Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-12-07
RyRNING TRAINS or ONE RAIL.
Several Different Types of Monorail
Roads that Have Proven Practical.

~ e.oit,5to1 tuS SylOSCOpe CaTS upon q
single rail laid upon the level of the
& ground, says writer in the New
York Press.
In the older application Of the
name to the cars or trains suspend
ed from an overhead rail no new
X principle was involved. The balance
or the moving car was nothing more
than the usual result of the attrac-
tionS gravity.
he Elberfeld to Barmen rail-
WaYys%hich runs along the valley Of
the Wupper, in Rhenisl, Prussia, the
monorail, or single rail, is rGrried on
steel girders supported by A->haped
trestles, the cars hanging DOWN ,rI
and running between the legs Of tbs
a.. This road is something over eight
miles long, and proceeds partly
through the main streets OF the
towns 1t traverses, and partly sus-
pended over the river Wupper.
Its steepest grade Is one foot in
twenty-five feet, and the sharpest
curve Is a radical swing Of 295 feet.
The working speed is about thirty
miles an hour.
The cars are 37.5 feet long and
90 feet wide, with capacity of fifty
passengers.
Each car Is hung from two two
wheeled trucks, or bogies, twenty
SIN feet apart, the wheels Of which
are thirty-five inches in diameter.
These wheels are driven by electric
motors mounted on the bogies. A
car when% Naded with fifty passen-
gers makesNNHD total weight of
fourteen tons, or an average weight
or about go pounds per passenger,
"hicli compares favorably with the
~ 4
shaped trestleS, as in the Elberfeld
road, but running on the outside of
thN legs Of the A, instead of between
tkeRn. In addition to the supporting
rail at the top there are two bear
Ing rails on each leg Of the A and
steady the cars when in motion.
Such a road IS projected between
Liverpool and Manchester, and at the
proposed speed of 120 miles per
hour, the distance, thirty-two miles,
would be covered in but a little over
quarter Of an hour including stops.
road built on this principle, with
some variations, is projected to run
through Pelham Bay Park to City
Island, in the Bronx, New York city.
third class monorail road con-
sists Of a single rail laid on the level
OF the ground, being essentially half
, OF an ordinary two-rail road The
balance Of the cars is maintained by
arms, which reach out laterally, and
are supported by a man or a horse,
walking at one side and supplying
] the motive power at the same time.
1T Is simple and effective mode Of
transportation for loads which would
require much more expensive power
proportionally to move by usual
methods.
z To FORM a fourth class comes the
Xroscope car, running on n single
iran. and preserving its OWL balance
exeeS Mfl dW5 tYsfoi' tps OF the iuau gyroe par
scolb + have beeh produced the
firstp Louis Brennan, Of England,
who3 Cibited model car early in
1907 and a practical service car
forW Get long and ten feet wide and
weiE Mg twenty-five tons, which
sucl Ssfully carried forty passengers
in December, 1909.
The force made use Of in main
tanning the balance of The gyroscope
cars is the resistance which a rapidly
revolving wheel exerts against any
change OF the plane In which it is
rotating.
In the Brennan car the upright
position upon a single rail Is preserv-
ed by two wheels revolving side by
side in parallel vertical planes. These
wheels weigh 1900 pounds each, and
are placed 8 nNacuum chambers to
escape, frictfo-a They are made to
rWolve In contrary directions to
c3lnteract certain tendencies to
wabbling, and at speed OF 5000
revolutions per minute.
The other gyroscope car was
invented in Germany by Richard
Scheri. 1t differs from the Brennan
car in that the gyroscope wheels ro-
tate edge to edge in the horizontal
plane of the floor Of the car, wheels
weighing only 125 pounds each.
The latent power Of these gyro-
scopes overthrow them when in mo-
ton and would be sufficient to crush
the material out f1f which the cars
are built and their momentum is
&vaNSh- that after the motive power is
Iu,Soff, as might happen in case OF an
accident to the machinery, they will
continue to revOlve many hours
The adaptation Of this principle to
practical railroading is yet to be ac.
complished. Obviously, If the cars
are to be run at the speed obtained
by ordinary trains and carry the
same loads, they would have to be
practically the same strength and
weight TO concentrate upon one
rail the weight now divided upon the
two necesstates a much stronger rail
than Is now In use and more sub
stantial form OF road bed.
The bearing surface Of the rail
will doubtless become more circular
in sectional outline to receive the
thrust OF the cars when rounding
curves, and the curves themselves
must assume the form of parabolas
that the inward leaning may be ac-
Quired gradually and as gradually