Those of you who work in an office probably understand how hard it is to stay focused with all the distractions you have around. Everything from smartphones to people constantly chatting away near you can become annoying when you’re trying to work. Back in the 1920s, however, a man named Hugo Gernsback introduced a design for a special helmet that had the ability to block sound and all your peripheral vision. Gernsback was an inventor as well as an editor and writer, and he published his design for the helmet which he called “The Isolator.” Its purpose was to block all distractions around you in the office so that you could focus on the work in front of you.
The helmet was made of solid wood and it covered the face completely, even the mouth. The wearer needed to attach a tube to the helmet which was connected to an oxygen tank just so they could breathe. The eye area of the helmet had small pieces of glass that were painted black. There was only a very thin clear area in the glass for you to see what was in front of you. This strange invention was featured in the 1925 issue of “Science and Invention” magazine, which was owned by Gernsback.
(via Smith Journal)
