WORKING WONDERS WITH A TOP 



arise as to whether the same principle might not be 

 utilized in giving stability to the air ship. Indeed, 

 there were those who predicted, before the Wright 

 brothers achieved success, that no heavier-than-air 

 machine would ever fly unless stabilized by gyro- 

 scopic action. 



The success of the Wrights, who solved the prob- 

 lem of stabilizing the air craft with the aid of warping 

 wings in connection with vertical and horizontal rud- 

 ders, made the use of the gyroscope seem superfluous. 

 But practical aviators were soon alive to the desir- 

 ability of some automatic stabilizer, and very recent- 

 ly the question of utilizing the gyroscope in this ca- 

 pacity has been frequently discussed. 



To some theorizers it seemed plausible that a rel- 

 atively heavy gyroscope might be adjusted to the 

 aeroplane in such a way as to prevent its tipping just 

 as the Brennan gyroscope prevents the tipping of the 

 gyro-car and as the Schlick and Sperry gyroscopes 

 prevent the rolling of the ship. But others thought 

 that such a use of the gyroscope would be fraught 

 with danger. An airship is subjected to sudden and 

 irregular stresses from powerful gusts of wind; and it 

 is hardly supposable that a gyroscope powerful 

 enough to defy the strongest currents could be util- 

 ized. Yet if a momentary gust did overcome the 

 power of the gyroscope and thrust its axis aside, the 

 precessional effect, tremendously augmented, would 

 bring a strain on the ship which would divert it in an 

 unexpected direction and probably result in wrecking 

 the craft. Indeed, it seems more than likely that 

 many aeroplanes have been wrecked in precisely this 



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