Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-11-16
THE AERIAL TRICYCLE..
Novel Air Ship Invented by q
Milwaukee Man.
COT THE IDEA FROM THE FLY.

New Theory Of Aerial Navigation-I
Was Discovered Accidentally, Say
the Inventor-Expects to Win 81
Louis $4,000 Prize.
Will Max Cohn of Milwaukee sue
coed In lifting" the 100000 reward
to be given at the st. Louis Louisiana
Purchase exhibition to the man who
exhibits the most successful air ship
He and many of his friends believe hs
has applied a principle to his proposed
aerial tricycle. that cannot fail to
achieve this enviable success, says the
Milwaukee Sentinel
THE sailing card" principle Is the
open sesame to the Golfers of the expo
sttion corporation, according to many
and Mr.. Cohn is busy these days or
ganizing this company which is expect
ed to bring more fame to Milwaukee.
The air ship will be about sixty feet
In length and fourteen in diameter. II
will be propelled and steered by hu-
man energy and have appended to the
balloon a sort Of tricycle., on which will
sit the men who furnish the power
and brains necessary to the operation
Of the great wingless fier.
The propeller Will be affixed to the
stern Of the ship, but the rudder will
be In front. This rudder will be In the
form Of disk, as will also a pair Of
planes placed at the sides of the ma
chine. The planes and rudder will all
be kept In rapid revolution while the
air ship is In motion, and here lies the
secret Of the inventors idea.
His machine will weigh but a trife
more than the air 1t displaces, and II
is his belief that by running the ma
chine on its wheels along the ground
and starting the propeller sufficient
momentum can be attained to raise the
slight weight from the earth. The pro
peller will keep the air ship In motion
while the horizontal disks, tilted up
ward, will raise the machine and the
circular rudder turned either way will
give the desired direction. But it is in
the revolution Of the three disks, which
are expected to cut the air as does the
revolving card, that the inventor pins
his faith.
"Just how / came to form the idea
Of attempting to solve this difficult
and fascinating problem / cannot re
member" Mr.. Cohn said to a reporter
''but at the age Of sixteen l found my.
self at the task Of constructing a fly
engrossed in 1t that / neglected my
meals and other boyhood pleasures on
account Of II, and even today I can
produce the scroll saw, wood, pieces
Of cigar boxes, glue, ingeniously con-
structed pulleys and other parts Of
this, my first attempt Of childhood's
fancy, which, as any one can readily
imagine, was patterned after the con-
struction Of birds. Wherever the occa-
sion presented itself, but never neg
lecting my duties, made observations
mischief led to the discovery Of my
theory. Here's how 1t happened. After
finishing a commercial course at Spen-
cerian business college secured a po-
sition az bookkeeper in one of Milwau-
KEGS leading dry goods houses. Here
the cash boys, who were perhaps three
or four years my Junior, devoted their
surplus energy and time to all kinds of
youthful diversions, and among other
things they made some wooden toy pis-
tolls which would shoot tiny pieces Of
cardboard by force Of a trigger re-
leased rubber band. One day one Of
these boys tried to amuse himself by
shooting at me. Although I often
sailed stones or other fat missiles while |
st play, their action never attracted my
attention az these tiny bits of paste
board did, no doubt because felt quite !
a pain when one struck me In the face !
or on the hands. While trying to evade
them noticed how gracefully and &C |
curately they would revolve through |
the air, and all of a sudden 1t flashed |
through my mind, That's just the thing |
for rudder in a flying machine
"After that I secretly made expert |
ments with such tiny pieces Of card
board by attempting to throw them
with all my might, but always failed to
obtain any such results as the toy pis
tol did by shooting them. Then con.
cluded to make experiments with larger |
pieces Of pasteboard by twirling them
through the air and was delighted with |
their action, which satisfied me that |
my theory was correct and that revolv-
ing planes ought to solve the problem |
Of aerial flight From that time until |
1899 experimental and kept my IN |
vention a secret for fear Of being |
known as a crank, and time has dem. |
onstrated that my fears were well |
grounded. BY studying and making OBJ
seryations Of the flight of birds and the
common house fly, which In my opin.
lon surpasses any bird of flight. even.
tuaIly evolved an idea Of an expert |
mental machine which would embody |
,he cheapes motive power and general
and at the same time over
come those two other seemingly insur.
mountable obstacles, equilibrium and |
Initial velocity, the latter being better |
known to the laity as the start With |
these objects IN view intend to maks |
my 1rst machine In the form of
tricycle..
....-.ae0 nv ARAAnAo