Allan Alexander “Scotty” Allan, one of Alaska’s most famous dog team trainers and handlers, designed this 60hp propeller-driven sleigh. He also trained 450 dogs for the French in WW1 and served in the Alaska Legislature! (Popular Mechanics, Nov. 1917).
This portable soundboard to enhance the transmission of “bugle Morse code” seems to have been a non-starter (Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1917):
Giant ocean-going “wheel” ship, “theoretically capable of great speed.” Don’t think they managed a scale model, let alone a prototype (Popular Mechanics, Dec., 1917).
Duck hunting with nets attached to the winds of a biplane (because it was illegal in California in 1921 to shoot wild fowl from a plane!). You needed a darn strong prop for this sport (Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1921).
The 1921 “Auto-Bandit Chaser in artist’s impression (Pop. Mech. Feb. 1921) and reality. A “trench gun” was a Winchester Model 1897 pump action shotgun–and that’s a story in itself!
Hockey stick with built-in lifeline for falls through the ice (Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1921).
A number of propeller-powered snow sleds were trialed, particularly after WWI. This is one of the more compact ones, whizzing along at 25-30MPH. The blade is 5 feet in diameter; I’d hate to see a crash between a pair of these in a crowded street!
I’m particularly glad this invention never caught on. Someone attached an electric starting motor to a perambulator. Talk about the “Roaring Twenties”!
Popular Mechanics (March 1921) claims this to be a 150mm artillery piece–I wonder if it’s actually the French Canon de 155mm GPF? The convertible truck/track SP carriage was reported to do 14MPH on wheels and 10MPH on tracks.
