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#2

350 Year Old Pocket Watch Carved From A Single Colombian Emerald

Final score:

393points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

And I thought they exaggerated in Romancing the Stone

81points

#3

In 1955, This Tiny Electric Narrow Gauge Train Was Installed In New York’s Holland Tunnel To Monitor Traffic Speed

Final score:

350points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

Slow down I the man in the toot toot command you to!

141points

Three decades ago, smartphones did not exist (the first phone of the "smart kind" was the Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994,) while just over half a century ago (the first personal-use computer Altair was developed in 1974,) nobody had a computer in their home. Just let this sink in for a little. It feels like technology is accelerating at an immense pace.

According to Ray Kurzweil and his book “The Singularity Is Near,” technology’s quickening pace is not just a feeling, but actually real. It turns out, “the pace of technological progress—especially information technology—speeds up exponentially over time because there is a common force driving it forward.”

In other words, every generation of technology improves over the last as it achieves some kind of rate of progress.

#4

A British Couple Sleeps Inside A "Morrison Shelter” Used As Protection From Collapsing Homes During The WWII 'Blitz' Bombing Raids... March 1941

Final score:

339points

POST

Your Local Lizard 4 years ago

I would wake up and hit my head

137points

#5

Robo-Vac, A Self-Proppeled Vacuum Cleaner Part Of Whirlpool’s Miracle Kitchen Of The Future, A Display At The 1959 American National Exhibition In Moscow, 1959

Final score:

327points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

My roomba’s great grand father

294points

#6

This Car Is A French 'Delahaye 175s Roadster', Introduced At The Paris Motor Show In 1949. Only One Was Ever Made. It Was Recently Sold At Auction For Around Five Million Dollars.

Final score:

326points

POST

Sori 4 years ago

This is so sexy

107points

When taking two separate innovations from different eras, from the birth of the first modern car in 1886 to the beginning of the self-driving car era in 2012, every step of progress speeds up from one version to the next.

The Singularity Hub explains that the more effective technology is, the more attention it receives, and the more efficient flow of new resources it has. “Increased R&D budgets, recruiting top talent, etc. are directed to further improving the technology.”

With that in mind, we can suspect that technological innovation will look very different in a couple of decades' time from now. It may not be the flying cars as we’ve seen in retro-futuristic movies, but it may well be an AI friend who talks to you like a real person. Oh, wait, we don’t need to wait that long, since that already exists.

#7

Philco Predicta Television From The Late 1950s

Final score:

307points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

Nice design, though

144points

#8

The World's Oldest Surviving Diving Suit: The Old Gentleman, From 1860

Final score:

306points

POST

Brett 4 years ago (edited)

No thank you this looks like it came out of a horror movie

211points

#9

Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell Showing Off The Dynatac Portable Radio Telephone In New York City In 1973

Final score:

293points

POST

Aleksandra Elias 4 years ago

And when it stops working, you can use it to put under an unsteady table or wardrobe

101points

#10

Kodak K-24 Camera, Used For Aerial Photography During Ww2 By The Americans

Final score:

284points

POST

Steve Barnett 4 years ago

He's so tiny.

189points

#11

The Old "Telefontornet" Telephone Tower In Stockholm, Sweden, With Approximately 5,500 Telephone Lines C. 1890

Final score:

272points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago (edited)

Imagine what that sounded like on a windy day!

135points

#12

A Rail Zeppelin And A Steam Train Near The Railway Platform. Berlin, Germany, 1931

Final score:

270points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

This looks pretty futuristic even for nowadays, though

132points

#13

Helen, An American Indian Telephone And Switchboard Operator, Montana, 1925

Final score:

259points

POST

Tabitha L 4 years ago

My Grammy was a switchboard operator. I wish I had a picture like this of her.

13points

#14

A Thin TV Screen (Only 4 Inches Thick) With An Automatic Timing Device To Record TV Programs For Later Viewing Is The Wave Of The Future As Shown At The Home Furnishings Market In Chicago, Illinois, On June 21, 1961

A Thin TV Screen (Only 4 Inches Thick) With An Automatic Timing Device To Record TV Programs For Later Viewing Is The Wave Of The Future As Shown At The Home Furnishings Market In Chicago, Illinois, On June 21, 1961

Final score:

256points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

They weren't wrong!

