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"I think that self-limitation is the major limiting factor for most people in the world."
- Frank Herbert

Shock-Absorbing Seats  
  Perfect for the many gravities of acceleration upon take-off.  

Early use of the phrase.

They passed inside and the stern-door closed and whirred as Hartley spun it carefully shut. Climbing the light metal ladders inside the upreared craft the four men gained the pilot-house, where Calden took his accustomed seat at the controls. Strapped into their shock-absorbing seats, the four men looked down over the station and its swarming throngs, a busy scene in the morning sunlight.
Technovelgy from Evans of the Earth-Guard, by Edmond Hamilton.
Published by Air Wonder Stories in 1930
Additional resources -

Why would you need shock-absorbing seats? Consider this:

The lights on the starter’s tower had flashed from yellow to green, and then to red. Calden was watching them imperturbably, his hands resting on the main firing-levers, while Evans, as always at the moment of starting, involuntarily drew a deep preparatory breath. Then the lights flashed suddenly pure white, Calden’s hands depressed the levers with a single motion, and, as a thunderous blast of sound broke from the great rocket’s stern beneath them, they were pressed with immeasurable force into their seats.

Compare to the water-springs from From the Earth to the Moon (1867) by Jules Verne.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Evans of the Earth-Guard
  More Ideas and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
  Tech news articles related to Evans of the Earth-Guard
  Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton

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