FLIGHTS BY MAN-POWER
Vertical flights of a heavier-than-air machine, propelled solely by human power, are being made. The machine is known as a giro-cycle, which is a helicopter of the simplest form. Its lifting element is a two-bladed, vari-able-pitch air screw of 14 feet diameter, mounted on a vertical-drive shaft driven through a pinion gear of two-to-one ratio by bicycle foot pedals. As set up in the laboratory, the giro-cycle is not yet a completely free flying machine, but is controlled laterally by a stationary tripod. The operator mounts the saddle, revolves the propeller to the maximum velocity obtainable with his power while the blades remain flat or at zero pitch. At the moment the highest speed is attained the operator pulls the pitch control handle, thus increasing the pitch of the blades to the position of maximum lift. The thrust thus produced raises the machine and the rider into the air. While ascents have been no more than one or two inches, the machine is expected to be capable of 12 feet flights when perfected.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19381229.2.18
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1938, Page 5
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176FLIGHTS BY MAN-POWER Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1938, Page 5
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