72points

#15

Soviet Peasants Listen To The Radio For The First Time, 1928

Final score:

242points

POST

Saint Thomas 4 years ago

That's the original "What sorcery is this"-stare right here !

205points

#16

Motorized Roller-Skate Salesman In California, 1961

Final score:

240points

POST

Whovian 4 years ago

Imagine skating normally when the fuel finished...... so slow

65points

#17

FBI's Fingerprint Files, 1944.

Final score:

237points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

How long did it take to find a match??

135points

#18

The Open Side View Of An Old Calculator

Final score:

228points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

Oh I thought that was mark zuckerberg‘s face with out its fleshy mask

229points

#19

One-Wheel Motorcycle, Germany, 1925

Final score:

228points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

How do you get out without tipping over?

80points

#20

The Hindenburg Takes Shape, 1932

Final score:

204points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

I would not trust those wheel ladders I’d be like nope I’m out

91points

#21

The First Public Demonstration Of A Computer Mouse, Graphical User Interface, Windowed Computing, Hypertext And Word Processing, 1968

Final score:

197points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

Looks very cool to me

31points

#22

TV Glasses Decades Before Google Glass, 1960s

Final score:

192points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

og virtual reality

64points

#23

Orgone Accumulator, A Device Sold In The 1950s To Allow A Person Sitting Inside To Attract Orgone, A Massless 'Healing Energy'. The Fda Noted That One Purchaser, A College Professor, Knew It Was "Phony" But Found It "Helpful Because His Wife Sat Quietly In It For Four Hours Every Day."

Orgone Accumulator, A Device Sold In The 1950s To Allow A Person Sitting Inside To Attract Orgone, A Massless 'Healing Energy'. The Fda Noted That One Purchaser, A College Professor, Knew It Was "Phony" But Found It "Helpful Because His Wife Sat Quietly In It For Four Hours Every Day."

Final score:

183points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

Four hours?! “Honey sit down in this box while I got to the bar here is some books to keep you entertained”

99points

#24

Bikes For Your Feet

Final score:

170points

POST

Brett 4 years ago (edited)

How to be the coolest kid on the block Step one: get a pair of these bad boys Step two: there is no step two

101points

#25

Jay Ohrberg's 'Double Wide' Limousine. Built By The Man Who Also Created The 'American Dream' Superlimo

Final score:

170points

POST

Cip IESAN 4 years ago

If it rains it becomes a "pool-on-wheels"! You can also put some sand inside, to keep the kids quiet.

137points

#26

A 5mb Hard Disk Drive Being Loaded Onto A Plane, In 1956

Final score:

167points

POST

wandile dludlu 4 years ago

I take a single picture that is more than 5mbs now

76points

#27

The 'Isolator' , By Hugo Gernsback: A Helmet For Insulating The Senses Against Distraction; From The Journal Science And Invention, Vol. 13, No. 3, July 1925

Final score:

157points

POST

Radar Doi 4 years ago

looks like a good tool for open offices nowadays :))))

83points

#28

Using A Two-Horn Listening Device At Bolling Field In Washington, D.c., In 1921 Before The Invention Of Radar, To Listen For Distant Aircraft

Final score:

153points

POST

Caffeinated Hedgehog 4 years ago

And then his friend would prank him by farting in front of the device.

139points

#29

1911: Chester Mcduffee And His Ads Diving Suit, Aluminum Alloy Weighing 485 Lbs/200 Kg

Final score:

148points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

Steam punk before steam punk was cool

88points

#30

A Man With A Punt Gun, A Type Of Large Shotgun Used For Duck Hunting. It Could Kill Over 50 Birds At Once And Was Banned In The Late 1860s

Final score:

131points

POST

plush n puppet shenanigans 4 years ago

punt guns were so powerful that they had to be shot from a boat called a punt hence the name punt gun to absorb the recoil, they were usually 2 gauge in caliber and they were used for putting food on the table (though not necessarily your table as it was used to supply large amounts of birds to markets)

132points

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#31

The Sea Shadow - An Experimental Stealth Ship Built For The Us Navy To Test New Technologies For Surface Ships. 1980s

Final score:

38points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

This also looks to me like a device from Bond movies

19points

#32

Steam Locomotive On A Cable Car, Crossing The Canyon Of The Rio Grande River In New Mexico, USA, In 1915

Final score:

35points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

Polar express gone wrong

27points

#33

Judy Sullivan, Lead Engineer For The Apollo 11 Biomedical System, 1969

Final score:

35points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

I just want to know how she did her hair that way.

