn’t exist, while three decades ago, nobody had a computer in their home." What? My family had a computer in the 80s. And iPhones came out in 2007, and Blackberrys were before that.
Thank you for your observation! The pandemic must be getting to our heads! We fixed the article! - Post editor.
Load More Replies...Very interesting, I like that I can see into the past in just a few photos. 📷