THE GYROCAR 



whirl about, like a ballet-dancer. In a word, the gyro- 

 scope is the most common thing imaginable. Indeed, 

 if I wished to startle the reader with a seeming paradox, 

 I might say without transcending the bounds of truth 

 that, in the last analysis, there is probably nothing known 

 to us in the universe but an infinitude of gyroscopes — 

 atoms and molecules at one end of the scale ; planets and 

 suns at the other — all are whirling bodies. Still there 

 are gyroscopes and gyroscopes, as we shall see. 



GYROSCOPIC ACTION EXPLAINED 



Now a word about gyroscopic action. If you have 

 rolled a hoop or spun a top you have unwittingly learned 

 some practical lessons on the subject which, had you 

 possessed Mr. Brennan's imagination and ingenuity, 

 might have enabled you to anticipate him in the inven- 

 tion of the gyrocar. Harking back to the days when you 

 rolled hoops, you will recall that the child who most ex- 

 celled in the art was the one that could make the hoop 

 go fastest. The hoop itself might be merely a wheel of 

 wire, which would fall over instantly if not in motion; 

 but if given a push it assumed an upright position and 

 maintained it with security, so long as it was impelled 

 forward. It seemed able, so long as it whirled about, 

 to defy the ordinary laws of gravity. A bicycle in motion 

 gives an even more striking illustration of the same 

 phenomenon. And best of all, a spinning-top. Everyone 

 knows how this familiar toy, which topples over instantly 

 when at rest and can in no wise be balanced on its point, 

 rises up triumphant when whirled about, and stands 

 erect, poised in a way that would seem simply miracu- 



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