Boing Boing: Propellor-driven monorail from 1933

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Monday, April 30, 2007

Propellor-driven monorail from 1933

The June, 1933 issue of Popular Science covered this gorgeous "propeller-driven cars" that "hang from a monorail." This is what the future was supposed to be.

An improved airline cab, capable of 155 miles an hour, is the latest invention of the French engineer who developed the trench mortar used during the World War. Suspended on monorails, the cabs resemble airplane fuselages.

Link

Update: Toby sez, "Here's some proper engineering from Scotland. It's some lovely footage of the Bennie Railplane, a glorious 'Metropolis'-style bullet which sped (briefly) through a twee bit of the Glasgow suburbs in 1930. It was designed to do 120mph, and to use adjustable aerodynamic 'planes' at each end to trim its lift/downforce. It's well-described here and here. Wouldn't it be fantastic to drive to the railplane terminal in your Leyat Helica?"

posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:37:52 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	View a recent day: June 10 \| June 09 \| June 08 \| previous days \| by month and year Monday, April 30, 2007 Propellor-driven monorail from 1933 The June, 1933 issue of Popular Science covered this gorgeous "propeller-driven cars" that "hang from a monorail." This is what the future was supposed to be. An improved airline cab, capable of 155 miles an hour, is the latest invention of the French engineer who developed the trench mortar used during the World War. Suspended on monorails, the cabs resemble airplane fuselages. Link Update: Toby sez, "Here's some proper engineering from Scotland. It's some lovely footage of the Bennie Railplane, a glorious 'Metropolis'-style bullet which sped (briefly) through a twee bit of the Glasgow suburbs in 1930. It was designed to do 120mph, and to use adjustable aerodynamic 'planes' at each end to trim its lift/downforce. It's well-described here and here. Wouldn't it be fantastic to drive to the railplane terminal in your Leyat Helica?" posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:37:52 AM permalink \| Other blogs' comments View a recent day: June 10, 2007 \| June 09, 2007 \| June 08, 2007 \| June 07, 2007 \| June 06, 2007 \| June 05, 2007 \| June 04, 2007 \| previous days \| all BB archives by month and year Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: