The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-05-10
To Make High Speed and
Cross Rivers
ON Al SINGLE HAWSER
Cars Balanced Automatically BY Machine
On Principle Of Spinning Top,
Invented BY
Brennan.

New York, May 10.--In a special
cable message. the Sun yesterday tells
Of public demonstration before the
London Royal society Wednesday night
Of a railroad train in miniature running
Oh one rail under all sorts Of conditions
Of load, curves, etc.
What they saw was this; A minia-
ture railway car Or locomotive stand
ing entirely above single rail, with
apparently nothing to balance it, run
about the hail. turn sharp corners at
high speed, crossed D single strand Of
wire cable in hen of bridge and
climbed heavy inclines all with perfect
stability.
1t was sometimes loaded, sometimes
empty. There was no attempt TO bal
aHce the load; the vehicle itself did
that Instantly and automatically. Ii
the load we're piled all upon one side,
the overloaded side automatically rose
in proportion to the burden and the
empty side was depressed
! The creator of this new system of
locomotion Is Louis Brennan, c. b.,
the inventor Of the Brennan torpedo
| This invention, by the way, which Is
controlled BY the British war depart
ment, is the only device which has
been successfully kept a government
secret for any length Of time
He told his audience very briefly
something about his long search for
an ideal method of traction. 1t is
wen known that only about ~ per
cent. Of the power generated by To-
connective is actually used IN drawing
u train, Friction takes up the rest
Mr.. Brennan speedily realized that
the ideal condition would be train
perfectly balanced upon a single rail.
The principle of the spinning top Is the
secret Of the seeming miracle which he
showed
The inventor said: @The character
istic feature Of this system OF trans
port il that each vehicle Is capable oil
maintaining its balance upon an or
binary rail laid upon sleepers on the
ground, whether standing still or NOV
1 ing in either direction at any rate Of
\ speed, notwithstanding shifting of load,
centrifugal action or any combination
of forces.
"The automatic stability mechanism
carried by the vehicle consists essen.
tally Of two fiywheels rotated directly
| by electric motors In opposite directions
at a very high velocity and mounted on
| high class bearings and are placed in ex-
hausted cases, so that both air and
| journal friction is reduced to a mini
mum.
@The stored up energy in the fly,
wheels, when revolving at full speed, is
so great and the friction so small that
\ II the driving current is cut off alto
| gether they will run at sufficient veloci-
/ iy to impart stability to the vehicle for
several hours. while il will take from
two to three days before they come to
rest. The stability mechanism occupies
but little space and It's weight is about
. per cent Of the total load for the
first vehicle
"The road wheels are placed in a
single row beneath the centre of the
vehicles, instead Of in two rows near the
sides. as usual, and are carried on
bogies or compound bogies which are not
| only piyoted 70 provide for horizontal
curves on the track, but for vertical
ones also. By this means the vehicles
1 can run upon curves OF even less radius
than the length Of the vehicle itself, or
on crooked rails or rails laid over uneven
ground without danger Of derailment.
"The motive power may be either
steam petrol, oil gas or electricity, as
/ considered most suitable for local con-
ditions. In the first instance, Il has
been decided to use a petrol electric
generating set, carried BY the vehicle
itself The gyro wheels are kept con.
stantly running by current from a
/ small accumulator.p
Mr.. Brennan plans that the cars viii
I be n feet wide ordinarily, but in the
colonies over rough country cars 80
feet wide car be used with advantage,
| He says flying lines Of this railroad can
he laid as fast as an army marches,
crossing rivers on a single steel hawser,
which can be made MP Of strands car
iicd separately Where necessary. d
single line Of piling or single girder
can be used to advantage