AMERICAN ADVANCES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17856, 31 August 1923, Page 10

AMERICAN ADVANCES.

"CYCLEPLANE" FLIES.

Craou oue owv correspondent.) SAN FKANCISCO, July 31. American genius is still striving to "liek creation," and something entirely novel in the realm" of aeronautics has been evolved in Dayton, Ohio, where the first flight by man in. an air vehicle operated by foot-power only has become an accomplished fact, according to an announcement made • by United States f officials at the McCook Army Air Field in that city, &• city' where the Wright Brothers gave to'the world some of the pioneer flying, machines some years ago. . , . ' . \V. F. Gerhafdt, an aeronautical engineer at McCook Field, is the inventor of the'contrivance, which lie terms a scientific curiosity. In this strange contrivance he made the first successful flights in-the presence of witnesses early one morning' late in July* . While the flights made with the new machine were not of a 'sensational nature, the inventor claims' that the principles involved can be successfully corporated in a' machine capable of comparatively great heights and speed. , In his longest flight, with the machine operated by and supplied with the pilot's own power, it : rose about three inches from the ground and flew approximately twenty feet, which the inventor: contended-was long enough to" insure steady, unTetarded flight. "This machine was not intended to fly around the sky, but merely to make the kind of flight it did, to prove scientifically the possibility of hnman flight," the inventor said; after he, had made the series of successful flights. The "cycleplane" has seven lifting wings, one .mounted above the other by means of a connecting strut three feet high. Each wing'• is approximately in width two feet; and is three inches thick.

A propeller made of light wood is j operated by the pilot by means of a chain and pedal arrangement, much after the manner of a bicycle. 1 Pedal Propulsion. In recent tests, the "cycleplane'Vsras started forward initially through the medium of a towline. After tie ma* chine gets under way the pilot .commences pedalling, and when the pro-' peller revolves at a sufficient speed the machine lifts gradually from- the. ground and moves forward. The regular stabiliser, rudder and, landing gears are used on the "cycleplane." There are.no ailerons on the machine, as it obtains, its lifting pow4W ; from the . peculiar placement of the lower wing. . ' -''.:" The fuselage is about twenty feet long and the top wing stands about thirty feet from the ground. No data on its weight were available.: One commentator, alluding to the in- i itial performances of the' cycleplan*, \ said: "It is much too soon to sneer j at. the Dayton cycleplane or pedal plane because at the trial performance it rose no more than a few inches from the ground and travelled only twenty teet. Comparatively speaking, that « much better than the best results thus far achieved by the motor-cycle planes that have - been demonstrating in France. There seems to be no reason that a motor-cycle plane Bhould not be a success, but it is a triumph in mechanics to construct a plane that can flyj/ no matter now snort a difr taiice, with no more than human, power. "When the gliders first started their range was merely trilling, but now they can keep in the air for hours and hours, and between the wind-driven glider and the pedalled plane there is a world ot mechanical difference. "C'yeleplanes may not promise any more permanence than bicycles, and they may be even less popular in this gasoline age, but they should be great sport and may become comparatively safe—that is. if they are kept off the streets." Someone has injected a note of alarm into the discussion of the cycleplane, wondering what would happen to the public safety were a 'flock of cycleplanes to hop off from the various windows of x the average American skyscrapers in the business sections of any' city.