AN AMPHIBIOUS AUTOMOBILE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 91, 24 November 1911, Page 2

AN AMPHIBIOUS AUTOMOBILE.

Some time ago wa described an automobile which had borrowed from the aeroplane a new method of propulsion. The driving wheels were disconnected from the engine, and the motor was connected instead to an aeroplane propeller located at the rear of the machine. With this novel driving mechanism the automobile fanned (itself along at a high rate of speed, and in a race with an aeroplane, succeeded in making a speed of a mile a minute. This same machine has since been used in another novel manner. It was mounted on a small float on the White River, In-

dianapolis. Wires connected the front wheels with the rudder of the boat, so that the craft could be steered by operating the steering wheel. With this simple arrangement, the craft was propelled at a high speed, beating all launches on the river. Owing to the fact that the thrust of the propeller was considerably above the drag of the boat there was a tendency, at high speed, to force the boat downward, and the danger of sinking prevented the use of maximum power. With the propeller revolving at six hundred revolutions per minute, the float sank un J til tNa gunwales were almost level with the water. To persons on the shore, the automobile appeared to be skimming over the surface with no float beneath Jt,