Ye Olde GPS

Imagine you are a motorist driving through an area that is unfamiliar to you. Wouldn't it be great if there was some way that you could have access to local maps that update depending on your position without you having to pull over and leaf through an atlas. The device would have to be portable and have the ability to utilise a number of different maps. Surely we have such a device I hear you say, the GPS? Ah but what if I told you that the year was 1927?

Enter the Plus Four Wristlet Route Indicator. Snazzy name, I know. This piece of motoring history has recently gone on display at the National Trust's Curious Contraptions exhibition of eccentric inventions from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, at Standen House in East Grinstead, East Sussex.


Worn like a wrist-watch, it is loaded with a tiny paper road map that is rolled across the face by adjusting two small black knobs. It comes with set route maps, such as London to Bournemouth and London to Edinburgh, and the driver winds the knobs to move the map on as their car travels further. When motorists wish to turn off the road, they have to pull over to replace the map with another map that corresponds to a number on the junction.

It struck me that there are more than the obvious similarities with this and a GPS device. You can bet that that it was relatively cheap to buy but they stung you when you purchased the additional maps. :-)

I know it's a bizarre invention but it really appeals to me. You can read more in this Daily Mail article.