The Washington herald., 1907-05-26

Special Correspondence 10 The Washington Herald.
London. May Z5s-lt is poor and mad
equate thing 10 say that al the transit
systems Of the world must inevitably be
revolutionized By the Brennan Mono rail
way. the working OF which Louis Bren-
nan. c. B.. the famous inventor Of the
torpedo which bears his name, gave be
fore the Royal Society last night. This IS
undoubtedly the most wonderful invention
Of the day. and the possibilities of its
future are almost beyond comprehension.
Travelling now at one mile per minute is
considered about the limit but when the
Brennan system is applied the enormous
rate Of 800 miles an hour is attainable.
Across a taut and slender wire there
ran backward and forward. under the
perfect control of the inventor. a vehicle
just large enough to carry man scaling
ten stone. In appearance it was not un-
like a miniature motor car devoid Of the
customary wheels. Not. of course. that
this strange little carriage was without
wheels. But the wheels-small stee! one
set in line along the length Of the center
OF the car. were beneath the vehicle and
almost invisible
Thus. 10 the amazement Of every one,
as the machine ran back and forth, tie
car achieved the task of balancing itself
on the wire a great deal more steadily
than ever Blondin balanced himself on his
rope.
Done on SpinninE-top Principle.
How it is done and what is the ex-
PLANTATION of these extraordinary phenom-
ena? The essence and principle of Louis
Brennans invention, what is the claim Of
his patents now granted all over the
world. is the imparting of stability to
unstable vehicles by means Of gyroscopes.
In the mind of the average person the
word gyroscope is associated with a cir
cular disk Of metal, spinning within a
movable ring. which was the toy of his
childhood. To even the most scientific the
gyr1scope has always remained as little
more than a toy. Mr. Brennan, in his
laboratory. takes that childs top and
places the axis OF the ring en- a fork like
the legs Of tonSs, and 10, the tongs
stand upri = as the spinning top res,s
upon them; I'd then strange movements
begin to manifest themselves i'm the sur
rounding ring
The combined structure leans over as
the ring moves in one direction and the
movement of the ring. Mr.. Brennan tells
YOU. Is the procession of the syrostat.
One feels inclined. ds it leans over. TO
move the ring against the direction i'm
which tie top is falling. but the inventor
gently touches the ring with the point
~ his pencil not as one would think, 10
bring il upright. bat rather i'm the dircc-
ton that would accelerate downfall. and
as he does so, the startling thing hap
pens that the whole combination rights
itself This is the essence and brains OF
Mr Brennan's invention, that by incrcas-
ing the acceleration of the procession of
the gyrost1t, he establishes equilibrium.
I'm the simplest method covered cby Mr..
Brennan's patent he regulates this pre-
Cossion by an inverted pendulum No
outside control is necessary; the Bren-
nan invention imparts stability 10 a vehi-
Gle absolutely unstable
Requires No Human Control.
It does not require the watchfulness Of
human control: il is mechanically auto
matte. the vehicle itself may be driven by
steam. electricity. petrol or what sou
Ike. In little compartment weighing IN
his model only > Der cent Of the total
weight Of the machine, and which in the
full-sized vehicle. now in course of con-
struction. will weigh only per cent. is
contained the mechanism which mparts
stability 10 the whole
In the model the syrosc0pes run at the
rate Of about T.C0l revolutions per minute,
IN the full-sized machine they run at the
rate Of about 3G00 The obvious objection
is, What would happen if the gyroscopes
stopped? What would happen If the
wheel or axle of a locomotive broke or
the boiler burst?
As against the fierce wear and tear Of
these. the gyTosCOpic machinery with ball
bearings and q system of fabrication, his
invention. which causes the working parts
20 run on "A constant film Of oil. and re-
duces the friction 10 an infnitesimal min
imum. is heTmetically sealed in a chamber
from which the air has been exhausted to
still further reduce the friction.
That the demonstration was not merely
an experiment but piece OF actual work,
is clearly shown by the fact that Mr..
Brennan has frequently placed his daugh-
ter as q passenger i'm the swiftly moving
car No more human test could he asked.
To a mind gifted with imagination. the
possibilities Of such an invention are at
once obviously without lirsit. II is. how
ever sufficiently staggering 10 deal with
the bare practiCabilitiss of the concern.
For the wOTk-the immediate work
open for this monotraiu, which balances
Itself as a bicycle is balanced. it's gyro-
scopes automatically performing the func-
ton which the human brain accompIishes
IN the case Of the bicycle can only be
bounded by the confines of the earth.
And II IS doubtful if the surface Of the
world represents the only field OF activity
open 20 the principles bound up In the
Brennan mou0railway. Il may De that
the gyrosCOpes which arc able to balance
a vehicle upon a single rail. attached to
or suspended above the surface OF the
earth can be applied 90 the acr0plane IN
which case conquest Of the air is at hand.
The best illustration that can be given
Of the principle Of the mOnorailway is to
say that the divine apotheosis of il is
utilized in nature on the grandeSt scale in
steadying the movements Of the heavenly
bodies on their orbits. while childish
application OF the principle IS 10 DE found
IN every top.
The proverbial sChoOlbOy knows that
his top viii remain upright so long as it
is rotating.
Triumph OF Science.
The equilibrium of the car upon the
mono-rail is sustained wholly on the top
principle Fitted on the cars are two
fywheels. which are revolved by electric
motors az a high velocity in different
directions. To reduce friction. and con-
sequenty the motive power required. TO
a minimum, the nywheels reyolve in
vacuums. So great. indeed, IS the energy
stored up in the wheels by this means
that IL the driving power Is cut off alto
gether when they are revolving at fun
speed the wheels viii stilI run at a suiii-
cient velocity to give stability to the