- Frank Reade
Frank Reade was the hero of a series of
dime novel s written primarily for boys. The first novel, "Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains," was written by Harry Enton and serialized in theFrank Tousey juvenile magazine "Boys of New York," February 28 through April 24, 1876. The four Frank Reade stories revolved around adventures with his inventions, various robot-like mechanisms powered by steam.A very long series of juvenile novels followed which featured the "son" of Frank Reade, "Frank Reade Jr.," as its teenaged inventor-hero. These stories were written by Luis P. Senarens (1865-1939) under the penname "Noname". Extremely popular in their time, they were often reprinted.
Frank Reade Jr. inventions included
airship s of the dirigible-balloon and helicopter type [ [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Social/pulps/SH12.htm Social History :Pulps and Comic Books: Popularizing Air and Space Travel ] ] , submersibles, steam-driven and electrical land vehicles, andsteam -poweredrobot s.The Frank Reade stories are perhaps the best known of the many boys' "
invention fiction " series published in America in the later 19th Century.Notes
ee also
*
Tom Swift
* Tom Swift Jr.
*Edisonade External links
* [http://www.bigredhair.com/frankreade/family.html The Frank Reade Family]
* [http://www.lib.usf.edu The University of South Florida Tampa Library has an extensive collection of Frank Reade dime novels]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.