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THE GO-DEVIL WITH MR. SEELEY AT THE HELM. |
On the ice of Irondequoit Bay there was tried out last week what is probably the fastest vehicle in the world today. The motor-driven ice boat Elbridge Go-Devil was timed on trial trips at speeds approximating 140 miles an hour, and the driver claimed he dare not use full power, or get anything like all possible speed out of the craft. Two hundred miles an hour is what the Go-Devil is designed for, and those who have watched her initial performance believe she will make that speed when the driver has accustomed himself to her antics.
For Go-Devil is a happy chance, but the plaything of engineers who started out with the deliberate intention of producing a passenger carrying machine faster than anything known. The original plans came from C. G. Davis, speed-boat editor of Motor Boat, " and one of the leading speed bugs" of the country; Hugo Gibson, an aeronautical engineer known to aviators as a designer of aerorplane propellers figured out the propeller proposition, while Lyman J. Seeley and G. Edwin DeLong, builders of aviation motors worked out the power plant necessary.
It was begun for amusement and worked out to prove that a propeller or fan , moving in air is faster and more efficient than traction drive as through the wheels of a motor car, or any know form of marine
Like Ice Yacht
In general outline the Go-Devil is not unlike an ice yacht. Her forward runners are about eight feet apart, and she is about twelve feet long. The steering is done with a large automobile wheel attached by a chain and sprockets to the rear runner. This steering device is geared down so that half a turn on the wheel gives only a quarter of a turn on the rudder; the idea being that at such terrific high speeds only a slight turn is needed to bring disaster. The power plant is a 40-60 horsepower featherweight engine, such as used in aeroplanes and racing hydroplanes. Sprockets and a heavy chain connect the engine with the propeller shaft above, and here again there is a change of speeds, the propeller turning nearly twice as fast as the engine. With the present propeller a pitch speed of about 140 miles an hour is obtained, to which speed must be added that of a following wind. When the first trials were made, for example, there was about a forty mile an hour wind, which the total theoretical speed about 180 miles an hour. A propeller expected to be at least 25 per cent faster will be used when full advantage has been taken of the present equipment, provided anyone is willing to travel faster.Tail of a Comet
Lyman Seeley, who is now in possession of the strange craft, said he thought riding it might equal the sensation of being tied to tail of a comet. There was no chance to look either right of left, but only straight ahead, no chance to think except to of holding tight to the wheel; not even to wonder what they might strike next. For in the rushing, swaying car, gathering speed with every passing second, without springs or cushions, ordinary rough spots were magnified a hundred times. When the runners hit smooth, glaring ice Go-Devil would skew to right or left, perhaps only for a few yards, but it seemed like an eternity, before she was straight on the course again.Reference
- "The Go-Devil, " the Fastest Thing in the World""; The Rochester Herald; Wednesday, January 31, 1912. p.
- Stone, Albert R. (1866-1934); Elbridge Go-Devil on Irondequoit Bay; RMSC Library - F1267; Sports - Iceboats: 5789, Rochester , NY.
Retrieved October 11, 2005, http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us:2080/cgi-bin/cw_cgi?fullRecord+9942+716+6469+4+2 - Transcribed by John R. Stewart, October 11, 2005
