The 12 Most Ridiculous Old-Timey Transportation Innovations

[marmar]

from Cracked:


The 12 Most Ridiculous Old-Timey Transportation Innovations
By Jesse Clark, R. Jason Benson


Nobody was ever more batshit crazy than old-timey inventors. The same semi-diseased minds that gave us the light bulb also dreamed up vehicles so bafflingly ludicrous that it seems their inventors learned the fundamental principles of physics and engineering from a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

That's why, if you crack open an issue of Popular Science from 80 or so years ago (they're all online, for free), you see that every issue featured a bizarre transportation gadget seemingly designed to murder you and everyone you love. Like ...

#12. The Gas-Powered Baby Carriage (1922)



Amazingly, in 1920s England, motorized baby carriages briefly caught on as a novelty, because apparently nothing soothes the frantic sobs of an infant like the sputtering backfire of a primitive internal combustion engine. A "nurse-chauffeur" would stand on two footrests in the rear of the carriage and use the handlebars to steer the contraption at a top speed of 4 miles per hour, which doesn't sound fast enough to ramp something, but we'd be willing to try.

.....(snip).....

#8. The Poochmobile (1939)



The poochmobile, built by an 80-year-old dog trainer named Z. Wiggs, was an admirable attempt to wean people off of oil back in the 1930s, although it was destined to fail because Wiggs made the understandable mistake of confusing "hilarious" with "practical." ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cracked.com/article_20064_the-12-most-ridiculous-old-timey-transportation-innovations.html#ixzz2dB9MlOFo

[Agschmid]

1. Kick.

Thanks for posting!

[HooptieWagon]

2. Steam Punk!

[Marrah_G]

3. Wooo, I want a pooch mobile!

I have a very agile puppy who's favorite past time is seeing how fast he can run......incredibly fast by the way.

[myrna minx]

4. K&R for the pooch-mobile alone.

I can't stop giggling.

[NuclearDem]

5. Another awesome cracked article.

[Orrex]

6. I hate cracked.com. Hate it!

Every time I visit that damn site, the next six or fifteen hours of my life mysteriously disappear.

[xchrom]

7. du rec.