The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-08-05
A Wonderful Flying Machine.
Correspondence Of tic Augusta cOnsstu:iona!ist.
ATLANTA, GA, July 9, 1915.

upon an 1nYentlOl WHICH WILL ono1al
astonish the world. 1t is not patent
fraud like the Keely motor, neither is it
a mythical affair like the Memphis Tor
pedo Chicken, but it is real, genuine
invention, Matched out from the brains
Of a negrol It is the first negro inven-
ton / ever heard of, and I can only ac-
count for it by remembering the wonder
full gift Of music of Blind Tom. Here
music unaided by the tutelage of pro-
fessors, stripped of its technicalities and
unburdened of it's huge piles of huge
music books and primers, settled all at
once among the torpid fbres of stupid
brain, and thus endowed idiotic Tom with
an untutored mastery of the piano.
Hence the eccentric freak of nature, or
incomprehensibler ruling of the Almighty,
bears me out in the supposition that
Green Fleming, of Clayton County, in
ventor of the flying boat, may have been
gifted, instead of being the possessor Of
an acquired knowledge of mechanism.
1t is needless to relate the accident by
which I became a party to the secret, and
as nv time is limited, / will endeavor to
give brief description of the inventor
and his wonderful invention. Green is
about 43 years old, thick set, black as a
new widows dress, and is very illiterate.
He is shoemaker, but has not worked
at his trade for over year, having devo-
ted the whole Of that time to the compile
ton of the air boat. He began work on
his project some fourteen years ago, and
so quietly did he work, and so jealousy
did he guard his secret that only four
persons ever knew of it up to the time of
my discovery. One of those four was a
Colonel in the Federal Army, who man
aged to steal the model while Green was
in custody on trumped-up charge of
misdemeanor, during the occupancy of
Georgia by the troops under Sherman.
Green had unthoughtedly exhibited the
model to the officer, who, seeing its worth,
played this trick to get possession of it.
Before the troops reached Columbia,
Green made his escape, but not without
plunging his knife into the Colonel whilst
he lay sleeping in his room at hotel.
The three others were his old master,
his wife and son. The old man, long
since dead, never gave the matter a
thought, satisfied in his own mind that it
was some piece of foolishness. His wife
and son were evidently of the same opin-
ion, as they never took any interest in it,
or gave it any attention. As for the in
vention, it is of canoe shape, but smaller
than an ordinary boat. On either side
are wheels, which resemble the paper
fiutter-wheels of children. From the
hub radiate cone-shaped spokes made by
covering light frames with canvas, leav-
ing the underside open or hollow. These
wheels, reminding you when attached to
the boat, of the side-wheels of steam
ship, are operated by crank in the cen
tire, the speed being accelerated by
combination of cog or gear wheels. Just
under these toy windmills, which are
about four feet in diameter, are fastened
by fingers to the sides of the boat, two
canvas screens; at least they look like
screens, about three by five feet, so ar
ranged, by levers in the bottom of the
boat, to move up and down, in the same
manner as you raise and lower the leaves
of your dining table. Another screen,
two by four feet, serves as rudder.
The screens or "moderators," as Green
calls them, when lowered, serve s.s kind
of dry dock for the boat, the edges rest
ing on the ground. A semi-circle is cut
out of the end Of the screens attached
to the boat, which allows them to move
up and down without touching the
wheels. The operator climbs up by
means of the frame forming the "moder
ator" into the boat. He takes his seat
in the centre, and when ready to start,
turns the crank, his feet placed on the
levers that move the moderators and
rudder. AS soon as the wind wheels are
put in motion, the boat rapidly rises from
the ground in perpendicular line.
When the proper latitude, 80 feet or
higher, is attained, the moderato-s are
raised to horizontal position, which
places the boat in that condition that it
can neither descend or ascend. The
moderators act as parachutes. The boat
is now on it's track, So to speak, and the
revolving of the wind wheels drives it
forward, instead of upward, with wonder
full speed. When ready to descend, the
moderators are raised to perpendicular,
and the descent is made slower or faster
according to the will of the operator, by
turning the crank. When near the
ground, the moderators are lowered and
form rest for the boat. The fall can
be broken by allowing the moderator to
full into horizontal position.
The wonderful speed of this air-boat
enables Green to go to Savannah and
return in four hours, a feat, he says, he
has accomplished several times at night.
He is afraid to venture in any other di-
rcction, being unacquainted with any
other route. By calculation the boat
can travel to New York in ten hours,
even allowing time for the operator to
rest.
The application for a patent has been
sent to lawyer in Washington. The
inventor is afraid of everybody. My
information was pumped out by bits, and
I had to beg him nearly an hour before
he allowed me an inspection of the model.
Whether it can be put into practical use,
I can't say. 1t beats the balloon in air
sailing, and almost equals the telegraph
in "rapid transit" As soon as the patent
is obtained Green will ascend publicly
from Savannah and steer his course to
New York. AS he is as ignorant of ge-
ography as mule, ne can only fix his
rudder in the direction of New York and
steer straight ahead. What pity this
idea didn't strike an intelligent white
man
ROANOKE,