Check out this “flying” fish merry go round car invented in 1904. I must admit that when it comes to carnival rides, the only one I can stomach is the merry go round which is why I totally adore this flying fish car. On the downside, the inventor planned to have the fish cars travel at 65 mph at a height of 50 feet off the ground.
Sir Hiram Maxim’s New Flyer
Sir Hiram Maxim’s newest invention is a mammoth merry-go-round with flying machines in place of the ordinary cars, boats or horses. The illustration shows one of these machines.
For the present they will be attached to the merry-go-round, but Sir Hiram hopes to alter their construction so that they can be let loose in midair.
Sir Hiram Maxim’s new flying machine is not an advance in the art of self-propulsion through the air, nor does it profess to be so, since it is merely a “captive flying machine.” It resembles a huge, roofless umbrella, with the ribs sloping upward, at the ends of which are suspended fish-shaped cars, in which the passengers sit, says the London Tatler. The cars are propelled round and round by the rotating shaft, or umbrella stick, at high rate of speed, and the sensation of traveling through the air 50 feet above ground at 65 miles or so an hour is sufficiently novel and exhilarating.
One of these curious machines will be among the attractions of this year’s exhibition at Earl’s court, and another will delight holiday crowds at the Crystal Palace.
It is said that Sir Hiram intends to devote the money received through this invention to the final solution of the problem of flight in the air.
Source: The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.), 26 May 1904.
