Capillotomer (Before you ask and are too lazy to google it, it is an automatic shaving machine...)
Beyond This Horizon (1942)
Cider Press - acceleration made bearable
Double Star (1956)
Cold-Rest - reduced temperature somnolence
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Cold-Sleep - hibernation for humans
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Cold-Sleep - hibernation between the stars
Between Planets (1951)
Control Natural
Beyond This Horizon (1942)
Copter Harness
The Star Beast (1954)
Customized Clothing - mast customization
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Cyborg - man plus machine
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Desert Cabbage
Red Planet (1949)
Drafting Dan - born before CAD
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Eager Beaver - your friendly robot helper
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Eetee (E.T - extraterrestrial)
Double Star (1956)
Finger Watch - the original
The Puppet Masters (1951)
Flat Cat
The Rolling Stones (1952)
Flying Saucer - alien spacecraft
The Puppet Masters (1951)
Fold Box
Glory Road (1963)
Fresher - refreshing chamber
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Genetically Modified Food
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Grok - a Martian sees and knows
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Group Ego - a kind of group mind
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Guided Missile Control Station
Between Planets (1951)
Half-Sphere Force Field - not an ordinary spherical force field
Between Planets (1951)
Hands Free Helmet - chin up
Starship Troopers (1959)
High-Frequency Oven - essence of the microwave
Space Cadet (1948)
Hired Girl - robotic floor maintenance
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Howard Families
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Hush Corner - noise reduction
Double Star (1956)
Hush Hood - privacy when you need it
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Hush-a-Phone - noise suppression for telephones
The Roads Must Roll (1940)
Hybrid Mass Driver - moon bound
The Man Who Sold The Moon (1950)
Hypnotic injunction
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Joy-boat Junior - a private space yacht
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Jump Harness - rocket pack
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Knockdown Cabin - portable shelter
Coventry (1940)
Living Grass Carpet - not AstroTurf
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Lunar Used Spacecraft Lot - low (gravity) prices
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Lunocycle (Lunar Bicycle) - better than Bessie the mule
The Rolling Stones (1952)
Martian Perambulator
Between Planets (1951)
Mass-Driver Catapult - mass driver for the Moon
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Maximum-security Booth - high security phone system
Double Star (1956)
Microwavable Food - pre-packaged ready to heat-n-eat
Space Cadet (1948)
Microwire
Between Planets (1951)
Mike (Fair Dinkum Thinkum) - artificial intelligence early on
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Moon Skis - ah the lunar powder
Requiem (1939)
Moonquake-Proof Habitats - thanks to Robert Heinlein
Gentlemen, Be Seated (1948)
Movable Slideway - it comes to you
Between Planets (1951)
News Roundup - better than Tivo
Beyond This Horizon (1942)
Newsbox - better than Google news plus Tivo
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Paralysis Bomb
If This Goes On... (1940)
Parking Orbit - take the gig down
Starman Jones (1953)
Pocket Phone (or pocketphone) - invention of the cell phone
Assignment in Eternity (1953)
Portable Telephone - early reference
Space Cadet (1948)
Powered Armor (or Powered Suit) - military exoskeleton
Starship Troopers (1959)
Powered artificial exoskeleton
Between Planets (1951)
Radiant Power Receptor - broadcast power receiver
Waldo (1942)
Ramsbotham Gate - wormhole
Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
Reading Machine - read while reclining
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Reading Plate - 50’s style flat panel
The Star Beast (1954)
Refreshing Chamber
Coventry (1940)
Ring Road - mag-lev old-style
Starman Jones (1953)
Robopark
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Rolling Road - public transport
The Roads Must Roll (1940)
Screensaver (Invention of) - the original idea
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Security Restraint Field
Between Planets (1951)
Selector Card
The Puppet Masters (1951)
Self-Lighting Cigarette
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Shuttle Ship - early Space Shuttle
Between Planets (1951)
Sleep Surrogate
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Slideway - moving sidewalk
Beyond This Horizon (1942)
Solar Reception Screen - photovoltaics in action
The Roads Must Roll (1940)
Sound Analysis
Assignment in Eternity (1953)
Space Transfer Station
Between Planets (1951)
Speedtalk
Assignment in Eternity (1953)
Spinning Pressurized Drum
Between Planets (1951)
Stasis (Cold Sleep, Hibernation)
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Steel Tortoise - the original ATV
Coventry (1940)
Stereo Tank - 3D TV receiver
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Stereovision - 3D TV tank (and first screen saver)
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Storer-Gulls Wings - recreation for lunar colonists
The Menace From Earth (1957)
Sunpower Screen - photovoltaic cells power vehicle
Coventry (1940)
Tag-Along Balloon - find the space station leak
Gentlemen, Be Seated (1948)
Talking Bomb - psych warfare
Starship Troopers (1959)
Tanglefoot Field - non-lethal crowd control
The Star Beast (1954)
TANSTAAFL - and there isn’t
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
Teakettle - booster rocket
Double Star (1956)
Telechronometer
Blowups Happen (1940)
Tesseract House
-And He Built A Crooked House (1940)
Torch
Farmer in the Sky (1950)
Torchship - a tail of flame
Sky Lift (1953)
Traffic Control Camera
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Truth Meter - a 50’s lie detector
The Star Beast (1954)
Tumblebug - a gyro-stabilized monocycle
The Roads Must Roll (1940)
Universal Checkbook - radioactive checking
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Universal Dictionary - grandfather of the electronic dictionary
The Star Beast (1954)
Vacutubes
Double Star (1956)
Vibroblade - not messy
If This Goes On... (1940)
Waldo - the origin of telefactoring
Waldo (1942)
Waterbed (Hydraulic Bed) - a waterbed
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Weather Integrator
Methuselah’s Children (1941)
Welton Cube - fine grain storage
Time Enough For Love (1973)
Wheelchair - home for the disabled in space
Waldo (1942)
Window-Willie - robot help for dirty windows
The Door Into Summer (1956)
Winged Rocket Shuttle
Between Planets (1951)
Zero-G Ashtray
Waldo (1942)
I think even Edison would be impressed, eh?
I can’t remember which of his stories I read it in, but I remember reading about sending pages of documents over a “facsimile” machine (which is what we call it today) and I checked when the story was first published and was amazed that it was in the 1930’s, so chalk up another one for the master.
Seeing that long, long compilation of Bob’s inventive genius is astounding; he threw off brilliant ideas like flares from a never-ending Roman candle. Only one other writer in the genre ever impressed me near as much, and only one story by him: Philip Jose Farmer’s “Riders of the Purple Wage,” published in the first volume of Harlan Ellison’s “Dangerous Visions.” DV is still one of the most powerful collections of stories ever put to paper, the RotPW can still give me chills — Farmer was absolutely profligate with brilliant ideas and flights of imagination, and like Bob did it with a flair that concealed the intense effort and dedication that all good writing requires. If you ever get a chance to pick up Dangerous Visions, I highly recommend that you do — most of the stories, which gathered a passel of Hugos and Nebulas, still make for powerful and challenging reading.