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Some myths start early and die hard: the Lie Detector (Popular Mechanics, Sept. 1921).

With a few honorable exceptions, multi-function electrical appliances for the kitchen have been a failure–and it started very early (Popular Mechanics, June 1921):

This unique design was intended to democratize flight–“an airplane in every garage!” It didn’t. (Popular Mechanics, June 1921).

Denver “Bandit-Chaser” Part II: More moderate than the February (1921) version, but would you really want to be careering down the highway next to fixed bayonets? (Popular Mechanics, June 1921. Those are Winchester Model 97 trench guns, by the way:

An intriguing concept, this 1921 balloon/rotor helicopter designed by French engineer Etienne Oehmichen failed to establish a trend (Popular Mechanics, July 1921, p. 255). His later designs dispensed with the air bag, and he went on to develop a prize winning machine that set a circuit flight record of 1 km. He did return to powered blimps in the 1930s, with his remote controlled Hélicostat.

A “Czecho-Slovakian” invention: the walking car. Popular Mechanics (July 1921, p. 249) reports that the vehicle, driven by “heel and toe walking action,” is stable on slick surfaces! Just the thing for a winter day.

For the VERY nervous traveler: the diving suit carpetbag! (Popular Mechanics, Nov. 1915). It looks like a Buster Keaton gag.

Escape pods–YEARS before Ellen Ripley! (Popular Mechanics, Dec. 1915). Offshore oil rigs use them today . . . but this was designed for the crews of locomotives.

Is your apartment dark and crowded? No problem! Just hang your baby out of the window–with one of these (Pop. Mech. April 1916):