Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-22
q OVER A CHASM.

mum with brass trimmings. and weighs
! 40 pounds without any load. At the
| forward end are the balance wheels, IN a
| neat observation room fitted with ass
| windows and mahogany. frame; at the
| rear end are batteries to propel the car
! and turn the wheels. The rest of the
space is used for the load. either iron bal
| last or an actual human passenger
| And now for the test.
| Let her 60" says the inventor to one
| of his assistants, and straightway from
| beyond the trees strange little object
shoots out and comes gliding toward us.
| 1t makes no noise; t shows neither smoke
! nor steam; it does not bump 1t does not
sway; i simply comes straight along
| on its little track over the grass very
| smoothly. and flashing in the sun. 1t is
| the gyro-car on its mono-rail!
! As she comes closer we hear the low
| hum of her hidden Syroscop9s tthey will
! he quite no:seless in the larger model
and are struck by the cars remarkable
| width in proportion to her length. She
! suggests a trim little ferry boat and is
! utterly unlike any known form OF rail-
way car Now the track curves sharply
! to the right: she takes the turn with the
! greatest ease. and leans slightly toward
! tie curve. Now the track turns again,
and she gl.des behind the bushes. Com
| ing out on the other side, she enters
/ braVely on the approach to a mono-rail
suspension bridge, wire ropa stretched
| over the valley that falls away between
two small hills-70 odd feet of tight-rope
walking for the little car Straight
| across she runs from side to side-no
wavering. no tipping-and then straight
| back again as the assistant reverses her:
| then out to the middle of the rope. where
| they stop her, and there she stands quite
| still and true while the horoscopes hold
/ her. This is something never yet seen
in the world-a mass of dead matter,
! weighing as much as man, balancing
| itself unaided on a wlrei
Weird Feats of Balancing.
! Now Mr.. Brennan catches hold of the
rope and sways it back and forth with
| the car on it. And at each change of
angle she rights herself easily. auto
matcally. The inventor draws back his
arm and strikes the car a hard blow
on it's polished side with his open palm.
And the car holds quite steady; she
neither sways nor trembles.
/ THAT represents the greatest force
! of the wind he tells us. There is no
! hurricane strong enough to blow one Of
my trains off a track Ike that
! Then he lifts one of the weights from
the car and bids us note what happens.
| These weights are all measured to a
scale, and this one-really about II pounds
represents three tons on full-size d
car; l mean it mas the same effect on this
small car that three tons would have on a
large enc. Now, look!
As he spoke he dropped the weight
| on the very edge of the little model. and
| the car rose slightly on that side under
the sudden load
| That he continued was exactly as
| if forty or fifty passengers in a large
memorial car had jumped at the same
moment from the middle of the car to the
! extreme edge of it. AS you saw. the car
| simply rose to meet the shock which is
what she would always do-speaking. of
| course. within the limits of safe loading
| and safe construction
! To impress us further with the steadi-
ness and safety of the little car Mr.. Bren-
| nan ran t back to solid ground, and,
seating his little daughter in it, he sent
/ her forth upon the rope. ran her across
I and back, and finally brought her to rest
in the middle, with a drop of 6 or I feet
| beneath her. There she sat as calmly
| and steadily as If it were the most natural
take the garden air balanced on wire
ropes.
After this the ass stauts switched the
car on to a length of gas pipe lying loose
! upon the ground, so crooked and full of
kinks and sharp bends that it seemed
| absurd to expect wheels to run over it.
| But run over 1t they did, and rapidly
too picking their way from right TO left
up and down, following the crookedest
part>pf the pipe with ALMOST human intel
| ligence. and never making a slip
The full-sized cars are to be 200 by 30
feet and weigh about 200 tons. The gy-
| roscopes will be about AZ feet in diam
eter. and will weight two tons each. The
| inventor says that even if power is shut
off the horoscopes will revolve for two