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"did I had an extremely expensive wife - she would see a new car that she liked and just buy it... under California law I was bound to buy her debts. I think I turned out 16 novels in five years."
- Philip K. Dick

Membrane Balloon Helmet  
  A selectively permeable membrane worn as a helmet.  

When Hanville Svetz, time traveler from our future, tried the air in 12th century Britain, it was a bit rich for him.

When next he left the extension cage, carrying the flight stick, Svetz was wearing another spin-off from the interstellar-exploration industries. It was a balloon, and he wore it over his head. It was also a selectively permeable membrane, intended to pass certain gasses in and others out, to make a breathing-air mixture inside. It was nearly invisible except at the rim. There, where light was refracted most severely, the balloon showed as a narrow golden circle enclosing Svetz's head. The effect was not unlike a halo as shown in medieval paintings. But Svetz didn't know about medieval paintings.
Technovelgy from The Flight of the Horse, by Larry Niven.
Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1969
Additional resources -

This is a great idea - assuming that the parts of the atmosphere that you find essential are present.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Flight of the Horse
  More Ideas and Technology by Larry Niven
  Tech news articles related to The Flight of the Horse
  Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven

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