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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
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| Pneumatic Bumpers | ||
| An inflatable bumper system for ground-based motor vehicles. |
On the satellite of the tenth planet, gravity is double that of the Earth. Automobiles can hold the road much better and the natives drive like maniacs. They need really good bumpers.
| Terruns stabbed viciously at a red button on the panel that formed the front of the car. Something in the box at the rear muttered faintly, and began throbbing furiously. Rapidly, from the sides, a pinkish mass protruded, until inside of ten seconds a pneumatic bumper fully two feet thick had pushed out all about, front, side and rear. |
| Technovelgy from The Brain Pirates,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
In the 1930's, bumpers on cars were made of heavy steel; a variety of after-market products were also available at that time to add protection to a vehicle.
I found a patent filing for a "bumper-like member for a vehicle that surrounds the vehicle is formed of a closed flexible, hollow container with a tube or bladder filled with compressed air." Obviously, this guy is about fifty years too late.
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'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
