Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Flying Platform | ||
| Simple black squares that fly and hover. |
Maybe the earliest description of what we would call a "hovercraft" today.
| These seemed at first simply square black platforms of smooth metal, lying flat upon the ground, each having a low railing around its edges not more than a foot high. As I gazed at them, though, I saw that at a corner of each there rose a squat cylinder of metal, studded with shining switches... On our own platform one of the spider-men stationed himself before the thick cylinder in the corner, and began to twist and press the studs upon its surface. A low purring sound rose from the platform's bottom as he did so, and a moment later the whole flat metal surface rose smoothly into the air.
 (From 'Locked Worlds' by Edmond Hamilton) Straight up it rose, with smooth, effortless speed, until it hovered at a height of a thousand feet above the ground... They hovered there a moment, then both swept away toward the north... |
| Technovelgy from Locked Worlds,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1929 Additional resources -
|
How did these remarkable craft work?
Like many baby boomers, my first exposure to this idea came in the Johnny Quest cartoon series which debuted in 1964.
This world of theirs, like our world, was a vast magnet, its two magnetic poles attracting unlike poles and repelling like poles. By the apparatus in the cylinder, the spider-men... by controlling and changing the magnetic charge, they were able to raise the platform into the air and move it in all directions at will...
(Hovercraft from 'Johnny Quest' [1964])
Compare to the gyrotomic from Ra For The Rajah (1938) by John Victor Peterson, the hoverlimo from Steel Beach (1992) by John Varley, the landspeeder from Star Wars (1976) by George Lucas and the hovercraft from Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Locked Worlds
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to Locked Worlds
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
| Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat |
| Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late |
| The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots |
| Musk Idea Of Cars Talking To Each Other Predicted 70 Years Ago |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'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...'
