Water powered cable trains Cable trains (or funiculars) are one of the most energy-efficient modes of transport out there. Many historical systems used this efficiency and took it one step further with systems exclusively powered by water and gravity. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email in the 18th century : the optical telegraph More than 200 years ago it was already possible to send messages throughout Europe and America at the speed of an aeroplane – wireless and without need for electricity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wind powered factories The Netherlands had 5 times more windmills in 1850 than it has wind turbines today. One of the most
spectacular developments of industrial wind power technology occurred
in the Zaan district, a region situated just above Amsterdam in the
Netherlands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life before television Before the birth of modern multimedia, innovative low-tech devices delivered amazing effects and fulfilled almost the same role that television, cinema and media players do today. Some features of these even modern multimedia does not match.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rings of fire - Hoffmann kilns A 19th century brick and tile production technique that is surprisingly energy efficient: the Hoffmann kiln, a giant version of the medieval oven stove.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A steam powered, wooden submarine : the Ictíneo Few Victorian inventions have the grace and charm of the Ictíneo, the series of submarines built by Narcís Monturiol i Estarrol in the nineteenth century. The Ictíneo II was the first combustion engine driven submarine ever, pioneering concepts that were only rivalled in the 1940s.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download, print, fold, paste Paper cut-outs have a long history, but thanks to the internet they are making a comeback. There are tonnes of paper models to find – many of them are downloadable for free.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cargo ships, then and now : which one is fastest?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computing without electricity Mechanical calculators may be an inferior technology, but they had the benefit of keeping things on this planet relatively simple. A brief overview of the most remarkable models.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite navigation in the 18th century Celestial navigation may sound a little outdated, but this system was perfected to such an extent that in the second half of the eighteenth century it was almost as accurate as the present-day GPS. Moreover, it was much more robust.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Citroen 2CV : cleantech from the 1940s In spite of all the high-tech that has been squeezed into cars since then, the 2CV from 1949 is still more energy efficient than the smallest model of the French car designer today. Why?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Electric road trains German engineer Max Schiemann was among the first engineers to develop
a commercial trolleybus system for passengers at the turn of the 20th
century. He also created some unique cargo systems.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinventing the wheel The Museum of RetroTechnology has an amazing collection of pictures and drawings of motorized monowheels. These one-wheeled vehicles (the driver was placed inside the wheel) evolved from pedal-powered monocycles at the end of the 19th century. They became sort of a wet dream for boffins during the first decennia of the 20th century.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Truckloads of harddisks Imagine you put a portable hard disk of 500 gigabytes in your backpack and start walking. In which cases are you faster than your internet connection?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moonlight towers The arc lamp - the first electric light and the predecessor of Edison’s incandescent light bulb - was extremely bright and much more energy efficient than other lighting technologies from those times. The lamps were too strong for indoor use, but they were regarded as the future of municipal lighting. Especially in the United States, many cities and towns were illuminated as if they were immense sports stadiums.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trolley canal boats For many centuries, canal boats were propelled by men, horses or mules
on the towpath beside the water. Before
diesel power took over, engineers developed several interesting methods
powered by electricity: trolleyboats, floating funiculars and electric
mules. Many of these ecological solutions could be applied today
instead of diesel engines.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When rich women built houses How did ladies spend their time when married to extremely rich men in an era before television, speed-dating and summer festivals?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life without airplanes: from London to New York in 3 days and 12 hours Before mass air travel took off in the 1960s, people crossed the globe in majestic passenger ships. Reintroducing ocean liners would be more than a nostalgic move: it could be a much more energy efficient (yet slower) way to travel.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bring back the horses Reintroducing horses in city traffic would be a bad idea - cars might be noisy, dangerous and polluting, but mounts are even worse. In agriculture, however, animal power would bring surprisingly large environmental profits. Replacing tractors with real horse power could be the revolution that agriculture needs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photoshop in the early 20th century At the beginning of the 20th century some clever photographers specialized in Photoshop before the term existed, faking postcards from mainly rural communities.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Museum of Old Techniques For almost every electronic device or oil driven machine there used to be a low-tech alternative that was powered by human muscles, water or wind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kalakala The first streamlined ferry in the world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The digital oubliette Chances are slim your children will be able to enjoy the family photo album when they grow up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Electric generators from the 1800s : a gallery of illustrations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Short posts on obsolete technology can be found at No Tech Magazine.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Comments