By Flywheel into Space by Ron Miller

From The Space Library

There have been some fairly imaginative suggestions for getting a spaceship off the earth, but only a few are so breathtaking as what Hugo Gernsback came up with in 1923. Looking over all the possible ways to launch a spacecraft to the moon, he dismissed such things as antigravity and nuclear power and settled on something that I, for one, would absolutely love to see, although from a distance.

A kind of large Ferris wheel about 30 feet in diameter would be built of heavy steel---more like the flywheel of an engine than an amusement park ride. Its foundations would be sunk deep into granite bedrock and the whole thing reinforced by heavy chain tie-downs. The wheel would be turned by an enormous electric motor. Compressed-air bearings would reduce friction to a minimum. At the rim of the wheel is the spacecraft. This is attached to a strong chain that is wound on a windlass anchored to the rock. The chain passes through the axle of the wheel, then through a hollow spoke to the underside of the spacecraft. As the wheel begins to turn (starting off very slowly in order to accustom the passengers to the acceleration), the chain is gradually paid out. A deep excavation beneath the wheel allows room for the spacecraft as it whirls in ever-increasing circles. When the spacecraft finally reaches a speed of 7 miles a second, it is released and shoots off at a tangent. This is timed exactly so the spacecraft will eventually reach the moon.

There was no explanation of how the explorers would ever get back.