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Engineering

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Summary

List

Pics

Sci-Fi Ideas

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Year

Idea

Description

1866

Paper Steel

Specially treated paper that forms material as hard as steel.

1875

Undersea Mining

Conducting mining operations on the sea floor.

1889

Straightening the Earth's Poles

By means of a suitable force, push the Earth until the planet's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the ecliptic.

1894

Rooftop Windmill

Renewable energy source for the home.

1895

Undersea City

A great city under the sea, covered by a crystal dome.

1898

Autonomous Digging Machine

A mechanical device able to excavate on its own.

1899

Nickalum

An alloy of aluminum crystalized within a magnetic field for exceptional strength.

1899

Eadhamite

Synthetic material that creates extremely smooth roads.

1905

Glass Dome

Protective cover for cities.

1911

Automatic-Electric Packing Machine

A device able to pack randomly shaped objects combined into a single package automatically.

1911

Sub-Atlantic Tube

A tunnel under the ocean; the shortest distance between the two points.

1911

Iridium Spirals (Street Lights)

Streetlights provide sunlight at night.

1914

Sunray Tank

A device that stores sunlight itself for use as an energy source.

1914

Sustained Atomic Reaction

The idea that a sustained reaction could lead to an atomic explosion.

1914

Radioactive Ruin

The aftermath of atomic war is generations of ruin.

1914

Atomic Engine

A motor running on atomic fuel.

1928

Neutralizing Wall

A barrier that stops electrical and mechanical vibrations, rendering the protected area effectively invisible.

1928

Steering a Star

Steering a star, altering its path, taking it to a new location.

1928

Harvest Power From Stray Energy

A means of collecting enough energy from stray electronic impulses to power a device.

1928

Inertron

Material with all the properties of heavier metals, but lighter.

1928

Heat Transmitter

Device which captures solar energy close to the source and then beams it in concentrated form to outer planets.

1928

Hall of the Council

An enormous council chamber, fit for a galaxy.

1928

Ultron

Very handy material is invisible and non-reflective.

1929

Atmospheric Pressure Control Plane

A vessel that flies by creating pockets of high and low pressure.

1929

Boring Heat Machine

Takes tunnel boring material and turns it into building material.

1929

Shovel-Handed Digging Machines

Huge multi-legged machines used to dig and manipulate earth.

1929

Cubic City

A city contained in a single, immense building.

1930

Planet City

A planet the surface of which is entirely covered over, forming one single city.

1930

Artificial Island For Ocean Rocket Launch

An entirely artificial, floating island used as a launch platform.

1931

Master Machine

One single machine to run a civilization!

1931

Power Planet

A satellite that supplies the Earth with power.

1932

Manufactured Planet

Is that a moon - or a space station?

1933

Checker-City

A city planned as a checker-board of alternating vegetation and buildings.

1934

Moving a Planet

Early use of the concept of moving a planet to a new sun.

1934

Planetary Propulsion-Blasts

Devices capable of moving and steering planets to new orbits or new stars.

1934

Machine City

A city that is a self-maintaining whole entity.

1935

Automated Factory

A factory that works entirely automatically, without human guidance.

1936

Planetary Engineering

Remaking or modifying an entire planet.

1936

Atom Compactor (Metal Earthworm)

A tunneling device.

1937

Light Traps (Dyson Sphere)

Surrounding a sun, a set of devices to capture or focus solar power.

1937

Heat Generating Magnetic Disks

Devices used to artificially raise the temperature of the surface of moons to a reasonable level.

1937

Plani-Glass

Transparent and light and has the tensile strength of steel!

1937

Atomic Drill

An atomic-powered auger, for use in drilling deep into planets and asteroids.

1938

Liquid Metal

Metal that can be sprayed on.

1938

Coronium Ore

A radiolite substance to revolutionize industry.

1939

Atomic Torch

An atomic-powered cutting and welding tool.

1939

Durite

Super-strong material used to counter reaction-blasts.

1939

Move an Asteroid

Using practical techniques to change the orbit of an asteroid or small moon.

1940

Tesseract House

A house built in the shape of a four-dimensional figure.

1940

Vacuum Wall Compartments

Shielding against heat by using walls with evacuated sections.

1940

Double-Pane Vacuum Window

Double-pane glass separated by vacuum.

1941

Weather Integrator

An entire technology for controlling the weather.

1941

Solar Energy Beam

A solar energy plant on Mercury provides power for projects all over the solar system.

1942

Paragravity

Artificial gravity.

1942

Energy Converter

Massive unit on the sunside of Mercury converts heat into energy, and beams it around the solar system.

1943

Durasteel

More durable than steel?

1943

Aladur

High tensile strength, lightweight material.

1943

Impervium

Unique material is impenetrable and indestructible.

1946

Mining Worm (Robot)

An autonomous mining robot shaped like a worm.

1946

Asteroid Mine

The practice of seeking out and mining asteroids for their ore.

1946

Tanks

Device that provides mass storage of information.

1949

Metal Calculator Planet

A planet covered entirely with machinery to a height of twenty miles and covered with a metal roof.

1949

Herculoy

A very strong alloy like steel.

1950

Building With Lunar Materials

Using a planet's materials to make what you need.

1951

Nuclear Shears

Device uses nuclear power to accomplish basic shop tasks.

1951

Trantor

A city that covers the entire surface of the planet.

1951

Molecule Matrix

Storing information in individual molecules and atoms.

1952

Tiny Nuclear Generator

A complete nuclear-based generator of power no bigger than a walnut.

1952

Tree-Grown Wood

The natural product, obtained by cutting down a living tree.

1953

Big Flue

Enormous incinerators serviced directly by helicopter.

1953

Sunlight Blocker

A roughly circular field which denies sunlight to an area of a planet.

1954

Snake Boring Truck

A long thin truck like a snake, with a boring tip.

1955

Automatic Ore Cart

An autonomous truck for raw ore processing.

1955

Autofac (Nanorobots)

Very small robots working on self-replication

1955

Automatic Factory

Manufacturing facility that functions entirely autonomously.

1955

Light-Absorbing Paint

Space stealth!

1955

Automatized Factory

A factory consisting of machines with imposed human abilities.

1956

Fottengill Process

An early mention of the idea that energy can be derived from random noise.

1956

Fusion Power

Creating energy from nuclear fusion reactions.

1956

Invulnerable Wall

A material created by insects that grew stronger as it was compressed.

1957

Magnetic Control of Nebulae

Controlling the structure and shape of nebulae using magnetic fields.

1957

City Fathers

A set of computer systems which run every mechanical system in a city.

1958

Neutronic Shielding

Very high density monomolecular shielding

NAVIGATION

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