Watercycles

This looks unsafe for the use in one's swimming pool, let alone on top of the salty brine.

For the ladies: a catamenial sack (1894)

Before the arrival of all those convenient feminine products that one sees advertised on TV, Victorian inventors fiddled with a plethora of designs similar to this one. The term for this contraption is catamenial sack. Easy to see how it works... This particular one was designed by Eliza Kirwin, so at least one woman must have used it.

Silent shave

Supposedly, the barbers in diving helmets can see and hear, but they cannot talk. I can think of a number of other things that would work. One of them is represented by the sign on the wall: "A talking barber gathers no spondulicks." You guessed right, the rather obscure word (also spelled spondulix) means money. As a piece of social history, notice a small boy working at the barber's shop, also wearing a helmet. Child labor everywhere!

Submarine tricycle

I suppose with proper ballast this could work...

Pneumatic skate

"An American Lady-Acrobat Walking Head-downwards by Means of the Pneumatic Skate." Did this really happen?

Cycle Railway

Cone of death?

For those in search of new sensations: "It is an immense cone, designed to carry a cargo of fifteen passengers, and to fall from a lofty tower into a well of water. The tower is 300 yards high, and the swiftness of the descent is more than double that of the most rapid express train: the well is about 60 yards deep."

Got noisy children?

Glass covers for noisy children. One size fits all!

Teleautograph

Best invention I have seen in a while!

Ocean tricycle

"The cycle when travelling does not roll or pitch like a steamer, but allows its passengers to enjoy themselves without the fear of sea-sickness."

It looks to me that some ballast would be needed. Otherwise the whole thing would be perilously unstable.

Steampunk goes medieval

George Moore's invention, "a steam man." The word 'robot' was not yet known in the 19th century, but this design certainly appears to have some robotic qualities to it.

Lorgnette goggles -- actual 1914 design

This design was supposed to "dispense with the awkward and ungainly fastening now customarily used upon goggles," permitting "the wearer to readily hold the goggles in position to protect the eye when it is desired or to remove the goggles at times when there is no necessity for protection, such as when an automobile is stopped or going merely at a slow rate of speed."

Spherical cycle

Remember the Bubble Boy? This would be an improvement.

Duelling apparatus for gentlemen of weak nerves

"After a plentiful dose of laudandum and brandy, the principal is placed in the frame, so that he can neither flinch nor falter, and the second, retiring to a safe distance, pulls the string and the pistol is discharged."

Balloon voyage to the North Pole

Proposed balloon voyage to the North Pole, late 19th century. Note that the actual balloon expedition to the North Pole, headed by S. A. Andrée ended tragically. Perhaps they should have used this design instead (looks very steampunk, by the way).

"Armour-plated railway trucks"

"Armour-plated railway trucks" used during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Balloon Factory

Balloon factory in Paris. 19th century. Probably looks a lot like the place where prepare for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade.

Invasion of Britain

A French raft design for the invasion of Britain. Late 18th century.

Columbus Monument

This Columbus Monument was designed for the Chicago Exhibition. "Conveying visitors by lift to the Equator, and thence by spiral railway to the North Pole." I don't remember seeing it in Chicago, so I will assume it was never built?

Curious life-preserver

"The object is to provide the shipwrecked person with not only a meаns of flotation, but with complete shelter. Inside the enlarged upper chamber, it is proposed to place provisions and a water supply, so that the wearer can stay afloat for a month, if need be, with safety and comfort."

Late 19th century invention by Mr. Trangott Beek of Newark, N.J.