Mr. E. Nemethy, Arad, Hungary, some years ago designed a flying wheel according to the well­known kite principle. In this flying machine the magnitude of the bearing surfaces and the weight of the apparatus were adapted to the conditions observed with the flying of large birds, an air screw rapidly rotated by a gasoline motor being used as drive. In the course of his experiments, the inventor eventually abandoned the kite principle, designing his novel flying machine (which seems to constitute an important step towards the definite solution of the flying problem) like a paper arrow.

The inventor claims to have found solution of the problem by accounting for the statical drift a floating body undergoes in virtue of the supporting air cushion formed underneath. The flying machine in its recent form comprises two roof-shaped bearing surfaces of linen, being fixed to a frame of very light steel tube, resting on wheels and bearing a small benzine motor of an output of 2 1/4 horse-power with 1,800 revolutions per minute, the power of which is transmitted to an air screw performing 300 to 600 revolutions per minute. The most important feature is the fact that the air ship may be used on the ground as an automobile and that the landing takes place quite smoothly, the air ship continuing its way on the ground like a motor cycle. Mr. Nemethy has not so far been able to construct a machine with a motor of sufficient power to carry out in practice the whole of his theoretical results; nevertheless, the fact that the flying machine having been launched from the roof of a building l0 m. in height was able to slide through the air over a distance of 40 m., demonstrates the practicability of the new apparatus.

Originally appeared in American Inventor, 1904, p.

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