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Item: Pastille Motor n°5
1987
Object, 137 x 40 x 40 cm, 200 x 200 x 300 cm.
Materials: aluminium, metal, plastic, bakelite
Collection: Collection Galerie Ronny Van De Velde, Antwerp.
Aluminium ignition engine and a flywheel of bakelite, mounted on a work table, presented in an iron cage with toolboxes tank.
The pastille motor is the drive mechanism for several rucksack flying machines that Panamarenko developed at the Furka Pass in Switzerland from the late 1980s. To suppress the sound of the engines, Panamarenko mounted them in a rucksack, or at least made a housing for them that could be carried on the back. The pastille motor rucksacks do not
have rotor blades like his rucksack helicopters, but are driven by a flat, broad fan with floating partitions, which provide thrust. The name ‘pastille motor’ comes from the round, flattened shape of the drive mechanism, which is reminiscent of a large pill or pastille. The engine cannot weigh more than twelve kilograms, and five kilograms of fuel must be sufficient for twenty minutes of flight. The propulsion mechanism of the rucksacks steadily evolved over the years.
