The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-01-26
TEST OF GERMAN
CYROSCOPE CAR
Model at Work Shown to Rail-
road Men In Brooklyn
PERI EGT BALANCE MAINTAINED
Spinning Tops, Making 5000 Revolu-
tione q Minute, Kept the Machine on
lts 5irsls Raii-No fitting and No
Reduction CT Speed at the Curves.

With Nhirring of motors that
sounded like The hum Of buzzsaw, a
gyroccopa monor3il car of the German
e pc vas piioted around an oval track
sa the Clermort rink, Brooklyn, the
other morning before crowd that in
cluGcd several engineers and railroad
men. Il was the first exhibition of the
car in the United States, and the group
OF e-.er5 Nho viewed it appeared to
be grcatlJ Interested In the working of
the white, boat shaped contrivance as
1t circed the rink. supported on one
small rail.
The noise was made by two steel
tops lodged at either end of the car,
which rey0ly1d at the rate of 5000
turns a minute. They were incased in
a steel covering ard could not be seen,
but it was these two spinning tops
which kept the ear from toppling over
Had they stepped suddenly-which, it
was said, was next to impossible-the
car would have lost its balance Ac-
cording to those in charge of the dem
onstration, nothing could make the
wheels stop except cutting off the eec-
trio current, and even then they would
go on revolving for nearly an hour at
sufficient SpecG to hold the car in an
upright position.
Richard Scherl, the German inventor
who designed the car, was not on hand
when the demonstration began, but
squad of assistants and mechanics set
the gyroscope going SO that the visitors
could see the latest wrinkle in car
building in operation 1t was the same
car which had been exhibited in Ber-
lin, but it differed in many respects
from the Brennan or English type of
monorail car recently shown In Eng
land.
No Passengers Carried.
No passengers Were taken ON board
during the preliminary trials, although
the car was built to accommodate from
six to ten persons. The only man who
actually rode In it was the mechani-
clan, who operated the levers. Some
times he dismounted and allowed the
car to go its way with no one at the
helm. 1t never made very high speed,
however, and, as the operating levers
were all within reach of any one stand
ing near the track, the motorman could
bring the car to stop simply by touch
ing the right lever as the car rolled by.
What seemed to interest spectators
the most was the way the car took the
turns. The track was oval, and the
turns were sharp-sharper by good
deal than the general run Of curves in
the subway in New York, for instance.
But the single track car took them
with only the slightest tilt and with
out reducing its speed. 1t travelled at
about eighl miles an hour MIST OF the
time Whether stationary or moving
along the rail, the car kept its balance
perfectly.
A Queer Feat.
One of the queer feats OF the gyro-
scope was shown when five men
climbed up on one side OF the car
while 1t was standing still. The car,
instead of tipping toward them, leaned
in the opposite direction. The tend
ency of the gyroscope, 1t was ex-
planned, was to preserve equilibrium
under all conditions, and, no matter
how the passengers might be seated,
the car would always preserve it's own
balance.
1t was a small car that was used IN
the denomination. built only for ex-