JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
“The Electric Engineer”, by Herbert C. Crocker, was an article in the December 1916 issue of Illustrated World, and featured this extraordinary idea:
“This mechanical marvel may furnish the warring armies of Europe with a new engine of destruction”, page 504.
“King Grey”, the creation of Vern Pieper of Alton, Illinois, turns out not to be an extraordinary giant as depicted in the cover art, but a giant on the humanish scale, topping out at nine feet tall and 750 pounds, “a marvel of steel plates, knuckles and cog wheels”, that would have its own guns and haul a small armored cart. It looks quite a bit like a more-famous British steampunk version of this idea from mid-century.
