Maxim Aeroplanes - Expo Liege 1905

Here is the latest improvement to the carousel, which was, in its time, the ideal mill dear to our young forefathers! It is an immense open-air carousel, a sort of formidable umbrella, each rib of which supports a boat in which the amateurs of new and certainly very pleasant sensations take place.

The umbrella has a strong machine in its handle that makes it turn with ever increasing speed. Carried in the air, attached to mobile cables from above, the boats describe a circle, unwind a spiral and rise as their rotation increases. The apparatus stops quite slowly, describes the curve of a watch spring and the boats return, smoothly, without shocks, to their starting point.

The whole journey is quite interesting. The ascent to an immense platform from which one discovers the plain, the embarkation for the journey, the movement of this sort of gondola, the complete illusion of a journey in the air, the exhilaration of the speed, an apprehension at the moment of slowing down provides what Ton can really call a new sensation, very original and not unpleasant.

The machine is safe, of proven solidity. It is the practical implementation of the invention of the engineer Maxim, the same one who made the famous guns in the Anglo-Boer war. The complete machine comes out of the Cockerill workshops, which is enough to declare it safe.

The experiments carried out in the presence of technical notabilities and personalities from the Exhibition Committee were conclusive.

Each gondola, of which there are ten with twenty seats each, was loaded with 47 sandbags of 50 kilos each for these experiments. However, the heaviest weight for each basket filled with people cannot exceed 1800 kilos!

©Guide Remboursable Illustré - Liège 1905