Injecting Realism Into Steampunk

I love Jules Vernes' "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as much as the next punk. And apparently, the next punk loves it a lot, judging by how quickly the sci-fi, techno-Victorian fantasy look called "SteamPunk" has become all the rage. The look is catching on so quickly, perhaps, because the concept is so easy to articulate. This ain't your dad's design--or your grand-dad's, or even your great grand-dad's. Think turn of the century--the last century, that is.

Think big boilers with copper sheen, bands of shiny steel and huge, kernel-headed nuts that baton down what? Well, nothing important, original or authentic, at all, really. Everything from watches and cuff-links to clothing accessories and computer doo-dads are now being decked out with totally superfluous adornments possessed with an aesthetic that seems to have come out of Vernes' own version of Bladerunner.

The thing is, there aren't many examples of SteamPunk-styled items that offer anything beyond just added-on adornment--with perhaps one exception. A new harmonica USB flash drive, recently being quietly introduced throughout various high-profile venues, has a patented design with "Prior Art" that reaches right back into that era of time that inspired the Steampunk movement. Specifically cited is Patent No. 505,493, by Carl Strauss, dated September 26, 1893, for an "Improved Harmonica" with a "novel construction" utilizing unusually attaching cover plates.

Such a 100-plus-year-old design being referenced today is not all that remarkable, in its own right. Except, when combined with a USB flash drive, the design turns into something totally novel and useful that's both a musical instrument and a data storage device, combined. As for its "authentic" steampunk look? Scrutinize it closely and you'll see that, in truth, the real beauty of this particular steampunk example is its duality, functionality, authenticity and utter lack of any excessive, unnecessary or superfluous adornment, at all. Which makes the harmonica USB flash drive quite a unique steampunk specimen, indeed.

Jim McLean is the inventor of the world's first and only playable harmonica USB flash drive, the "FlashHarp" (Pat. No. D602,940), which may be purchased at all Arts and Artisans shops on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, as well as at the "BackyardBrand" store on Etsy, "the all things handmade" Web site. FlashHarp is a registered trademark of FlashHarp Music LLC. Invention demo is at http://www.harmonicausbdrive.com. See "The Backyard Harmonica Teacher" who instructs the video harmonica lesson that's available on the FlashHarp perform a bit at http://www.flashharp.com. FlashHarp is also available packaged together along with a full-size, 10-hole harmonica in a product called the "Plug 'n Play Musical Combo." Both are products of Backyard Brand™.

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