30points

#34

Morris And Salom Electrobats In Front Of The Old Metropolitan Opera House On Manhattan's 39th Street In 1898. The Electrobats Are Electric Battery-Powered Cars That Served As Early Taxis In NYC

Final score:

35points

POST

Norma 4 years ago (edited)

and the drivers look more dashing than their fares!

13points

#35

A Look Into The Future Or A Blast From The Past? Gas Resistant Pram From 1938, Ww2.

Final score:

35points

POST

Daria B 4 years ago

Reading Nausicaa recently, and, yep. This part of history obviously played a big role in the inspiration for Miyazaki.

8points

#36

Ford Model T With Optional High Water Kit Sold By Trilacoochee Ford In Green Swamp Florida.

Final score:

34points

POST

wandile dludlu 4 years ago

Google 'DONK Cars' Donk-cars-...a8fca6.jpg

9points

#37

The World's 1st Digital Image, 1957

Final score:

34points

POST

Saint Thomas 4 years ago

I'm surprised it's not a cat.

67points

#38

Forging Press In The Krupp Factory, Essen, Germany, 1928

Final score:

34points

POST

Kevin Camp 4 years ago

These type of forging hammers are buried in the ground now to protect the surrounding area from the sound they make. Very few are left in operation in the US.

9points

#39

Multi-Bladed Folding Knife Made In Germany Ca. 1880 For John S. Holler, Cutlery Merchant, New York City. It Can Kill In 100 Different Ways, Including A Pistol On The Upper Left Side

Final score:

34points

POST

Steve Barnett 4 years ago

I can see one way of killing someone. Yourself, by leaving it open like this.

40points

#40

The Antarctic Snow Cruiser On The Drive Towards The Ship That Would Take It South To The Pole. The Vehicle Provided Living Space And Laboratories To Five Scientists. Unfortunately, It Was Found To Have No Traction On Snow Unless Driven In Reverse And Was Eventually Abandoned. 1939

The Antarctic Snow Cruiser On The Drive Towards The Ship That Would Take It South To The Pole. The Vehicle Provided Living Space And Laboratories To Five Scientists. Unfortunately, It Was Found To Have No Traction On Snow Unless Driven In Reverse And Was Eventually Abandoned. 1939

Final score:

33points

POST

wandile dludlu 4 years ago

Imagine developing something for years and then discovering that it doesn't work where it is supposed to work. Why didn't they just try develop it in canada or something

31points

#41

The New York Central Streamliner 'Mercury' Passes Through New York City Hall, 1936

Final score:

33points

POST

Norma 4 years ago

wait...it went through city hall?!?!?!

9points

#42

Portable TV, 1967

Final score:

33points

POST

Steve Barnett 4 years ago

Oh yes, very portable.

30points

#43

This 'Device' That Was Created Aiming To Develop Leg Muscles

Final score:

31points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

WTF is going on here?

25points

#44

The Armor Of A 19-Year-Old Antonie Fraveau, A French Soldier Who Died In The Battle Of Waterloo In 1815 With A Cannonball

Final score:

30points

POST

Saint Thomas 4 years ago

Poor guy didn't suffer long... And poor guys who had to retrieve his body. Must have been a gnarly sight.

22points

#45

Transportation Technology Incorporated People Mover. January 1971

Final score:

29points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

Just like a scene from James Bond movies in 70's. And you know what's next when something like this appears...

10points

#46

Austro-Hungarian Tail Gunner Armed With Ten Mauser C96 Handguns, Wwi

Final score:

28points

POST

Evil Little Thing 4 years ago

It's WWI because World War 1 and the capital i stands in for the Romsn numeral. Wwi is just a stupid noise.

