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
"[Science fiction] has become big business, where books are merchandised and promoted and distributed and placed on sale like slabs of bacon or cans of soup."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Air-Tight Suit | ||
| An special outfit that would allow a person to survive in vacuum. |
This is a very early reference to the idea of a spacesuit.
| While it was the intention to remain as much as possible within the cars, yet since it was probable that necessity would arise for occasionally quitting the interior of the electrical ships, Mr. Edison had provided for this emergency by inventing an air-tight dress constructed somewhat after the manner of a diver's suit, but of much lighter material. Each ship was provided with several of these suits, by wearing which one could venture outside the car even when it was beyond the atmosphere of the earth...
|
| From Edison's Conquest of Mars,
by Garrett P. Serviss. Published by New York Evening Journal in 1898 Additional resources -
|
Here's an example of the use of the phrase "air-tight suit" in the novel:
The suit was also heated, and had its own supply of air, when disconnected from the spacecraft itself:
As far as I know, the first use of the word "space-suit" was in The Emperor of the Stars, published in 1931 (see space-suit).
I had stepped outside the car with Lord Kelvin, both of us, of course, wearing our air-tight suits.
Provision had been made to meet the terrific cold which we knew would be encountered the moment we had passed beyond the atmosphere—that awful absolute zero which men had measured by anticipation, but never yet experienced—by a simple system of producing within the air-tight suits a temperature sufficiently elevated to counteract the effects of the frigidity without. By means of long, flexible tubes, air could be continually supplied to the wearers of the suits, and by an ingenious contrivance a store of compressed air sufficient to last for several hours was provided for each suit, so that in case of necessity the wearer could throw off the tubes connecting him with the air tanks in the car...
Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Edison's Conquest of Mars
More Ideas
and Technology by Garrett P. Serviss
Tech news articles related to Edison's Conquest of Mars
Tech news articles related to works by Garrett P. Serviss
Air-Tight Suit-related
news articles:
- NASA's Reconfigurable Space Suit
- Building A Better Space Suit - The Biosuit
- MIT's Latest Biosuit For Fashionable Astronauts
| NASA's Astronaut Rescue Ball |
| NASA Asks For Moon To Earth Delivery Ideas |
| Rapid Automated Search For Habitable Planets Needed |
| NASA's Meteorite-Resistant Fabric Perfect For Space Armor |
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 Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'The dark birdforms dotted the mountaintops like statues of prehistoric beasts, wings outspread...'
'There’s still a protective field over the whole thing. It volatilizes anything that tries to get through.'
'...a uniform temperature for each degree of latitude the year round.'
'Is there not also a law providing for voluntary suspension of animation?'
Soon, your computer will be watching you... and judging you.
'Authority's 3-g catapult was almost one hundred kilometers long...'
