THE GYROSCOPE. 



BY C. M. BROOM ALT.. 



It has always seemed to the writer that an explanation of 

 the action of the gyroscope iu ever\'-day language and free 

 from mathematics was something to be desired. It is with 

 the idea of offering such an explanation that what follows is 

 written. No claim for it can be made other than that it is a 

 straightforward, practical treatment of a difficult subject. y 



All gyroscopic phenomena take place as the result of the 

 operation of a certain dominating influence known as the 

 gyroscopic force. No matter how complicated and apparently 

 unexplainable the action may be, it is to this force, modified 

 more or less by the attending circumstances, that all the phe- 

 nomena exhibited by the gyroscope, top, or other instrument, 

 are due. An understanding of the nature and cause of the 

 gyroscopic force is therefore the first essential to an under- 

 standing of the matter in question. 



In Figure i, let AB represent a circular plane perpendicu- 

 lar to the plane of the paper rotating, for instance, in a 

 direction so that A approaches and B recedes from the reader. 

 Let ah be the axis of rotation of the wheel. Suppose now 

 the axis constrained to move in the plane of the paper in the 

 direction shown by the arrow. Let AB, A' B' , A" B" and ab, 

 a'b\ a"b" be successive positions of the wheel and axis at 

 successive instants of time. Assume for consideration any 

 convenient number, say sixteen, symmetrically situated points 

 around the wheel. It goes without saying that what applies 

 to these sixteen points will apply to any and all such symmet- 

 rical systems of points. 



Suppose now that while the wheel is rotating as before 

 assumed the axis moves in the plane of the paper from ab 

 through a'b' to a" b" . The wheel will then pass from AB 

 through A' B' to A" B" as shown. While this is occurring 

 each of our sixteen particles is forced to move through a cer- 

 tain curved path as a result of the combination of the two 