24points

#47

Giant Italian Gun Captured By Austro-Hungarians During Caporetto Breakthrough, November 1917 [colorized]

Final score:

28points

POST

ADHORTATOR 4 years ago

This photo was taken near Cividale, my family comes from there. My grandfather was injured when the Autro-Hungarians attacked...he was 10 years old and almost lost his leg.

18points

#48

1972 Maserati Boomerang – Steering Wheel

Final score:

28points

POST

Bardhi's Dad 4 years ago

I don't know why, but somehow, I believe this car can be used to go back to the future

21points

#49

The British Using Inflatable Dummy Tanks To Assert Presence On The Battlefield In Ww2

Final score:

28points

POST

Dave In MD 4 years ago

Please do more research. This was not on a battlefield. This was part of a deception program prior to the invasion of Normandy. Operation Fortitude South, fictitious First US Army Group.

38points

#50

Concorde’s Cockpit - One Of The Most Complex Cockpits In History.

Final score:

27points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

The SST, Super Sonic Transport operated from 1969 - 2003 between the UK and the US. It reached speeds up to Mach2, twice the speed of sound (1354 mph/ 2180km/h).

12points

#51

Dive Suit From 1878, Housed At The Maritime Museum In Paris

Final score:

27points

POST

Giles McArdell 4 years ago

Where's his little sister?

19points

#52

This Is The First Computer Mouse Invented By Douglas Carl Engelbart. It Was A Wooden Box With Only One Button

Final score:

25points

POST

kjorn 4 years ago

now let's play call of duty

14points

#53

Amphibious Bicycle, This Land-And-Water Bike Can Carry A Load Of 120 Pounds; Paris, 1932

Final score:

25points

POST

Francisco Scaramanga 4 years ago

I wonder where the dip line is ... Those top tanks suggest the cyclist is down to the buttocks in the water. : /

14points

#54

Early Gps. Yesteryear’s Tomtom, A Rolling Key Map That Passes Through The Screen In A Tempo Determined By The Speed Of The Car; 1932

Final score:

25points

POST

Chris Miller 4 years ago

You can only straight, if you turn you will get lost.

9points

#55

Polish Policeman In Full Assault Gear, 1934

Final score:

24points

POST

Owen Purdy 4 years ago

The trench coat!!!

5points

#56

Giant Mechanical Tricycles By The Boston Woven Hose And Rubber Company, 1896

Final score:

24points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

The original Big Wheel

7points

#57

Radio Stroller, Stroller Equipped With A Radio, Including Antenna And Loudspeaker, To Keep The Baby Quiet; USA, 1921

Final score:

23points

POST

Daria B 4 years ago

The first Baby Shark ♡

8points

#58

So Ahead Of Its Time

Final score:

23points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

I totally would take that as my first car!

12points

#59

Tsar Tank (Tank Lebedenko), 1915

Final score:

21points

POST

Saint Thomas 4 years ago

Just a prototype. It was never used in real battle. Too heavy and the small directional wheel on the back would get stuck in soft ground.

9points

#60

Pilots Of American 8th Bomber Command Wearing High Altitude Oxygen Masks And Flight Goggles, 1942

Final score:

21points

POST

Daniel (ShadowDrakken) 4 years ago

Starlord

1point

#61

All-Terrain Car, This All-Terrain Car Can Descend Slopes Up To 65 Degrees; England, 1936

Final score:

21points

POST

Katherine Boag 4 years ago

This car looks wheely good

15points

#62

Extensible Caravan. Built By An Unknown French Engineer In 1934

Final score:

21points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

Only two wheels?

7points

#63

Supertrain, The Failed TV Series That Bankrupted Nbc. This Model Cost Over $500,000

Final score:

20points

POST

BG 4 years ago (edited)

Wait, wait, wait... this model is the 1-1/4 inch = 1foot scale model. There is also a full scale model which is over 570 feet long and a 1/4 scale model. The three models cost NBC over 10 million dollars to build in 1978! Also, this one was fully operational with model cities, towns and bridges which it passed through, and they CRASHED it!

