The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-23
AN AIR-BICYcLE.
An Invention Which VIII Navi-
gate Against the Wind
Tho Product OF an Acronnut Who Has
Been Experimenting for Twelve Years
tc Accomplish tho Present
Result.

began series of experiments on line
he had been theorizing on for some ten
or twelve years, this being the con-
struction Of u balloon or airship which
should become navigable and of some
practical use. His experiments evolved
the curious hybrid machine known us
the ''uir bicycle"
Briefly speaking, says the New York
Recorder, it is compound of the bal
loon and the bicycle. The mechanism
Is small and almost hidden from view
when the rider is seated. 1t was orig
inally in the form of a wire chair but
has since been modified into the or
binary saddle of bicycle. From this
depends fork, ending in two pedals, like
those of q bicycle, the fork having q head
and cross bar with two handles, as
usual. Down the center Of the fork is
hollow tube i'll which there is cog
wheel and ratchet attachment, which is
operated by the pedals, the handles, or
both ut once. This gearing furnishes
the motive power Of the machine. Thus
the power applied can be varied ac-
cording to the speed desired, and the
hands can rest the feet, or vice versa,
without interfering with the Roadway
of the machine or decreasing its speed.
In front of the head Of the machine
there projects horizontally q light but
strong steel shaft, which fits into n
steel sheath. This sheath is rigid and
firmly fixed to the head of the machine,
while the SHIFT inside of it is cogged or
rGtchetcd into tho mechanism acted
upon by the chain attachments of the
pedals. ut the extreme end of this.
furtilercst from the rider, are four rigid
arms, the end pair of which are rigidly
fixed on the sheath, SO that they oc-
cupy position exactly parallel to the
body OF the rider; the other two are rig
idly fixed on the revolving shaft,
couple OF Sits being cut In the sheath TO
permit of their movement These arms
are about three feet long and the end
pair aIe each about four feet distant
from the two nearest the rider. On
them is spread sheet or sail of light
but strong duck, IN size six feet by four,
which is set cdgewise to the rider, and
when at rest hangs quivcring and shak-
ing with every breath of air, like the
sails Of ship in the doldrums.
Behind the rider there extends long,
slender bamboo rod, and close behind
the riders back rises wire stay which
supports the hydrogen spindle" This
Is the scientific name of balloon
embodying the shape of both a needle
and sphere, a long, circular body,
shaped like the wooden block which q
boy calls q ''tip-cat," except that the
spindle" is slightly fattened under
meath, making it look like boat turned
bottom up. This spindle is filed with
hydrogen gas, generated from water,
and Is covered with the ordinary bal
loon netting, which Is guycd to tho
bamboo rod, and the steel shaft, much
the same as the balloon, is attached to
tho car. The whole apparatus weighs
fifteen pounds, and is stecred either by
the fan arrangement ut the rear or by
shifting the center of gravity as is a
bicycle.
The principle may be most clearly de-
fined in simple words as that of the
child's air balloon-it will not rise by
itself, but blow under it and it scars to
the clouds That is the case with the
air bicycle The rider takes his seat,
or rather he stands with his seat be-
tween his legs, his hands holding the
handles. STOPPING little, he springs
upward into the nir, and by a quick pull
at the handles brings the seat right up
to him so that he involuntarily sits
down, his feet falling upon the pedals y
sharp, decisive pressure on them sets the
chain and cog-wheel attachment whirl-
ing, and this causes the steel shaft in
front of the head to half turn, first to
the right and then to tho left, the two
arms revolving with it, and as the two
arms attached to the sheath remain I'M
yr,NrnI ox-fo &c
right or left-hand helix, varying in
rapidity with tho action of the pedals
and producing a backward current of
dir similar to that experienced on the
front platform of q swiftly -moving car,
only that the current from the helix
blows upward and strikes the fiat lower
surface of the hydrogen SPINDLE" bel
lying it inward, and SO still more in
creasin2 its resistance to the powerful
breeze, which slowly raises the whole
machine into the air. The helix at the
same time grabs at the air in front, rs
it were, and sucks it back. In this way
the action is the reverse to that Of q
ships propeller, which gives momen-
tum TO the vessel by its peculiar shape
pressing against the water The air
bicycle progresses by similar action to
that of the propeller when the engines
are reversed and the ship steams back
ward.
| No steering gear is actually necessary,
| although the machine carries ruddcr.
1t will steer By the principles of grav-
itation; If the rudder leans backward it
ascends II forward it dcsccnds, if to the
right it goes to the right, and If to the
left a turn to the left is the result An
inspection of tho tilt of the spindle will
demonstrate this clearly. The most
| important point Of all is this: With thia