Books like Tom Swift and His Airship

After spending lots of time reading boy books written in the mid to late 1800s, I've finally continued my time travel experience to the early 1900s. The Tom Swift series is one of the earliest books in the Stratemeyer Syndicate (think The Bobbsey Twins Series, Hardy Boys Complete Series Set Books 1-66, and Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and I knew that the books I read were re-written in the 1970s. At one point, I read some of the original Nancy Drew books. I knew about the Stratemeyer Syndicate but had never heard of the Tom Swift books until recently. Unlike the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Tom Swift is not a detective. He is a teen inventor. He's the son of Barton Swift, who is also an inventor.This is the third in the series. Tom has now invented a motorcycle and a boat. So, what's next? An airplane. This is shortly after the Wright Brothers. Tom's airship,the Red Cloud, is a combination blimp/dirigible and half airplane. When Tom and his friends, including the eccentric Mr. Damon,, take the Red Cloud for a flight, they later find out that they've been accused of a crime. There are many adventures and close calls and Tom also has to figure out how to clear his name.Some reader will have trouble reading about supporting character Eradicate Samson, the "colored" helper, so named (by himself) because he eradicates dirt. All I can say is times were different. What we recognize as racist today was just the way writers wrote African American characters.Tom was likely modeled off Horatio Alger Jr.'s boy characters. Tom is honest, loyal, and courageous. He gets into frequent spats with the town bully, Andy Foger. Andy is mean and treacherous and lies and steals. Tom never starts a battle but is always very quick to defend himself and always comes out the victor.