Hydraulic Leg (Jan, 1947)
I have two hypothises for this picture. Either The Nazis were almost successful in creating an army of cyborg stormtroopers to take over the world, or somewhere on the back of the picture it says “Property of Fritz Lang.” (In German, of course).
Hydraulic Leg designed to give amputees the knee action essential in climbing stairs efficiently was developed by the Germans. The picture with schematic drawing at left was found among enemy documents and studied closely by the U. S. Air Material Command. (Compare with drawings in “Limbs To Order,” MI, Nov. ’46.)
When I travelled in Europe in 1966 with my mother and sister we camped in many campgrounds along the Italian riviera where many Germans vacationed.
It was my first experience with large numbers of amputees who, 20+ years after the fact, were pretty complacent and open to a curious 13 y.o.
6 years later, as an Army medic in Texas I saw many more but few were as advanced, life-like, or as flexible as the German ones I had seen in Europe.
It’s “Eigentum von Fritz Lang”.
Ask dr. Strangelove…
It seems Kraftwerk was a duo in their early days!
I can’t tell if they gave the man a false leg or if they gave a robot a real one