Things that a way older than you'd expect

[Lord Pentecost]

Came across this, electric segment display in 1910, anyone else got anything that is way older than you'd expect and fits perfectly into a steampunk world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0KZXsZWP0E&ab_channel=FranBlanche

[J. Wilhelm]

Does it have to be an object? Or can it be a scientific method or type of field of study?

This is a cut and paste paragraph from the first post on my Icarus Meta-Club on Brassgoggles:

Victorian Era scientists were busy developing the science that people would use to develop supersonic flight. They could not
implement the technology, because the truth is that the development of Fluid Mechanics as a field in Mechanical Engineering, was a slow, tortuous and haphazard affair, more like Frankenstein Monster of events, mostly made in the lab, that did not make much sense until after the turn of the 19th. C.  But all the tools for flight were already in place by the middle of the 19th. C.

Schlieren Photography of a bullet in supersonic flight, by Ernst Mach, 1888
The photo shows a leading bow shock wave, and a trailing shock wave

[/quote]

[Hurricane Annie]

Airships. Early designs were drawn up in 1670. It took until 1852 for the1st recorded flight. The crafts have been capturing people's imaginations for centuries.

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/ghost-airships-of-the-1800s/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/are-airships-the-most-villainous-form-of-transport.amp

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#:~:text=An%20airship%20or%20dirigible%20balloon,dense%20than%20the%20surrounding%20air.

[Captain]

"The fax machine has a much longer history than you might think! Invented back in 1843 by Alexander Bain, the "Electric Printing Telegraph" was the world's first faxing device. Since then, faxing has transformed many times, and is still widely used today. "

[Sorontar]

According to wikipedia,

"Frederick Bakewell made several improvements on Bain's design and demonstrated a telefax machine. The Pantelegraph was invented by the Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli. He introduced the first commercial telefax service between Paris and Lyon in 1865, some 11 years before the invention of the telephone."

"Around 1900, German physicist Arthur Korn invented the Bildtelegraph, widespread in continental Europe especially following a widely noticed transmission of a wanted-person photograph from Paris to London in 1908, used until the wider distribution of the radiofax."

"The 1888 invention of the telautograph by Elisha Gray marked a further development in fax technology, allowing users to send signatures over long distances, thus allowing the verification of identification or ownership over long distances."

[von Corax]

From a post at Hack A Day:

Although Milton Reynolds beat everyone else to market in the States, his was not the first ballpoint pen ever. That honor belongs to a lawyer named John Loud, who patented a rolling ball pen in 1888. Loud wanted a pen that would write on anything from wood to leather. His revolving steel ball design was just the ticket. The only problem was that it was too rough for paper.

[Triztrooper]

...unlurk…hi there. It does seems so very common for an idea to far precede the practical ability to construct it. Hence the patent record is full of ingenious designs that seem far in advance of their practical realisation. A current favourite of mine is a hydrogen powered pulse detonation jet engine, published in 1881 (GB188103561A).

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001594032/publication/GB188103561A?q=GB188103561A

[Miranda.T]

...unlurk…hi there. It does seems so very common for an idea to far precede the practical ability to construct it. Hence the patent record is full of ingenious designs that seem far in advance of their practical realisation. A current favourite of mine is a hydrogen powered pulse detonation jet engine, published in 1881 (GB188103561A).

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001594032/publication/GB188103561A?q=GB188103561A

Excellent - just the thing to get your airship moving at a decent clip!

Yours,
Miranda.

[Triztrooper]

Excellent - just the thing to get your airship moving at a decent clip!
Yours,
Miranda.

Well, as airships perhaps do not typically appreciate being thrust along to particularly high speeds, I  actually I turned this marvel to propel an airship with an uncommon silence and to great range.

https://gordonhart.substack.com/p/airship-1897

Despite my aversion, near the conclusion of the patent application Van De Kerkhove and Snyers actually propose that their motor propel a jet powered flying boat. As both jet power and flying with fixed wings had still a few decades to mature, I find this inventiveness and this prescience splendid.

[Miranda.T]

Excellent - just the thing to get your airship moving at a decent clip!
Yours,
Miranda.

Well, as airships perhaps do not typically appreciate being thrust along to particularly high speeds, I  actually I turned this marvel to propel an airship with an uncommon silence and to great range.

https://gordonhart.substack.com/p/airship-1897

Despite my aversion, near the conclusion of the patent application Van De Kerkhove and Snyers actually propose that their motor propel a jet powered flying boat. As both jet power and flying with fixed wings had still a few decades to mature, I find this inventiveness and this prescience splendid.

My goodness, there is a wealth of technical detail to pour over there! May I humbly suggest you add a link to these papers within the metaphysical/meta-clubs/The Guild of Icarus thread so that your fellow engineers here can be aware of, peruse and engage in discourse around their content (whilst enjoying a fine brandy, of course).

Yours,
Miranda.

[Triztrooper]

My goodness, there is a wealth of technical detail to pour over there! May I humbly suggest you add a link to these papers within the metaphysical/meta-clubs/The Guild of Icarus thread so that your fellow engineers here can be aware of, peruse and engage in discourse around their content (whilst enjoying a fine brandy, of course).

Yours,
Miranda.

Righty ho, will do.