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"...science fiction is sort of like a sociological genome. It's a huge range of possible futures, most of them useless; some vital. You never really know in advance."
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The idea of being able to harness random or stray energy, whether of mechanical vibration or electromagnetic impulses is an important one, and this is the first reference to this idea that I know about, in science fiction or otherwise.
Here's a description of this marvelous device:
In the front of the room was the control platform.
Two or three control levers, a periscope arrangement
for obtaining unobstructed vision in all directions, and
a glass case containing the navigating instruments completed the equipment of this pilot house.
“You have observed the sphere and the conical object
trained upon it. Both are of adamite, the alloy which
I mentioned. When in operation, the sphere is protonically charged, and the truncated cone of adamite collects the electrons, taking them from their regular orbits
and redirecting them in a continuous stream against
whichever portion of the sphere it is pointed at. If you
remember your ancient history, you will recall that in the early twentieth century a vessel for travel on the
ocean surface was invented by one Flettner. This vessel obtained its driving force from the winds by means
of two large vertical rotors on the deck. In much the
same way as these forces were transmitted to the hull
of Flettner’s vessel, we utilize the stray electronic energy to drive our aero.
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