Helen Traphagen set about designing and patenting the “Victoria Inflated Skirt” in 1857. The sketch below is an attachment to a patent granted by the United States Secretary of the Interior for a “new and useful improvement in ‘Ladies Skirts'”.
[T]he description affixed to the patent states:
“The nature of [the] invention consists of attaching to the body of a skirt, or petticoat, a series of air tight tubes, to be inflated with air, for the purpose of expanding the surface of the skirt, to give a ‘set’ to the dress similar to that affected by the use of hoops, cords, and other devices now in use.”
It doesn’t look like this was ever put into mass production, but its existence aptly points to both the popularity of full skirts combined with their inherent impracticality due to their bulk and weight.