heated

by Florin Tibu from https://www.autoevolution.com Effervescent and lively as the ‘50s have been, that decade was also littered with some of the funniest contraptions aimed at solving some of the most common issues motorists had. And here’s one of the truly crazy ones, the heated motorcycle helmet. The video comes from a French outlet and this helmet is presented as the “Thermoscaphe”, so we could assume it is a French invention. Its name is a derivation from the term “bathyscaphe”, a manned submersible vehicle for deep-sea exploration that’s still in use nowadays. Now, we’re not at all sure that the inventor of the thermoscaphe was serious about it, albeit we reckon that most of the wacky innovators back in the day were convinced that their creations were genius. However, the design of this helmet’s hull is indeed useful, as its all-transparent, 360-degree viewing angle acryllic structure provides excellent sight. And we’re not going into the aerodynamics debate, right? Obviously not designed for high speed, this helmet doesn’t come with a chin strap, even though it has safety thethers. Presumably it didn’t need a Pinlock lens, as the breathing space between its lower edge and the wearer’s body would ventilate the interior well enough to prevent fogging. And of course, you’ve got additional vents all around… As for the thermal side of this prototype, we had a really good laugh. The heating element is a primitive one, using an alcohol lamp whose flame heats an air duct. The outside air is pushed through this duct by means of a battery-powered fan, and is supposed to become warmer as it flows through the metal tube. It would be interesting to measure the heat difference, though. The whole heating device is attached to the left side of the helmet, adding even more weird […]