The gyroscopic monorail of Louis Brennan
| In the first decade of this century Louis Brennan invented and proved using a full size vehicle a monorail where the rail was laid on the ground and the cars were balanced by gyroscopes. The sad thing is that the British government of the time couldn't see the applicability of the system to matters of war and neither were they quite enthusiastic enough to support its development for use in the far flung Empire where the track would have been cheap to lay over large distances. The railway companies were not going to get embroiled in something that, if successful, would make their existing infrastructure obsolete. |
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Louis Brennan was a resident of Gillingham, Kent for many years.
The local library
have an archive of material such as personal letters and photographs but these are not
geared to everyday public access. There are two excellent booklets, now out of print, but
the library will photocopy them for you at cost. One is mainly concerned with
his dirigible Torpedo, the other with the monorail. Ask for both and find
out about helicopters as well!
The Science Museum has an original one eighth scale working model made by Louis Brennan himself. It is not currently on show but there are extensive details about how it operated. There are patents and technical descriptions and other references which I'll expand on later. Louis Brennan was a fascinating character with a string of inventions. The page you're looking at now is just the seed for a proper tribute.
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