Frank Reade and his Electric Prairie Schooner

It has been a while since I posted anything on Frank Reade, how ever I am about to. I just found a site that features public domain comics. Comic book plus has a large collection of Reades work. I don't remember how I ended up on this page, but I did land on the Frank Reade and his Electric Prairie Schooner pages.

Frank Reade Jr. Indian Hunter

It has been reported that before Frank Jr. participated in his jaunts in the Caribbean, Frank Jr. took part in the Indian wars of Abobe Walls, and Geronimo.

• Second Battle of Adobe Walls (1874): A battle over a spot of land in the Texas panhandle that once held an adobe build that served as a trading post.
• Geronimo (1885-86): A venerated war chief of the Apaches. His warring parties took part in raids on Mexico and US territories.

As was the case of his Caribbean affairs, Frank Jr. and his crew provided cover for US troops from his air and land ships.

The American Indian never really had a chance and were outnumbered and out gunned from the start. They might have been called savages because of some of their barbarous ways, but who were the real savages in these conflicts?

Frank Reade - An Adventure in the Age of Invention - The Last of the Conquerors

There are lot of links in this post. This is a post that I had written some time ago and somehow had forgotten to make the post.

Frank Reade: An Adventure in the Age of Invention is a superb book with many wonderful illustrations, many of them in color. Frank Reade is a fictional character, but the authors of this volume have you wondering is Frank Reade a fictional or a nonfictional character.

Josiah Harlan is reported as being Frank Reade’s favorite historical character and Frank is said to have been inspired by this character. All of the following are real characters from the past and are mentioned briefly in the text.

James Brooke (1803-1868)

James Brooke was a British East India Company mercenary that eventually started his own business. He was made the Rajah of Sarawak, by the Sultan of Brunei, for his part in putting down a rebellion against the Sultan.

Francis Burton (1821-1890)

"Sir Richard Francis Burton was an English geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat." Burton was another former British East India Company mercenary. Sir Francis Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, was a noted fencer and hypnotist.

Josiah Harlan (1799-1871)

Josiah Harlan was another British East India Company mercenary. Harlan was an American adventurer and mercenary who traveled to Afghanistan with the intent on making himself king”. Harlan eventually became the Prince of Ghor and was the inspiration to Rudyard Kipling when writing his “The Man Who Would Be King”.

Percy Fawcett (1867-1925)

Percy Fawcett was one of many who disappeared looking for the famed city of gold El Dorado. Myths still exist about this famed city, but to this day no city of gold has been discovered.

Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902)

Cecil Rhodes was a South Africa mining magnate that amassed more than a half a million square miles of land by obtaining mineral concessions from African Chieftains. After two Matabele wars this area was renamed Rhodesia and now makes up the country of Zambia.

William Walker (1824-1860)

The life of William Walker is an interesting one. I remember doing research and writing a paper on this very flamboyant character while in university. William Walker was an American adventurer, and a filibuster. Filibusters formulate revolutions in order to topple governments. Walker, who briefly installed himself the president of Nicaragua, took part in several attempted revolutions in Central American countries. William Walker was shot by a firing squad for his part of one such attempt in Honduras.

Frank Reade Jr. Mercenary

Frank Reade somewhat of a swashbuckler preferred contracting his services than to sell his technologies to the US government. He and his team provided cover for US troops, either from his airships or land ships. The land ships were first powered by steam and then electric, were manufactured out of iron, and usually had at least one turreted cannon. Frank Reade Jr. participated in the following combat conflicts (banana wars mostly):

1916	Dominican Republic
1915	Haiti
1914	Mexico
1912	Nicaragua
1910	Nicaragua
1907	Honduras
1906	Cuba
1903	Honduras
1903	Panama
1902	Venezuela
1898	Cuba
1885	Panama

Air Ships Mentioned in Adventure in a Age of Invention

Frank Reade was the inventor of many ironclad sea, land ships, and submarines. However, some of his more fantastic inventions were his airships. These airships were kept aloft by a series of horizontal rotors, much like a helicopter. These are a few the airships mentioned in Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention:

• Flying Scud
• Calamaran
• Queen Clipper of the Clouds
• Flight
• Sky Pilot
• Zephyr
• White Cruiser
• Thunderbolt

Although there are many fanciful designs, judging from the illustrations I don’t see how these airships stayed aloft. The bodies of these airships look too bulky and the main rotors, that resemble oriental umbrellas, do not look like they would be all that effective in keeping these airships aloft.
Although I haven’t seen a mention of how these rotors are being driven perhaps they are being driven by some type of chemical reaction, like the Flying Fish in the With Airship and Submarine.

Frank Reade Jr. a Life of Adventure

Frank Jr. and Barney O’Shea being attacked by a Giant Cephalopod (Image from Frank Reade: The Age of Inventions)

Like I had previously mentioned, the Reade’s were prolific inventors. Frank Reade Junior, more so than his father, craved adventure. It was Frank Juniors inventions and his wealth that facilitated his high adventures. Whether over the jungles of South America or Africa, Haiti, or the depths of the seven seas you could find Frank Junior in one of his airships or submersibles.

A Reade Submarine

All three generations of the Reade family were prolific inventors. Their inventions like Airships, Land ships, submarines, and robots were first powered by steam and later by electric. These inventions were crafted at their Reade Works plant in Reade Pennsylvania.
This submarine used a combustion engine for propulsion.

Cut-a-way view of a speculative submarine created at the Reade works in 1880.(image found in Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention)

Frank Reade’s Fabulous Inventions-a Glider

I have neglected my Frank Reade Adventures in the Age of Invention book long enough. There are so many fabulously delicious inventions to be discovered and written about. I will endeavor to make use of this text and share these fabulous inventions in the upcoming weeks.

This is Sketch by Frank Reade III, is one of his gliders, found on page 122, of Frank Reade Adventures in the Age of Invention, Guinan and Bennett. The glider is reminiscent of da Vinci’s work.

Steampunk Bible-Resource

The Steampunk Bible has many outstanding features, but the one feature that I appreciated the most was its mention of other authors and texts, both modern and from the past.

The Steampunk Bible includes a section that mentions the authors and their texts that predate the Steampunk movement. Many of these texts have been an inspiration to authors. I am just scratching the surface here with the mention of the following: Frank Reade, and Edward Ellis. I mentioned these authors in my summer reading list.

Frank Reade

I just made a post about receiving my Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention book in the mail the other day. As far as I can tell Frank Reade is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of Dime Store novels. I will be writing more about this character and his fabulous inventions later on.

Edward Ellis

Edward Ellis is another author of Dime Store novels. These novels were full of adventure, were primarily written for boys, and were written toward the end of the 19th and into the start of the 20th century. The Guntenberg Press has a large collection of Ellis’s novels available for download. Ellis also wrote about fabulous inventions; see his The Huge Hunter; Or, The Steam Man of the Prairies.

Both authors, the real and imaginary were prolific writers and I look forward to reading as much as I can from these authors. I also forward to recording my findings and thoughts.

Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention

My copy of Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention arrived the other day in the mail. It looks like a great book with a lot of colorful illustrations and history. I look forward to plunging into it. I will be bringing you more about this text in the very near future.