The World's Greatest Technical Wonders

Fantastic creations of the past are realities of the present and will be object of derision in the future. We cannot help making this observation when we look through the pages in the history of modern techniques and find "the real beginning of things." Altogether 50 years have elapsed between then and now, but in our present hectic age this is equivalent to at least 500 or 1,000 years.
In the course of the last 50 years our entire existence has been completely altered and all the latest technical devices which we now employ are so common that we seemed at no time to have been without them. At this period of the "beginning of things" witchcraft was adjudged to be responsible for all these imposibilities. In these days learned men and famous scientists denied that these new and fantastic ideas which are so common today would ever become reality.

Origin of Streamlining

Today, for instance, we frequently hear the word "streamline." Everything is streamlined - hats, shoes, handbags, cars, flying-machines, and last but not least, railways. Today we read with great interest of streamlined trains but very few of us know that its forerunner was 50 years old. It originated in 1880 and was built and run in Boston, Massachussetts, U.S.A. The system was known as "Meigs system" and the result of the first trial was really excellent. The caprice of time alone prevented these first streamlined railways being produced and run. It was really an elevated railway the wheels of which were bent inwards and ran on one-rail track instead of a two-rail one. In front of the driver was a big round window and above the driver sat an observer who peered through another window, on lookout for bridges, viaducts, signals, etc. He kept the driver informed of the progress they were making and instructed him to stop or slow up the train as the case might be.
Even more interesting, perhaps, was the first auto-car propelled by steam. It made its appearance in 1880 and had its origin in Paris. When it was first seen in the Champs Elysses it caused a great sensation. All the horses near it got nervous and bolted. Three sat in this open car - in the middle the driver and two other persons, one on each side of him who were there chiefly as ornaments. Behind them sat the passengers and seated at the rear of the steam car was the gentleman who manipulated the steam boiler which supplied the vehicles with its motive power. According to contemporary accounts all traffic in Paris stopped when the proud owner of the steam car appeared in the heart of the French capital.


First "Steam-Taxi"

To illustrate what a success this first steam cab achieved we might mention that two years later the first "steam-taxi" appeared on the street. This vehicle no longer necessitated the presence of the driver and the manipulator of the steam boiler. Their places were taken by one man who sat at the rear of the car, controlling the wheel with one hand and regulating the steam boiler with the other. The first steam taxi was manufactured in France by the de Dion Bouton firm which followed the Traparadaux system. We are really unable to comprehend how this cumbersome machine was able to attain the high speed of 20. m.p.h.

All these technical wonders were eclipsed when the first submarine appeared on the sea. It was called a submarine torpedo boat and was invented in 1884 by a French engineer called C. Goubet. The entire submarine weighed 1,450 kilogrammes and its crew consisted of only two persons - an officer and a gunner. The officer was in control of the submarine and gave instructions to the gunner about firing the torpedo. In these days it was rumoured that the Russian Empire had ordered a large number of these fantastic and mysterious undersea monsters, but it has never been discovered whether they were a success in Russia or not.


Ships Old and New

When we see maritime marvels such as the "Queen Mary" and the "Normandie" we have to smile when we look at a 50-year-old picture of the "Preussen," the greatest ocean-liner of the Norddeutsche Llyod Company. In its days it constituted a world's record and was of course equipped with sials, as well. The measurements of the "Preussen" do not, of course, bear any comparison with those of the "Queen Mary", for instance, but in 1880 nobody imagined that a bigger and more powerful ship might ever be build. It is worth knowing the exact measurements of this wonder ship. She was 118 metres long, her greatest width in the centre was only 14 metres and she had a tonnage of 40,000. Her speed was not much more than 14 knots. To illustrate the speed reached by this ship, a competitor for " the blue ribbon of the sea " in her days, we might mention that she plied regularly between Bremer-Haven and Shanghai. A return journey in the "Preussen" lasted nearly 4 months and passengers were frequently asked how they could stand such a superhuman speed....

When one rests comfortably today in the sleeping-car of a train with all modern conveniences one would scarcely believe what was the acme of luxury in this direction even for millionaires 50 years ago. The "Patent Sleeping Bag" was the name given to a device which consisted of two divided sections of a bag. The inner section was in the form of a cushion on which the passenger laid his head after stretching himself on the seat in his compartment. The outer section he placed on the rack. Next day he told his family how comfortably he had slept in the train....

Extracted from an Article by Michael Lorant
June 1937