The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1909-12-26

sVIIHgEE DAll[ks AA- a a. 80
going around the sun, or a common
top. Thus everything in in its way Is
a zyroseOpe, as everything In the uni
verse reYoIyes around an axis within
itself and around other objects or
points Of space, all depending On the
point Of view.
The laws Of revolving bodies are
but little understood, and for the
most part unknown. There Ia con-
siderable evidence connecting the
gyrogcope with the magnet, the com
pass, lenses and with what we cali
the Laws OF grayfitafion, electricity
and light. But today we understand
a few OF the laws that govern the
gyroscope, or any revolving body,
and have applied them 10 a limited
extent in guiding torpedoes and
balancing cars ON land and steering
ships at a.
Although the gyroscope holds
within itself a promise as far reach
ing az the discovery of electricity,
With it comes harmful effects that
seem TO be unavoidable. The spin
ming turbine wheels in the rear Of an
English torpedo boat are thought by
many engineers 70 have torn the
boat in two In a storm, sinking it
The spinning drivers on a locomo-
tive running 80 to 100 miles an hour
are all gyroscopeg that rebel at TAX
ing a curve and must be considered
when designing trucks and tracks.
When Louis Brennan, after nearly
thirty years Of study and experiment.
ing at last solved the riddle of the
self balancing single rail car, he had
utilized two laws of the gyroscope
and n~eutraIized one of them that for
twelve years baffled all his labors.
The three laws are these:
Take a top for example. When
spinning il resigts efforts TO tip IL
over. This is called continuing o
reyolye in the plane Of the revolution
Second, the top II tipped over will
right itself, probably due to friction
on one side Of the point of support
but not on the other, but this is only
a guess. No one knows positively.
Third, If the top Is spun on a plate
and then the plate is swung In a cir
Gle the top will tip over away from
the holder Of the plate II the plate
and the top both revolye in the same
direction, and will tip over toward
the holder of the plate If the plate
and the top revolve in opposite d.
rectiong.
The three laws can easily be illus
trated with a common top by any
one, but are somewhat difficult to ex-
press in simple non-scientific Ian
guage.
Now the first two of these laws,
when one wheel was used, helped
Brennan to balance his al but the
third law, illustrated with the plate
and the top, promptly tipped his car
over when it hit a curve. To avoid
this third law, Brennan used two
horoscopes revolving at exactly the
same speed and of the same weight
In opposite directions.
Then when his car goes around a
curve while one gryoscope trys to
tip to the right the other trys to tip
to the left, 80 one balances the other
and nothing happens. Thus Brennan
overcame the third law after twelve
years experimenting.
He now had two laws left-the
one that a spinning body tends to re.
sIst any change of its axis, and the
other that a top will right itself.
The first law held the car upright
standing still or on a straight track
but also prevented the car from lean
ing inward when going around a
curve.
The wheels of the gyroscope are
in sort of boxes. These are alright
with the air pumped out 8 that the
wheels will ~revolve with the least
possible friction. In fact once start
ed at full speed the gyroscope will
run threee days before running down
even though no more power be APP
piled. In the air they would stop In
ten or fifteen minutes
A demonstration of a gyroscope
monorail motor car built to full
scale. was given by Louis Brennan
the inventor, at Dillingham;, England
November 10. This car follows the
principles Of the small sized mode.
which was first exhibited by Mr.
Brennan before the Royal society In
May 1907, and subsequently given
wide publicity. The present a is
built on a scale for actual service
and Is 40 feet long, 10 feet in width
10 feet high and weighs 20 tons. II
is designed to carry a load OF ten OF
hfteen tons.
The body is mounted upon two
trucks, each having two wheels ar.
ranged tandem fashion. The wheels
are 3 feet in diameter and double
Hanged to suit the single rail. The
rail is of the 70-pound Vignole type,
and differs from the ordinary Sec
ton only in having the head slightly
rounded instead of fiat. The ties are
z feet G inches long.
The car is electrically propelled,
the current being obtained from two
gasoline driven generating sets To-
Gated In the cab. One of these sets is
of 80 horse power, and the engines
are direct connected to the genera
tors. These generators deliver their
power to one 40 horse power motor
mounted on each truck.
The truck wheel base Is 5 feet 4
inches, and the truck centers are 20
feet distant.
In addition to supplying the motive
power the two generators supply cur
rem to drive the gyroscope motors,
also to a compressor for the Westing-
house air brake and for the gyroscope
control apparatus.