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"I was perfectly satisfied to write science fiction knowing that it would pay very little, that it would be seen by only a very few people."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Tubeways | ||
| A fully enclosed, evacuated tube, through which passenger train cars are shot as through a rifle barrel! |
| "...I've thought of an invention to make rocket travel safe."
"The only possible way of controlling a car moving at rocket speed, is to shoot it through a tube—as a bullet is shot through a rifle barrel. Then one can be certain of its course, can check it at the proper point, and know that it will land where one desires. There are difficulties, of course—
 ('Death in the Tubeway' by Stanton R. Coblentz) "How about friction?" I put in. "Wouldn't the speed of contact with the air burn it to ashes?" "There would be no contact with the air," Wendell stated. "The tube would have to be a vacuum." "Even so, wouldn't friction with the sides of the tube—" "Naturally, that must be provided for also. The tube would be wide enough to permit the vehicle to passthrough it without touching either wall. Automatic radio controls within the tube would hold it to its course, preventing the slightest deviation. The car would be constantly under as perfect control as a locomotive on the tracks—" |
| Technovelgy from Death in the Tubeway,
by Stanton A. Coblentz. Published by Amazing Stories in 1939 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the submarine tube from An Express of the Future (1895) by Michel Verne, the sub-Atlantic tunnel from Ralph 124c 41 + (1911) by Hugo Gernsback, the pneumatic tube station from Exiles of the Moon (1931) by Nat Schachner (w. AL Zagat), the pneumatic-tube zone from Mechanocracy (1932) by Miles J. Breuer, the vacuum cylinder from Wandl, The Invader (2839) by Ray Cummings, the vortal tube from Whipping Star (1969) by Frank Herbert, the public vehicle tube from The Houses of Iszm (1954) by Jack Vance, the vacutubes from Double Star (1956) by Robert Heinlein and the bounce tube from Double Star (1956) by Robert Heinlein.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Death in the Tubeway
More Ideas
and Technology by Stanton A. Coblentz
Tech news articles related to Death in the Tubeway
Tech news articles related to works by Stanton A. Coblentz
Tubeways-related
news articles:
- Hardt Hyperloop Fast Transit In A Can
| Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles! |
| Boring Company Drills Asimov's Single Vehicle Tunnels |
| Boring Company Vegas Loop Like Asimov Said |
| SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
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'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
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'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