23points

#64

People Wearing Earbuds Listening To A Phonograph With For The First Time During A Cattle Show In Tonstad, Norway, C. 1890's

Final score:

19points

POST

Thomas Robb 4 years ago

They dont look happy.

4points

#65

The Scalp Molester – A Massager Made Up Of 480 Articifical Fingers

Final score:

19points

POST

wandile dludlu 4 years ago

Wow... it stimulates blood circulation, brain cells and also removes dandruff and loose hair. Basically, it does everything

10points

#66

Futuristic Wwii German Ho-229 Jet Fighter Prototype. 1940s

Final score:

18points

POST

Andrew Gibb 4 years ago

approved by Fledermaus

6points

#67

Dr. Guy Brewster’s Bullet-Proof Armor, 1917

Final score:

18points

POST

WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago

So you aim for the legs.

5points

#68

Israel's Weizac At The Weizmann Institute, One Of The World's First Computers

Final score:

17points

POST

Tom Susala 4 years ago

With this computer, the operator was able to determine the square root of 4 in less than three days!!

7points

#69

Robot Policeman, 1967

Final score:

17points

POST

Andrew Gibb 4 years ago

have you seen this boy?

6points

#70

The Hull Of A Hughes Hercules, The Largest Flying Boat Ever Built, Owner Of The Largest Wingspan Of Any Aircraft That Has Ever Flown Under Construction, 1945

Final score:

16points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

The Spruce Goose

13points

#71

Royal Flying Corps Pilot Cadet Practices Deflection Shooting From A Moving Platform Installed On Rails And Launched At High Speed, In Egypt, July 17th, 1918

Final score:

16points

POST

Michael Wheeler 4 years ago

Best fairground ride ever

12points

#72

A Box That Blasted Your Head With Ultraviolet Rays In Hopes Of Curing Diseases

Final score:

16points

POST

kjorn 4 years ago

if it's not some gamma ray i don't want to

7points

#73

[1200x926][the Year Of 1918] These Photos Of German U-Boat, After Which She Was Dismantled And Sold As Scrap

Final score:

14points

POST

Soap 4 years ago

That looks TERRIFYING :D

2points

#74

American Built Tank Called “America”, Designed By Professor E.f. Miller Of The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. 1918

Final score:

14points

POST

Ben Stubbs 4 years ago

He designed it? Looks like a rip off of the British Mk1 x

8points

#75

New Zealanders Posing With World's First Anti-Tank Rifle, German "Tankgewehr M1918", Grévillers, August 25th, 1918

Final score:

13points

POST

Brett 4 years ago

I love the proud look on their faces

5points

#76

Testing Early Television Technology, New York, 1959

Final score:

13points

POST

Anton Kider 4 years ago (edited)

Early for TV was in the 20's

6points

#77

Mimeograph

Final score:

12points

POST

Stephanie Did It 4 years ago

The first thing you did when you got your mimeographed page was take a deep sniff because it smelled so good!

37points

#78

During World War II, Almost Every Motorized Vehicle In Continental Europe Was Converted To Use Firewood As Fuel. The Imbert Gasification Generator Was Mass Produced From 1931 On

Final score:

11points

POST

Francisco Scaramanga 4 years ago

"Almost Every Motorized Vehicle In Continental Europe".. nonsense

39points

#79

Computers Used To Be Much Larger Than They Are Now. This Photo Testifies To This. It's Just 1 Gb In 1981

Final score:

11points

POST

Martha Meyer 4 years ago

1GB was a lot even ten years ago.

5points

#80

This Old Thermostat Tells What Temp To Use By A Mercury Sensor

Final score:

10points

POST

Dave In MD 4 years ago

Not that old. And the mercury didn't tell what temp to use. The bi-metallic spring behind it would tilt the glass tube based on the ambient temp and the mercury would either make or break a electrical circuit.

29points

#81

A Hungarian Soldier With A Swiss Solothurn S18/1000 Anti-Tank Rifle. Southern Soviet Union, 1941-1942

Final score:

10points

POST

Julius Martin 4 years ago

looks like a heavy rifle from star wars lol

1point