The "Power Mower of the Future" is demonstrated in Port Washington, Wis., Oct 14, 1957. The lawnmower has a five foot diameter plastic sphere in which the rider sits on an air foam cushioned seat. It has its own electric generating system for operating running lights, a radio telephone, air conditioning and even a cooling system to provide a chilled drink on a hot day. It can be used for many purposes. It can mow the lawn, weed it, feed it, seed it, spray for insects, plow snow and haul equipment. It can even be used as a golf cart. (AP Photo)
Karl Baier, at wheel, and a passenger, test out the new midget amphibious car that was developed by Baier in West Berlin, Germany. Jan. 22, 1952. Baier has simplified construction of the vehicle so that the motor, steering system, gear case, clutch, all cables and even the brakes are inside the body. (AP Photo/Heinrich Sanden Jr.)
Eric Kemp, an aircraft engineer from Melbourne, Australia, tests his motorcycle, of unusual design, on a Melbourne road, Sept. 23, 1957. Kemp was inspired by his plane designing skill to create this motorcycle. (AP Photo)
Linda Mason sails along on an motorized scooter called the "McCoy Sportsman" in Hollywood, Calif., March 14, 1949. When given a slight push, the Sportsman travels at 8 mph with a 120-pound passenger aboard. (AP Photo/David F. Smith)
Flanked by his two daughters, Egon Bruetsch sits in his new three-wheel car for which he developed a plastic body in Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 10, 1954. He claims it weighs only half as much as a normal metal body. The car seats three persons. (AP Photo)
Toy designer Marvin Glass, of Chicago, issues an order to the "Robot Commando Soldier" in a preview of Christmas toy designs in New York, March 10, 1961. The robot shoots rockets and can be controlled by voice through an attached microphone. Glass says, "I'm trying to develop a concept of toys that a child can actually participate in, that will allow some expression of the dynamism of his personality." (AP Photo)
A giant electrified model of the human brain's control system is demonstrated by Dr. A.G. Macleod, at the meeting of the American Medical Association in New York, June 26, 1961. Macleod is the coordinator for its development by a pharmaceutical company. The maze of twisting tubes and blinking lights traces the way the brain receives information and turns it into thought and then action. (AP Photo)
This new "banking" machine was displayed for the first time at the American Bankers Association annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 25, 1966. Banks of the future may have "tellers" installed in office and apartment house lobbies. Richard Glyer demonstrates how to deposit a check in one. Through the medium of automation he can talk to a teller whom he sees on the television screen. She will answer his questions, cash checks and issue currency from his account. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett)
Jane Martin remains seated and "gets her filing done" using the "Corresfile" electric/hydraulic lift and circular file system at the Office and Management Association's 11th Annual Seminar and Business Show in Chicago, Ill., March 6, 1953. The electrically operated hydraulic lift raises a person from floor level to five feet alongside a circular file. The circular file has six shelves and each holds the equivalent of three file drawers. The Corresfile is an innovation of the Wassell Organization of Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Edward Kitch)
A young man demonstrates a new type of cigarette lighter which does not use a flint or wick and is not much bigger than a cigarette. It was exhibited for the first time at the Frankfurt Autumn Fair in Frankfurt, West Germany, Sept. 20, 1950. The lighter is fully automatic and smokers need only to unscrew the left end of the lighter and touch the other end to the cigarette. The new gadget is filled with a special liquid called " Vulcanit" and manufacturers claim that one filling will last for one week. (AP Photo/Albert Riethausen)
A television screen is inset into an avant-garde cabinet for canned music called the "Kuba Komet" at the Radio and Television Exhibition in Frankfurt, West Germany, Aug. 5, 1957. As well as the television set, the Komet houses a radio, a record player and a tape recorder. The upper part of the assembly swings on a vertical axis to face any direction. (AP Photo)
Marion Liebig, Miss Hesse 1959, keeps warm under the artificial sunshine of an infra-red lamp in a snow-covered park in Wiesbaden, Germany, Jan. 18, 1960. The shivering bystander standing nearby is unidentified. The lamp, shown at the nearby sporting goods fair, is powered by bottled gas.(AP Photo/Walter Lindlar)
The world's first separate television screen and receiver was presented by James M. Skinner Jr., left, President of Philco Corporation, the developer and manufacturer of the set, to W. Laurance Lepage, President of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa., on June 11, 1958. This set will be placed in the Benjamin Franklin Hall of the Institute for public display. (AP Photo)
Model Diane Dorsey demonstrates the new motorized "Aquaplane," which was put on display for the first time at the Inventor's Convention in Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 5, 1938. The craft is powered by a four-horsepower motor, which inventor Raymond Strawn says will function even when submerged, and carries two gallons of gasoline, enough for a 25-mile cruise. (AP Photo)
A Port Authority officer demonstrates a self-propelled catwalk car near the Manhattan end of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Aug. 25, 1960. The demonstration was held in a 2,200-ft. section of the 8,000-ft. tunnel, which connects New York City with New Jersey. The car was intended to hasten traffic supervision and bottleneck relief. (AP PhotoTony Camerano)
Pictured is a swooping roof design at a national service station in Retford, England, Sept. 22, 1961. Technically known as a hyperbolic derabold structure, the reinforced concrete roof weighs about 90 tons. There will be a motel, a restaurant and a repair section on the site when the station is completed. (AP Photo)
Peewee, a toy Boston Bulldog, appears to recognize the features of his owner, Doris Brownlee, who is getting a television test in San Francisco, Calif., March 1, 1938. This is a type of home receiving cabinet being experimented on in the San Fransisco laboratory of the Farnsworth Television Company. The man at left is unidentified. (AP Photo)
An oversized Hamilton Beach "Mixette" is presented at a convention in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 11, 1960. (AP Photo)
Detroit policemen demonstrate steel armament designed for use in combating riot crowds and barricaded gunmen in Detroit, Mich., Jan. 18, 1956. The armament will soon become available at all precincts. (AP Photo/Preston Stroup)
Alfred Mederer, 27, a newsreel photographer on the lookout for a mate, watches Siglinde Fendt, 19, on the screen in the privacy of the "Ethos" Studio in Munich, Germany, Feb. 3, 1952. (AP Photo/Heinrich Sanden Sr.)