1. Frank Reade, Jr., And His Queen Clipper of the Clouds
A Look at Electricity & Airships

2. The Dime Novel Written by Luis Senarens under the pseudonym, “Noname”
Published July 22nd, 1893
Came in two installments
"Title Page Image." Frank Reade, Jr., And His Queen Clipper of the Clouds. 22 July University of South Florida, Tampa. USF Dime Novel Collection. Web. 4 Apr

3. The Story
Frank Reade, Jr., the brilliant inventor son of Frank Reade, decides to build an airship and travel across the American West in it.
Before the beginning of the voyage, Frank foils an attempt to steal his secret plans for the airship, and once on the airship he must deal with betrayal from within his crew.
Among his other adventures aboard the airship are: outrunning storms, battling “prairie outlaws,” Native Americans, and Mexicans, and rescuing trains and settlers.

4. The Technology
Batteries
Airships

5. Batteries
The Queen Clipper is powered by piles and electric accumulators; Frank, Jr. describes the latter as yielding “electric currents more powerful than the world has ever before known.”
Piles and accumulators are basically large batteries. The Voltaic pile was created around 1800 by Alessandro Volta.

6. Airships
The airplane had not been invented by 1893, but inventors had been making airships since pre-1800.
An example of airships: hot air balloons.
Airships were most often powered by gas. In 1883, the first airship successfully powered by an electric motor was built.

7. How The Queen Clipper Works
Piles and electric accumulators power fans stationed all around the top deck of the Queen Clipper. Some of the blades on these fans rotate vertically to lift the ship into the air. Other blades moving in a horizontal direction on these fans propels the ship forward.
Frank Reade, Jr. says the construction of the combination of piles and accumulators which power his ship is known only to himself.
The Queen Clipper is constructed of paper, which explains its lightness.

8. How The Queen Clipper Works, cont.
While Frank Reade, Jr. and his Queen Clipper of the Clouds takes a stab at science, the author clearly avoids the hard work of proving its complete plausibility by providing only generalized statements about the workings of such a magnificent airship.

9. Perceptions of Technology & Science
Frank Reade, Jr. is an inventor. The premise behind all of his stories is the invention of newfangled technological contraptions. There is a sense of wonder inherent in the description and illustrations of the ship, which is portrayed as modern and sleek, and in the mystery behind how Reade, Jr.’s battery array works.

10. Perceptions, cont.
Contrasting Reade, Jr. and his crew with the Native Americans and the Mexicans allow for a comparison to be made between the technological ingenuity and advancements of the white protagonist’s inventions.

11. Bibliography
"airship". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Web. 3 Apr. 2016.
"Alessandro Volta". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Web. 04 Apr. 2016
Noname (Luis Senarens). Frank Reade, Jr. and his Queen Clipper of the Clouds, Part I University of South Florida, Tampa. USF Dime Novel Collection. Web. 3 Apr
White, Trumbull, et al. The World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Chicago: International Pub. Co Web. 3 Apr