Cabot, 1896, Screw Propulsion by Foot-Power

Illustration in Cabot's article. GH represents the airplane, connected by pipes K and L to the operator's seat and propulsion system.

"Screw Propulsion by Foot-Power" is a short article published in the 1896 Aeronautical Annual (pp. 141–142) by Boston Aeronautical Society member Samuel Cabot.

Cabot proposes a system in which two propellers are powered alternately by the motion of each leg, left and right, as a solution to the equilibrium problems arising for human-powered vessels with only one propeller.

"It will now be seen that at each push of one foot the shaft actuates one of these propellers, while the other continues to move in the opposite direction until its momentum from the last stroke of the opposite foot is exhausted. This exhaustion of the momentum, however, need not occur before the next stroke of the same foot comes and again adds to its momentum. The result is thus a constant or nearly constant motion of the propellers in opposite directions."