49/230
Da Vinci’s second flyer was a helicopter. An aërial screw 96 feet in diameter was to be turned by a strong and nimble artist who might, by prodigious effort, lift himself for a short time. Though various small paper screws were made to ascend in the air, the larger enterprise was never seriously undertaken. Many subsequent inventors developed the same project; but the fellow turning the screw always found it dreadful toil and a hopelessly futile task. Of late the man-driven helicopter has been abandoned, but the motor-driven one is very much cultivated. Scores of inventors in recent years, aided by light motors, have been trying to screw boldly skyward, and some have succeeded in rising on a helicopter carrying one man.
- Author
- Aërial Navigation
A Popular Treatise on the Growth of Air Craft and on Aëronautical Meteorology
By Albert Francis Zahm
Published in 1911
Available from gutenberg.org - Posted on
- Saturday 1 January 2022
- Dimensions
- 671*461
- Tags
- Albums
- Technology / Transport / Air
- Visits
- 639
- Downloads
- 36