Adams-Farwell Rotary 5 Engine

As a result of its light weight, this five cylinder engine was selected by Emile Berliner, an inventor possibly better known in the acoustics field, to drive a helicopter's vertical shaft in a 1908 "test rig." It was reported by the New York Times on July 1, 1909 that a helicopter jointly designed by Berliner and J. Newton Williams, using two of these engines, successfully lifted a few feet off the ground in the last week of June 1909 with Williams aboard. Highlighted in this image is a gear of the Adams-Farwell Rotary 5 Engine.