Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-11-19
New System Apparently Defies Laws of
Gravitation-Economy Seen in Its
operation-Government Aids English
Observation-Disclosures of Mechanism
Described.

eHdt q man VINO mas stampeded the |
British government on two occasions
is not to be scoffed at, but is to be
reckoned with, no matter how SEEM
ingly extravagant his claims may be.
However this may be, railway and me-
chanical experts thruout the civilized
world are watching the developments
of the gyroscopic railroad with intense
The public demonstration Of the pos
sibilities of the monorailway, which |
were made at Chatham, before the
Royal Society on Nov. 10, are regarded
by railway men as decidedly revolu-
tionary. What they saw was a railroad
car 40 feet long, ten feet wide and thir-
teen feet high, weighing twenty two
tons, mounted on single rail and rum
ming freely around curves while safe
ly carrying forty passengers, who ex-
perienced less vibration than would
have been experienced in an ordinary
passenger coach.
Government Aids Inventor.
This successful experiment takes on
added interest when it Is understood
that Mr. Brennan was given $4,000
by the war council of the British gov
eminent to bring 1t about. Interest is
still further enhanced in this mans
statement that the monorailway is to
be the future method Of transportation
by the fact that in 1880 he sold the
British government his new torpedo
in which the gyroscope principle is
used, obtaining for it $550,000, which
is four times as much as was ever
paid before by any government for an
invention. Having paid this large sum,
the British government erected fac
tory at Chatham for its manufacture
and gave Mr.. Brennan an exceedingly
large salary to run it, Then when Mr..
Brennan quit the government closed
the factory rather than have the se-
crets Of the torpedo revealed to anoth-
er superintendent. For this "contribu-
ton to the safety of the nations" Mr..
Brennan was made a Companion of the
Bath - =
The principle upon which the mono
railway operates is that of the spin
ming top, which maintains its equili-
brium by means of its rapid revolutions
or gyrations. The characteristic feat
ure of this system of transportation Is
that each vehicle is capable of MAIN
tanning its balance upon an ordinary
rail laid upon sleepers on the ground,
whether it is standing still or moving In
either direction at any rate of speed.
This is done Notwithstanding the fact
that the center of'gravity is several feet
above the rail and that wind pressure,
shifting of load centrifugal action or
any combination of these forces may
tend to upset it. Automatic stability
mechanism of extreme simplicity car
ried by the vehicle itself endows 1T with
this power.
Principle Of Mechanism.
The mechanism consists essentially
Of two fly-wheels rotated directly by
electric motors in opposite directions
at a very high velocity and mounted 50
that their gyrostatic action and stored
up energy can be utilized The fly
wheels are mounted on 1ligh-class bear
ings and are placed in a vacuum, so
that the air and friction are reduced to
minimum, and consequently the
power required to keep them in rapid
motion is very small. The stored-up
energy in the fy-wheels, when re-
volving at full speed, is so great and
the friction so small that if the driving
current is cut off altogether they will
run at sufficient velocity to impart sta
bility to the vehicle for several hours,
while it will take from two to three
days before they come to rest. The sta
bility mechanism occupies but little
space, and is conveniently placed in the
cab at one end of the vehicle. Its
weight is also small, being about per
cent of the total load.
| The wheels of the car are placed in
single row beneath the center of the
vehicle and are carried on bogy trucks
which are so pivoted as to provide for
horizontal curves on the track, and also
for vertical ones This enables the We
hicle to run upon curves Of even less
radius than the length of the vehicle
itself. or to run on crooked rails or on
rails laid over uneven ground, without
danger of derailment. The motive
power of the mono-railway may be
either steam, petrol, oil, gas or cleo
| tricity. In the experiments made thus
far petrol has been used as an electric
generator, the power of each vehicle
being self-contained and ready for i'm
mediate use Use of 1t any moment is
made possible by keeping the gyro-
wheels in constant rotation by a cur
rent from g. small accumulation, the en-
CINE being at rest. In order that the
vehicle may be able to ascend steep in
clines, the wheels are all power driven
and change gears are provided for use
in hilly country.
Large Coach Made Possible.
Great economy is obtained by MAX
ling the vehicles much wider than the
ordinary passenger coach. On this point
Mr. Brennan claims that he has plans
for passenger car 100 feet in length
and twenty feet wide, which. he says
is not an accepted estimate of the size
of the railway coach Of the near fu-
ture. He also declares that such a
coach may be driven safely at speed
of 200 miles an hour while travellers
are making transconMnental journey
in rooms as large and as luxuriously
furnished as those OF modern city
hotel
4 The rail upon which the car runs has
a curved top and its weight Is thai
or rile ordinary raj, hllt the sleepers