A Short History of Paper Boats (2011)(cupery.net)

A Short History of Paper Boats (2011)

http://www.cupery.net/SH.html

5 comments

In an age without plastic or composite materials, this new inexpensive paper, which could be molded, formed, and otherwise manipulated, became the high-tech construction substance of its day.

This combination of varnish and paper was the compsite material of its day. It's basically a precursor of fiberglass + resin construction.

anitil8 anni fa

Interesting! I was just reading about aircraft dope (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_dope) which had a similar purpose. Unfortunately, the material of the day was nitricellulose, aka gun cotton, so had a habit of catching fire.

tafycent8 anni fa

I'm guessing this was supposed to be a link, but it doesn't go anywhere and now I'm curious.

dang8 anni fa

From the log it looks like the desired link was http://www.cupery.net/SH.html, so we've added it above.

It's a great submission. Obscure but curious things that haven't appeared on HN before are some of the scarcest goods here.

tafycent8 anni fa

Ooooh. I've seen this page before, but it is a great submission. Fascinating article about something I'd never heard of before. Thanks for the link.