The Chemawa American, November 01, 1912, Page 33, Image 33

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THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
27
WINGED VEHICLE
W ONDERS
NEVER
E N D —W IIA T
NOW
The past summer has been the realization in France, after a long series
of an entirely new system of mechanical traction, writes C. F. Bartelli
in Leslie’s. For some time attempts have been made to solve the prob­
lem of aerial traction,” as it is technically called, by which vehicles
are moved not by force applied to turning the wheels, but by a propell­
er working in the air, which pushes or pulls the vehicles as in an aero­
plane. These experiments led to nothing, it being found that the force
generated was insufficient to propell a solidly built automobile, for in­
stance, at anything like a satisfactory rate, while the propeller itself was
so large as to form a serious incumbrance.
Things were at this stage when M. Fillippi, a French inventor who
has devoted years to the study of aeronautics in general, came to the
conclusion that existing theories on the action of helical propellers were
all wrong and perfected what he calls his “ rotative wing,” which al­
though worked in the same manner as an ordinary propeller, is con­
structed on entirely different principles, and with which, it is claimed
the problem of aerial traction is finally solved.
It can be applied, it appears, to the traction of any vehicle—those of
the automobile type, sledge, barges and other river craft, vehicles of a
special build to travel over the desert in regions where no system of
transportation has yet been possible, and with exrtaordinarv advan­
tages over the present methods in every instance.
The absolute practicability of the “ rotative wing” as regards auto­
mobile traction was conclusively demonstrated by a trial run, in Inly
last, from Paris to Lyons—distance 345 m iles-in a single day with
only hasty stops for fresh petrol, made by Count Bertrand de Lesseps
on a machine designed by himself and fitted with a new apparatus’.
The run was a brilliant success, and the time taken—nine hours—
would have been far less but for the fact that by an oversight a very
small petrol reservoir had been provided, which necessitated an undue
number of stops. The average speed was 60 miles an hour.
“ S U B S C R IP T IO N
E X P I R E D .”
It is unpleasant for us to be com­
We wish to remind many of our pelled to mention this fact, but we
readers that they are in arrears on feel that with so ridiculously low a
their subscription to the American. subscription price all can afford it.