One of my all-time favourite photographs of “vieux Paris” is this curious snap of a gentlemen emerging from the metro in 1935 wearing a set of mechanical wings. I decided to do a little digging behind the photograph and found that our winged-gentleman was on his way to the Lépine contest, an inventor’s competition founded in 1901 and still held annually to this day. While I can’t imagine public transport was the most practical option for travelling with a pair of giant insect wings attached to his back, there’s something very Jules Verne about this image that I found particularly inspiring to start the new year with.
Originally created to encourage small toy and hardware manufacturers, the Lépine competition, but quickly became a renowned forum for inventors with a dream. In fact, we have the Lépine contest to thank for several famous inventions, such as the ballpoint pen, contact lenses, the modern pressing iron and even the helicopter propellor. There were of course some other inventions, that didn’t quite catch on…
Perhaps the most French thing ever invented, was the “Escargotrappe” from the 1950 contest, which enabled the user to catch snails, naturellement.
A favourite with the French press was the very uncomfortable-looking “Veloplane”, which allowed you to ride a bike while lying on your stomach, allegedly for increased speed.
Winged inventions made frequent appearances in the early years of the contest. Here is actress Madeleine Charpin trying out the fin bike. Below, a vintage newsreel highlights more curious inventions…
Was this the first hand dryer entered in the 1935 contest? Check out the world’s smallest net bag in 1964!
Automatic lever telephones…
Vintage city scooters and individual airplanes…
The first electric alarm clocks…
Something called the phono-theater by Augustus Perrin…
A presentation of the bicycle with screw traction.
An off-road vehicule, with a wood semi-spheric back wheel.
And in 1937, the world’s smallest made its big debut.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain
