This Week In History, 11-12-09

Cmr. T.R. Stump is putting up a large double power wind mill at his place across the river. The power thus generated will be used in running a feed chopper and other machinery on his farm.

Professor Homer Witt went to Minnora on Friday and took in the Odd Fellows reunion that was held Saturday, and also had the third degree of Masonry conferred upon him by Linden Lodge. Witt reports the reunion a success and a very pleasant affair.

The editor was engaged on business in the Mt. Zion country a day or so last week, and in no part of the country have we found a more hospitable people. Especially hospitable are Mr. and Mrs. Clay McDonald of Mt Zion and Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Starcher of Claria, where we enjoyed the best of everything that makes life worth living. They all live at home and board at the same place.

1959, 50 years ago

Princeton University’s James Forrestal Research Center has developed a flying scooter. It has a bicycle seat and handlebars, and travels along at 15 miles an hour.

It has a small five horsepower engine and would be relatively cheap to construct.

Development of the scooter took two years and required some $100,000--a grant from the Army’s Transportation Re-search Engineering Command.

The most interesting technical aspect of the scooter is that it has more lift than a helicopter, comparatively, and it is thought to be the forerunner of other more advanced scooters, or flying discs. While they fly, they only remain a few inches above the ground, because the power of the motor is dissipated at greater height.

Another flying machine is about ready to be marketed. It is a one-passenger helicopter, with a sort of chair-seat arrangement, which will fly at about 90 miles per hour and is expected to sell for $3,500.

It is being manufactured in California, and is about ready to go on the market in many sections of the country. It probably comes closer to the Buck Rogers one man flying idea than anything else--at the moment.