JF Ptak Science Books    Quick Post

A continuation–of sorts–of “Earths Inside the Earth“, which is part of the History of Blank, Empty and Missing Things series.

This wonderful bit of Found Surrealist artwork is part of a series of patent drawings by Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor of many things (including the Maxim Gun, which was the first portable fully automatic machine gun, but not the electric light bulb as he claimed, and many many other things) for a hollow spherical structure made to deceive, thrill and confuse the people inside the structure with parabolic mirrors. An amusement.  This is not out-of-keeping for Maxim, as he also designed a “Captive Device Flying Machine” for amusement parks that every kid today would recognize. 

But I do like this drawing, the third of four for the patent application, and I guess it gives a pretty good approximation of what folks might see inside his amusement palace of combined optics and sensory confusion. 

Here’s the cross-section of the structure:

Which is a detail from the set of patent drawings for