“Airships will carry vast lenses that will concentrate the rays of the sun, withering and destroying everything beneath them.”
Category: War Machines
Air Warship, 1898
A Hoboken (N. J.) inventor submits plans for an air warship which he thinks would be most serviceable in tho event of war. It is 150 feet Iong and 50 feet in diameter. Above it is attached horizontally an egg shaped balloon of the same dimensions, capable of holding 295,000 cubic feet of gas, which is manufactured from coal oil by an apparatus in the ship. At either side and on the top of the ship are propellers operated by a gas engine. These are controlled by a wheel. To assist the propellers in steering, adjustable fans are attached on each side. The ship is made of aluminium and is inclosed. The inventor says it will float in water, and wheels attached to its bottom can be operated for traveling on land. He asserts it is capable of holding five men besides an extra weight of from I,200 to 1,300 pounds. Its entire weight is 9,500 pounds. The cost of constructing it was $50,000.
Vickers-Crossley Armoured Car, 1925
The Vickers-Crossley Model 25 was a British military vehicle used by the British Army in India. Besides being used in India, the Model 25 was also exported, with one of the customers being the Imperial Japanese Army. The Japanese saw a need for increased mechanization of their military. In 1931, the Japanese army used their newly acquired armament during the Manchurian Incident of 1931.