Any discussion of the history of technology is incomplete without a mention of the steam powered robots of Victorian times. In the days of steam power, everything you can think of was built in a steam powered form. That includes motorcycles, bicycles, coaches, and tricycles. The Victorian steam powered robot Boilerplate has already been discussed in this blog, (with more information at Boilerplate by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan), but Boilerplate was really an improvement of an earlier steam powered robot, called Steam Man, built by a teenage prodigy and dwarf named Johnny Brainerd prior to 1865, according to writer Edward S. Ellis.
According to Brainerd,
"It
was about ten feet in height, measuring to the top of the 'stove-pipe
hat,' which was fashioned after the common order of felt coverings,
with a broad brim, all painted a shiny black. The face was made of
iron, painted a black color, with a pair of fearful eyes, and a
tremendous grinning mouth. A whistle-like contrivance was made to
answer for the nose. The steam chest proper and boiler, were where the
chest in a human being is generally supposed to be, extending also into
a large knapsack arrangement over the shoulders and back. A pair of
arms, like projections, held the shafts, and the broad flat feet were
covered with sharp spikes, as though he were the monarch of baseball
players. The legs were quite long, and the step was natural, except
when running, at which time, the bolt uprightness in the figure showed
differed from a human being.
More information about Steam Man is at the page titled Steam Man.
One interesting form of steam transport that hasn't yet been fully developed is the steam airship. It has the advantages of variable lift, expendable lift gas, and also allows the lift envelope to double as the condenser, which together with flash boilers and steam turbines should allow a weight low enough for aircraft use. See:
http://flyingkettle.com
for more information on materials and experiments.
Posted by: Enon Harris | December 06, 2005 at 03:08 PM
The above would be ok if it wasn't all fiction.
The first real steam man was made by Zadoc P. Dederick, announced to the press on 23rd January 1868, and a patent awarded on Mar 24, 1868. Well before Edward S. Ellis in "The Huge Hunter, or the Steam Man of the Prairies", recounting the exploits of his creation Johnny Brainerd and Brainerd's Steam Man, first appeared in Irwin P. Beadle's American Novels #45 (August, 1868). All Brainerd's and Reade's robots are fiction, as well as Boilerplate. For more see
http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/HistoryMakers.htm
http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/HistoryMakers/1868DederickSteamMan.htm
and
http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/HistoryMakers/Pseudo+'Art'robots/Pseudo+'Art'robots.htm
Posted by: David Buckley | October 26, 2007 at 11:27 AM
It’s great that more people are focusing on making better environmental choices. Plus technology is making it more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.
Posted by: Web | March 24, 2008 at 05:31 PM