NEW AVIATOR.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 1143, 26 March 1910, Page 4

NEW AVIATOR.

A WELLINGTON INVENTOR

A Hying machine has been constructed in Wellington by a local inventor. In essentials it is a monoplane of the Bleriot type, but it possesses a number of novel features, which place it really outside the class of ordinary standard machines, whose appearance has become familiar to the public in the last twelve months. The main planes on each side the central frame •are not shaped either like the Antoinette or the Bleriot wings, projecting far out, much like the pinions of a bird or a beetle respectively. The planes of the Pechugiii machine —the inventor is Mr .Jehu Pechugiir, a draughtsman in Cable's Foundry— present the appearance of an ordinary lozenge-shaped kite, save that the after portion divides like the tail of a swallow. Iv the gap -between the two ends are placed a steering rudder (vertical), and on each side of this are tails of the Antoinette type, consisting of horizontal and vertical planes in conjunction. Behind these is a movable horizontal plane such as is found in the Bleriot machine fur the purpose of depressing or elevating the flight. The main point of the invention is the •'aero-suctiioii , ' tube which forme the backbone of the machine. This i≤ quite distinctive. It is a long canvas tube suitably braced and sustained by an internal frame. At each end are fans revolving free on a central nxle. As the machine moves through the air naturally it wiD create its own draught through the tube, the fans rotating according to the rate of progress or the strength of the wind. Tho purpose of the tube is this: If the engine fails or stops in andthe machine dips to come to ground, the pressure created in the tube by ■the leading fan will tend to brake the descent, providing a safe and easy return to earth. In addition, the cylindrical shape of this central tube 'adds much to the strength of the backbone of the machine.

There are six propellers —two pairs revolving in opposite directions on the main axle of the suction tube, and two propellers on a lower pair of axles under the tube. The main shaft k driven by chaiu-gearing off the engine-shaft, while the lower propellers are actuated by spur wheels. In addition there is a pair of wings flapped by an eccentric off the engine shaft. The driver sits behind all this propelling machinery. The flapping wings are so adjusted as to lift the machine when necessaa"y, or simply to act as gliders.

The present machine is roughly and cheaply constructed, and the motor is a 4 J- h.p. four-cylinder motor bicycle engine. The inventor, with whom is associated Mr Henry Little, foreman at Cable's, intends to hold a trial shortly, when the possibilities of tho Pecihugin aeroplane may be demonstrated t<l the public. The machine is not sufficiently high-powered to carry a driver yet, and it is with the objeot of gettng a more powerful aerometer that the constructors are making a public test. They are confident of success, after three years' experiment and trial.