The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1911-05-25
Navy is Trying Out
Sperrys Invention

but IT was not until some year
later that public enthusiasm wa
aroused through the successful trial
OF a monorail car balanced gyro
scopically.
The great possibilities in the gyro
scope of the future have beef
clearly brought out by Mr.. sperr!
in paper read before the American
Society of Naval Architects ant
Marine Engineers and afterward.
published in the London Engineer
ing. He says:
Every pound in the rotating mass
of gyrosc9pe can easily be made tc
do the work of $50 to 200 pounds
The gyroscope is probably the only
device in the world by means OF
which stresses and also energy may
be transmitted around a corner. Sc
to speak. With the gyrcscope it is
possible to create and maintain q
very powerful fulcrum in space ef-
fect!ve for the heaviest kind of me-
chanical duty.
Nov, on board ship there is one
factor that is stiff and is now avail
able, and that is the fore and aft
stability of the ship. In the gyro-
scope for the first fine we have the
possibilities of reaching out AMI
transferring this stability around a
corner, so to speak, to the athwart-
ship plane and thus hold the ship
against rolling. We can do this with
a surprisingly small mass, because,
as have said, every pound of the
mass can be made to do very large
amount of work, owing to the veloc-
ity that may, at a low cost, be I'M
pressed upon it. With the active
type of gyroscope we find that u
small part of one per cent of the dis
of a ship will perform a
very substantial service, down to the
point of practically fully extinguish-
ing the rolling"
Working in this l!ne,' Mr.. sperry
continues after mentioning the
avoidance OF using mercury; Il have
found simple details by means Of
VIII CHI the whole gyroscope PROPOSE
ton is reduced to a strictly mechan-
ical basis, easily within the compre-
hension of all and containing no I'M
known quantities, and correspond
ingiy easily dealt with. In the cases
where the gyroscope is employed as
a battle compass the apparatus is
placed below decks, and small m
strumefts about the size of an ordi-
nary compass are distributed in diff
ferent positions on the ship, giving
the exact indications OF the gyro-
scopic compass itself.
my work has extended to a point
where action of such instruments
can be controlled from the gyro-
scopic compass and distributed as
desired, the indications being accu-
rate to small fraction OF a single
degree. Many Observations have
been made indicating that they are
accurate to 36-1OO of an entire cir
Gle. Among the points never before
realized is the automatic connection
of the northerly or southerly compo-
nent of vessels speed at sea, this
correction being made between the
gyroscopic compass and its transmit
ting member in such manner that
the indications received by the nav
igator and elsewhere about the ship
are thus absolute and maintain true
geographical north.
1T will be understood that this
type of compass is not affected in
the slightest degree by the steel OF
the ship or cargo, nor any mag
netic disturbances in either; neither
should shifting cargo, turning tur-
rets or gunfire, or the striking of a
ship by shot, disturb its accuracy
or reliability, nor is it affected in the
slightest by those disturbances tech
nically known as deviation or varia-
ton