Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-18
HOW ALLAN HOPES TO FLY.

His Machine Will Bore a Hole in the
Air and Of Course Go Up the Hole.
From the sestte Post-Inteliieencer
In an upstairs room in the Western House
| at Ballard has been developed within the past
eight months what in the opinion Of men Of
sound judgment will prove, If practical, the in
vention Of the age.
Mr.. William Allan, a real estate broker and q
| former employe Of the West Coast Improve
ment Company, has nearly completed the
model OF an aerial ship or flying machine II
consists Of two oval or cigar-shaped bodies
with tapering ends, the smaller suspended
within the larger. Around the larger an i'm
mense thread Of stiff canvas, or some other
strong but light material, winds spiralIy from
end to end. Within the smaller body is stu
ated the propelling power, which by means OF
set Of pulleys, bands, wheels. &c, revolves
the interior oval body, and as it moves SO is
causes the larger machine on the exterior to
move with correspondingly greater velocity.
The theory which William Allan has held
and reasoned upon for the last twenty years is
this: A screw by revolution forces itself
through wood, so Mr. Allan concluded il he
could invent a machine with threads large
enough TO reyolve in the atmosphere it wall
travel through space and with great rapidity
on the same principle. II Mr.. Allan be not q
deluded inventor one may travel in this ma
chine in any direction. with almost any speed
desired, and with perfect safety, by means of .
steering apparatus and speed regulator
which are attached and under the control OF
the aeronaut within the bowels of the invention
IT this invention proves practical, and Mr..
Allan thinks it will, railroads and ocean grey
hounds will be easily distanced. The details
of the machine cannot be fully described, as
only a working model has been constructed
and although Mr.. Allan has obtained caveat
he does not wish to give away his secret until
he has more substantial financial backing
Mr.. Allan has also constructed q huge uni
cycle. or, as some paradoxically call it, a one
wheel bicycle. It is seventeen feet in circum-
ference and has a tire one foot wide. The
cyclist stands in the center and by moving his
feet up and down on pedals turns small
wheel, which revolves the larger one at the
same time As every revolution Of the smaller
wheel turns the larger il will readily be seen
the cyciist goes q distance of seventeen feet
every revolution. The unicycle il now in the
yard OF James McLachlan, a contractor and
builder, who Is putting the finishing touches
upon it under Mr. Adams supervision. 1t is ex-
pected public trial Of this invention will be
made in a short time.
Recently, in conversation with a reporter,
Bailard's inventor said: There may be some
skeptical people who deem my inventions i'm
practicable, but the public thought Fulton was
crazy when he was building the Claremont,
and when Columbus was trying to convince the
monarchs of Europe that another world existed
even the children significantly pointed their
myers to their foreheads when he passed by.
But there was no screw loose in Columbus
head, neither was there i'll Fulton's"