Omaha daily bee., 1920-03-07
Omaha School Lad Devises Autowaggon,
Propelled Like Airplane But on Wheels
Develops Enough Speed to
Leave Ground In
ventor Continues
Experiments.

Residents of Woolworth avenue.
from Hanseom park to the Field
club. and along Center street, out
| to the aviation field. were surprised
a few weeks ago to observe two
boys racing along in > small four
wheeled contrivance with . pro-
peilor hummins At the front.
The youngstsr At the wheel was
Ronald Dunn, son Of Mr.. and 1rs.
A. D. Dunn. zoos Georgia avenue,
and the ineehanician ini the rear was
Fred Haller. The strange convey
ance was operated on the principles
OF an aefoplane, but moved on
wheels, and It sped along the Center
street road At . rate of 80 to IS miles
an hour-when there was no motor
cycle cop in sight.
The placement Of the propeller
at the front Of the autowagon
worked all right for while, but it
did, not quite satisfy Master Dunn,
the youthful !. inventor. While he
was cogitating over an improve
fnent, he had a mishap, and then he
decided to take the "critter" to
pieces and start over again.
Propeller at the Rear.
He has placed the propeller in
the rear and now believes he has
sutniounted the mechanical obsta-
tles which he encountered at the
outset. Before he enters upon quail
tity production of his invention he
is going to experiment until it is
the last word of this type of loco
motion. AS a hill climber his auto
wagon is equal to any test. He has
never tried it to the limit of speed,
because, he explains that he can not
60 beyond a certain speed without
the danger of being lifted from the
ground, which would be attended
BY disaster, for he does not claim
that, his invention is a flying ma
chine.
During one of his early test runs
he felt the machine being lifted
from the road and he Immediately
sehsed the danger. In the remodel
ing of his autowagon during the last
two weeks, placing the propeller in
the rear, he also followed the "un-
derslung" principle to overcome the
tendency OF the machine to leave the
ground. A wide wheel base also
serves as another factor of safety.
The interesting feature Of this ac-
complishment is that Master Dunn
has a practical knowledge of every
detail of mis- machine and under
stands the principles upon which it
operates. He has machine shop in
an old stable at the rear of his home.
He started his serious mechanical
work by making small model aero
planes, one Of which raised to an
altitude of 70 feet.
Revamps Motorcycle Engine.
Then he conceived the idea of
making a small machine that would
travel on the road, and operated on
The principle of an aeroplane. He
bought an oh motorcycle engine at
a shop for SIS, took it home and
pulled it to pieces. He had some
special fittings made at foundry
and after many hours, and days OF
experimenting he succeeded in get
ting the motor, propeller and wheels
to move.
He and his companion made sew
eral trips to the aviation field before
the n,ishap, which, perhaps, was
in disguise, because it led
on to further development OF his
idea.
He fashioned four-foot propei-
lor in his workshop, the materials
being Of oak and mahogany layers.
He followed a design and the work
covered a period of many hours, be-
cause a propeller must be mathe-
matically correct. This propeller
would have cost $40 IT he had