GPS, 1920s-style. Yes, it involved lots of tiny little scrolls of paper.

In the BB tradition of linking to the Daily Mail just to wind you all up, here is today's missive from Britain's best blacktop: a selection of demented pre-war gadgets.

It was the invention of the future - a tiny machine complete with its own map that would tell motorists which way to go.

But this was no satnav - after all, the communications satellites that help modern cars locate themselves were still decades away.

Instead, the route-finder for the well-equipped 1920s driver was a wristwatch-style device equipped with minuscule maps.

Other useless beauties of our great-great-grandparents' era include a clockwork burglar alarm, an "electro massager" said to relax you by giving you shocks, and a finger stretching mini-rack, for pianists.

The 1920s satnav ... and other weird and wonderful gadgets that never quite took off [Mail Online]

[#1 posted by dominik , August 18, 2008 2:10 AM]

Looks pretty much like the roadmaps that they still use for rally style racing these days.

[#2 posted by John Brownlee , August 18, 2008 2:19 AM]

I've definitely written about that 1920s GPS wristwatch before, but I'm pretty sure the other stuff in that article is new in its oldness.

[#3 posted by Tinkergirl , August 18, 2008 3:58 AM]

Ah, yes. So they read and used the images from the Eccentric Contraptions book?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eccentric-Contraptions-Amazing-Gadgets-Thingamambobs/dp/0715318217/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Lovely little book - I recommend it for people interested in little unusual gizmos like these. The teasmaid on the front is still my fave.

[#4 posted by pewma , August 18, 2008 9:00 AM]

As John said, also seen just this past may here on BB Gadgets.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/05/07/retro-wristwatch-map.html