8-6-14: Gyroscope Train

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by SPUCK

Love to see what happens when the bearings on the gyro suddenly seize up.

Wow what an incredibly dumb idea. Wow wow.

From the first link...

...all of which was readily granted by the railway experts, who also agreed that a train would run securely on a single rail so long as the gyroscope-wheels kept turning. But suppose something happened to these? Suppose one of them stopped or both of them stopped?

"Suppose the electric power that drives these wheels were suddenly cut off. Do you know what would happen? Nothing. Because the wheels revolve in a vacuum, and on such perfectly poised bearings, with such ideal lubrication, that—even with the driving power cut off—they would continue to turn, by their own momentum, for two or three days, and for two or three hours they would turn with sufficient energy to hold the car safely balanced. That is, they would turn long enough of themselves to provide for any reasonable emergency."

"Then each car in a train would be balanced by its own balance-wheels?" asked some one.

"Of course."

"Suppose something went wrong with your lubricating-device?" suggested an engineer.

"I have provided an automatic signal to warn the engineer of such danger, at notice of which he would at once run the train into a safety siding. There would be many of such sidings with dwarf walls to support the cars, or the sides of the cars might slightly overlap the walls."

"That is all very well," persisted the South African, "but suppose one of the gyro-scope-wheels did absolutely stop—broke loose from its bearings, or anything you like; suppose it stopped instantly before the train could possibly reach a siding. 'Then what?"

"Unless the car chanced to be on a curve at that precise moment, the other wheel would hold it steady."

"But suppose the car was on a curve? Or suppose both wheels stopped suddenly?"

Mr. Brennan smiled. "Then there would certainly be an accident, just as there is when a boiler bursts or an elevator falls or an automobile gets in a smash-up.