Brennan's Gyroscopic Mono-rail Car

Made:
1907 in United Kingdom
maker:
Louis Brennan
Model of Brennan monorail 'gyrocar' The Brennan Monorail at Gillingham. Nr. 7024 (??) The Brennan Monorail at Gillingham. Nr. 7024 (??) Photograph of the Brennan Gyrostatic Mono-rail car at the White

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Model of Brennan monorail 'gyrocar'
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

The Brennan Monorail at Gillingham. Nr. 7024 (??)
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

The Brennan Monorail at Gillingham. Nr. 7024 (??)
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Photograph of the Brennan Gyrostatic Mono-rail car at the White
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Model Gyroscopic Mono-Rail car, scale 1:8, built by Brennan.

The inventor Louis Brennan (1852-1932) built this working model in about 1907 to demonstrate his ideas for a single-tracked rail vehicle stabilised by two linked gyroscopes. Brennan's daughter became a guinea-pig and was enlisted to help him conduct tests and demonstrations to prove the stability of his invention.

Brennan had patented the Gyroscopic Mono-Rail design in 1903 and was commissioned by the United Kingdom's War Department to create a full size prototype. He built his full size version in 1909, and it was 40ft long, weighed 22 tons and could carry a load of up to 15 tons. Demonstrations to the Press took place as well as an exhibition at the White City in 1910, where fifty passengers were driven around a circular track - one of the passengers was Winston Churchill who showed considerable support for the invention. Despite this, investers were not convinced and the Mono-Rail was not adopted.

Details

Category:
Railway Models
Object Number:
1914-552
Materials:
brass (copper, zinc alloy), steel (metal), copper (alloy), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), leather, glass, wood (unidentified), wool and aluminium (metal)
Measurements:
Overall: 315 mm x 1870 mm x 482 mm, 77 kg
type:
model gyroscopic mono-railcar
credit:
Graham, R