Patent Diagrams for Artificial Trees

At least, after we’ve cut down every last tree and forest, once we’ve rid the world of natural species, we’ll know how to build their replacements. Here are some diagrams for artificial trees, signed by their inventors, down to specific tufting techniques and mechanisms for branch attachments. Our future forests will be colorfast and fade-resistant—perhaps machine-washable—filled with recordings of historical birdsong, the world a puzzle we took apart believing someone else would know how to put it back together.

(All via Google Patents.)

6 thoughts on “Patent Diagrams for Artificial Trees”

  1. You’ll be interested to know that aluminum Christmas trees have roots (no pun intended) in WWII production. The tinsel-like branches are a relation of the chaff produced for combat planes, from the same aluminum manufacturers (centered in Manitowoc, Wisc.).

  2. Beautiful post. I wonder if we can go a step further. When all nature is gone, we could then proceed to populate those very symmetrical and very stable forests with bright-coloured chickenwire&plaster wildlife straight out of a Sandy Skuglund tableau.

      1. Federico, that reminds me of a Philip K. Dick anecdote that my late friend Theresa Duncan once wrote about:

        Well, because P.K. Dick lived next to Disney World, he talked about the animatronics there—the servo operated puppets and the moving pirates and the fake birds—a place everything was artificial. And he said that that’s like the second reality. But he said, someday a real bird was going to sing at Disneyland and uncover the first reality.

        An inversion of your chickenwire forest, perhaps.

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