Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-04-25
AN A1R-B1CYCLE.
An Invention Which VIII Navi-
gate Against the Wind
The Product of an Aeronaut Who HaG
Been Experimenting for Twelve Years
to Accomplish the Present


Been Experimenting for Twelve Years
to Accomplish the Present
Result.
Myers, q weI-known balloon expert,
began series of experiments on a line
he had been theorizing on for some ten
Or twelve years, this being the con-
struction of a balloon or airship which
should become navigable and of some
practical use. His experiments evolved
the curious hybrid machine known as
the ''air bicycle"
Briefly speaking, says the New York
Recorder, 1t is a 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 bicycle, the fork having head
and a cross bar with two handles, as
usual. Down the center of the fork is
hollow tube in which there Is cog
wheel and ratchet attachment, which is
operated by the pedals, the handles, or
both at once. This gearing furnishes
the motive power Of the machine. Thus
the power applied can be varied &C
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 light but
strong steel shaft, which fits into a
steel sheath. This sheath is rigid and
firmly fixed to the head of the machine,
while the shaft inside of it is cogged or
ratcheted into the mechanism acted
upon by the chain attachments of the
pedals. At the extreme end of this,
furtherest 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, a
couple of Sits being cut in the sheath to
permit of their movement. These arms
are about three feet long and the end
pair are each about four feet distant
from the two nearest the rider. On
them is spread a sheet or sail of light
but strong duck, In size six feet by four,
which is set edgewise to the rider, and
when at rest hangs quivering and shak-
ing with every breath of air, like the
sails Of a ship in the do1drums.
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 needle
and sphere, a long, circular body,
shaped like the wooden block which a
boy calls ''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 guyed to the
bamboo rod, and the steel shaft, much
the same as the balloon, is attached to
the car. The whole apparatus weighs
fifteen pounds, and is steered either by
the fan arrangement at 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 air, and by quick pull
| at the handles brings the seat right up
to him so that he involuntarily sits
down, his feet falling upon the pedals. A
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 the left, the two
arms revolving with it, and as the two
arms attached to the sheath remain un-
moved the extended duck is swung into
q right or left-hand helix, varying in
rapidity with the action of the pedals
and producing a backward current OF
air similar to that experienced on the
front platform Of a swiftly-moving car,
only that the current from the helix
blows upward and strikes the fat lower
surface of the hydrogen SPINDLE" bel.
| lying it inward, and so still more In
creasin6 it's 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, as
It were, and sucks it back. In this way
the action is the reverse to that of a
ships propeller, which gives momen
tum to the vessel by its peculiar shape
pressing against the water. The all
bicycle progresses by similar action tc
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 a rudder
It will steer by the principles of gray
itation; If the rudder leans backward il
ascends, If forward it descends, If to the
right it goes to the right, and if to the
left turn to the left is the result. Ar
inspection of the tilt of the spindle will
demonstrate this clearly. The mos
important point Of all is this: With THU
unique machine head wind becomes 6
factor of propulsion, thus solving the
great problem of aerial navigation. The