Helicopters for everyone!

Could there be a more perfect 1951 Mechanics Illustrated article than "Helicopters for Everyone," which promised a vehicle thus, "The third model has corrected some of the above mentioned faults. The engine now is slung under the seat directly beneath the center of gravity. This warms the pilot in cold air and improves the machine’s balance. The model at present is being tested. There still remains, however, the sense of insecurity–of riding a flying swivel chair with no visible means of support. Pentecost and his associates are perfectly well aware of this natural reaction and have planned a weatherproof enclosure for the machine."

Helicopters for Everybody (Jan, 1951)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Gadgets • Old school

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

burned1000

people cant drive in two dimensions, adding the third ‘z’ coordinate will prove disastrous.
burned1000

(although as a kid, i wanted a helicopter) :)
christov

Of course this dapper dad died shortly after this shot was taken, when his copter bumped the neighbors and both plunged 200 feet to the ground, an accident that would have been a fender bender in those old cars. Poor Billy didn’t realize he was waving goodbye for the last time. Ain’t the future great!
ethancoop

1950′s mom has a nice rack.

And little Johnny looks like he’s dressed for his scout meeting.
franko

any engineers want to comment on the basic idea here, though? i’m curious why the “engine under the seat” idea didn’t pan out. i’m an engineering and scientific nimrod, but this idea sounds like it would work to me.
Anonymous

Franko: If the engine is under the seat, how do you get the output to the propeller shaft above? Through the driver will probably hurt…

On another note, it seems so old-fashioned now how sexist these art pieces are. The adoring wives, wearing housework clothing, seeing off the men who earn the bread.
greensteam

For “Helicopters for everyone”, I take it we are to assume this only applies to male everyones.

On the more technical side, there appear to be no controls or gauges or anything. Mr Everyone looks to be holding onto the kind of pole that comes up through the back of a roundabout/carousel horse. Perhaps they are auto-autogyros, controlled from somewhere else?
IronyElemental

If I were in a band, “Helicopters for Everbody” would totally be the title of our next album.
arkizzle

GreenSteam

““Helicopters for everyone”, I take it we are to assume this only applies to male everyones.”

Wow, you have clearly got better eyes than me, and pretty amazing pixel-resolving abilities. Doesn’t look like you read the whole article though. Here’s the next page.
GregLondon

i’m curious why the “engine under the seat” idea didn’t pan out.

The weight of an engine (gearbox, transmission) in a single seat chopper would probably equal the weight of an adult, so you’d probably want it behind the rotor and the pilot in front of th rotor so that it balanced out.

Not to mention, you want your seat to have as much open compression space under it so you have slightly better odds of surviving a crash.
chenry

If this vision of the 1950s had come to pass, most people now would have hearing loss.

What?

WHAT?

SORRY. SPEAK UP.
joeposts

As long as it has a martini holder, do want.
Stefan Jones

Don Draper is flying the one in the background.
travelina

Fedoras of the future.
st vincent

Oh, hell yes.

If I had one like that, I would get over not having the aircar I was supposed to have by now.

I’ve got boxes of old Mechanics Illustrated from the 40s and early 50s (“Written So You Can Understand It). I love the illustrations (like that swell ‘copter), the graphics and the photos. All the tech and amazing new future stuff. And, of course, the heart of it all: home handyman projects, a wonderful mixture of the practical and the totally half-assed, often with mad-scientist thrown in for good measure.

From one 1948 issue: Make a vest pocket address book from an old matchbook! Repair a broken clock spring with bailing wire! Use those broken mirror chunks to make new (if smaller and more interestingly-shaped) mirrors!

And… Repair Kinks!

It’s great to look back to when it seemed like everyone knew how to fix things on their own and make stuff… what’s not to like?
Johnny Cat

2nd the Don Draper connection. “Bye Dad, you’re so super-cool!”
soupisgoodfood

Neat, but looks like a deathtrap to me. I’d feel safer on a 1000cc sport bike on a fast, but busy road, full of SUVs.
help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread

Imagine being given the task of designing a traffic control system for that kinda world.
artbot

Cannot for the life of me imagine how anyone ever thought this was a good idea. We’d basically have a city full of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUgp7Cm1N0
Johnny Cat

The figure hanging from the background copter is clearly Jamie Lee Curtis.
travelina

@St Vincent: here’s that aircar you requested: http://io9.com/5138504/mit-spinoff-presents-your-new-flightworthy-ride
eclectro

Because there is no harm in texting on your cellphone and flying a helicopter at the same time.
sonny p fontaine

when i read the title it sounds like ophra everytime.
Big Ed Dunkel

In the film It Happened One Night (1934), the groom, pilot, and all-round mug King Westley arrives dramatically for the wedding in an “autogyro” as they call it.

Check it out at 2:41. The audio is out of sync, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee4i1vybNDs
Anonymous

‘The steel vulture of Beelzebub was now just seconds away from the childrens’ soft heads.’
Pantograph

An autogyro is slightly different from a helicopter. In an autogyro, the main rotor isn’t driven by the engine, but by the air flowing past it hence the name which translates as “turns by itself” Thrust is provided by a small propellor in the back.
RoadTransport

Autogyros/autogiros/gyrocopters were a recurring theme in fiction in the 30s, it seems: Stella Gibbons’ wonderful Cold Comfort Farm has characters arriving by autogyro, as I recall. The excellent film version wimped out, using a biplane instead (but at least it had the sublime Kate Beckinsale, prior to her glossy Hollywood makeover).

And didn’t they also feature in displays to the public? Again, I seem to recall seeing a film of Cierva or some other autogiro pioneer “dropping in” on the Royal Tournament at Earl’s Court or something similar.
thebrix

Flat roofs for everyone!
Ned613

My co-op board would never approve of tenants parking helicopters on the roof. Our insurance premiums would skyrocket.

BTW, anyone know what is being hoisted aboard the helicopter in the upper right corner of the picture?
avraamov

just what you need for that authentic ‘compound siege’ atmosphere on a peaceful sunday.
Rob Cruickshank

@ned613: It’s a mail bag.
Anonymous

contra-rotating propellors for the win….and extra complexity….and lots of noise.
Anonymous

Everyone. Except women and children.
Rob Cruickshank

Autogyros for everyone:
http://www.start-flying.com/new%20site/how_to_fly_autogyros.htm
Anonymous

Brings Brave New World by Aldous Huxley to mind.

I also remember seeing small single-person helicopters like these in the 90s on “Beyond 2000″ (Australian TV show) where the host landed on a fence.