I'm trying to think of examples of technologies that were innovative and basically worked, but weren't potent enough to overcome the skepticism eventually, and/or couldn't overcome the deadweight of externalities. 

Not potent enough: flying cars
Couldn't overcome externalities: nuclear rockets

Any others?

Blogger at ribbonfarm.com, running summerofprotocols.com, host of /gloom ☀️

There's a book "Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure" that covers this topic if interested. It specifically goes into airships, nuclear fission, and supersonic flight as examples

Co-founder @bountycaster (bountycaster.xyz). Co-producer @ethereumfilm. Previously co-founder of Scalar Capital and product at Coinbase

Bring back dirigibles!
I’d love to have an apartment in an airship.