Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
" I think that computers today allow us one last opportunity to provide something like a level playingfield in America."
- William Gibson
 |
| Dobridust | ||
| A fully automated cleaning machine; it cleans till it runs out of energy. |
| Oona pulled the strips of stick-tape from
the parcel and crumpled up the silky sheets
of preemitex. The overall length of the
thing Jick had brought her wasas about twenty
centimeters. It was a small, heavy gadget
consisting of three parts: a flattened, goldcolored tube which grew wider at one end,
a big silvery bulb perched about midway on
the tube, and a latex bag, also attached to
the tube and open at one end. Everywhere
there was room for the legend, the metal had
been stamped with the words, "Property of
U.N. Space Port." "What is it?" Oona asked. "It's a Dobridust. You remember me telling you about them, don't you? Of course I'll have to put a new coil in this one, and one or two of the connections need working on and I'll have to clean it and fix the fan. I picked it up off the trash pile. But I can fix it so it'll be as good as new. And I'll bet there isn't another woman in the country who has one of them. They haven't even got them on all the space liners yet." A Dobridust. The name sounded sort of snaky and unpleasant. Oona searched her memory. What was it Jick had said about the gadget? Oh, yes, she remembered. It was an automatic wall-cleaner, standard equipment on all the newer liners. You started it in high up on one wall, and it worked its way all around the room, cleaning as it went. It wasn't ever supposed to be shut off. As soon as it finished one room, it went on to the next, and when it had done the whole ship, it went back to the room it had been started in. Jick had compared it to painting which had been a continuous operation on the ocean vessels of a generation ago. |
| Technovelgy from The Dobridust,
by Margaret St. Clair. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1948 Additional resources -
|
After the device is cleaning, and the port authorities come to investigate, while Oona is preparing for the girls to come over, and it starts zooming around the room:
Still, it wasn't any trouble to operate, and
Oona was glad she had it. The worst thing
about it was the way it bumped softly
against the door and whining, like a dog
wanting to go out, when it had finished with
one room and wanted to go on to the next.
It made Oona quite nervous until she got
used to it.
THE Dobridust, when Jick had put it in
working order, proved quite a bitmore
satisfactory than Oona had thought it would.
True, it didn't save her any work, because
it kept the walls so clean she was always
having to go over the floors and ceilings to
keep them from looking simply filthy by
comparison. And once it got started cleaning it couldn't be stopped until it ran out of
energy pellets, when it sank softly down on
the floor.
('The Dobridust' by Margaret St. Clair)
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Dobridust
More Ideas
and Technology by Margaret St. Clair
Tech news articles related to The Dobridust
Tech news articles related to works by Margaret St. Clair
| Terraformer Industries Make Methane |
| Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction |
| Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark |
| Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
