JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
This terrific proposal for a miniature, semi-individual monorail appeared in Popular Science Monthly for April 1935:
And the text, which makes you wonder why something like this would be necessary, at least for the version of the vehicle in the interior pages. The cover version at least accommodates eight passengers, perhaps, though there's an awful lot of metal around them. The interior version packs four in its bubbly self, and given the amount of effort that would go into powering and building the vehicle to move around a restricted number of people--though perhaps you can say the same about cars, and then some.
Ironically, many of the latest designs for public transit ARE proposing "mini" transit cars that are very similar to these--especially when looking at "near future" "self-driving smart cars"....They are pictured with 2-4 passengers all lined up one behind the other just like in your picture...albeit one by one rather than two by two and on paved roads rather than tracks (though magnetic strips and the like have also been proposed--"smart roads"?).
Perhaps the past version was anticipating tracks being as ubiquitous as asphalt roads? Perhaps after a certain point the individual cars would peel off and go on their merry way to individual destinations?
Still, I was struck by the similarities.
Posted by: Ladybug2535 | 06 November 2015 at 04:06 AM