THE GYROCAR 



a car-wheel runs along the track, because friction with 

 the spindle causes it to revolve. But this, it will be 

 evident, is equivalent to pushing the spindle F (or the 

 frame A) toward B — "accelerating the precession" — 

 and we know that the effect of such a push will be to 

 cause the spindle (thanks to that round -the-comer 

 action) to rise, thus pushing up the segment Gj, and 

 with it the car itself. 



The thrust will cause the car to topple to the left and 

 this will free the roller i^2, but a moment later it will 

 bring the segment Gt in contact with roller R2 which 

 thus receives an upward thrust. But an upward thrust, 

 we recall, will not cause the spindle to move upward, 

 but off to the right toward C; and so, a moment later 

 still the roller R2 will pass beyond the end of the segment 

 Gj, and the roller R^ will come in contact with the seg- 

 ment G3, along which it will tend to roll, thus accelerat- 

 ing the precession to the right, and so causing the spindle 

 to push downward, bringing the car back to its old posi- 

 tion or beyond it ; whereupon the segment G* will be 

 brought in contact with R^y retarding the further oscilla- 

 tion of the car and causing the spindle to move back 

 again to the left. 



This sequence of oscillations will be repeated over and 

 over so long as any disturbing force tends to throw 

 the car out of equilibrium. In other words, the gyro- 

 scope, when its balance is disturbed by a thrust due to any 

 unbalandng of the car, will begin to wabble and continue 

 to wabble until it finds a position where it is no longer 

 disturbed, and this new position will be attained only 

 when the car as a whole is perfectly balanced again. 

 voL.vii.— 14 [209] 



