Category: Weird Science

Giant Mechanical Mosquito, 1913

On: By: Romeyn

Self-moving mechanisms modelled on the lines of gigantic mosquitoes and designed to enable man to conquer Nature in those places where the climate or the formation of the country make it impossible for him to enter or to remain for any length of time.

The outer frame is 48½ feet square, and it stands 33 feet high from the bottom of the spuds to the working deck level. The inner stage is 29½ feet by 40¼ feet. In the body are the engines which, provide its motive power and the quarters for a crew of ten men. The head is nothing more than a huge engine, from which are operated the drills, cutting tools, lifting cranes or whatever it is that is necessary for the work at hand. The machines will be made of steel and aluminum, and are not inordinately heavy. They are run by the Diesel oil machines.

Finally their use as war engines, as terrible as the fanciful “walking tripods” of Mr. Wells’s Martians, is being brought to the attention of the Italian Government.

 


un-annotated version below

King Kong vs Mechani-Kong, 1967

On: By: Romeyn

“Death Battle with Robot Kong,” an illustration by Takashi Minamimura, features a cutaway diagram of Robot Kong, also known as “Mechani-Kong” in the US version of the cartoon and in the 1967 spin-off film “King Kong Escapes.” Built to defeat King Kong, the 50-meter tall remote-control robot is powered by a 200,000-kilowatt nuclear reactor and can shoot laser beams from its eyes and poison gas from its nose.