Feòrag

Return of the Gyroscopic Monorail

Back at the very start of the 20th century, several inventors were working on monorails that stayed upright by using gyroscopes. It's taken nearly 120 years, but a new gyroscopic monorail is being developed in Germany.

https://feorag.wordpress.com/2024/03/05/return-of-the-gyroscopic-monorail/

Return of the Gyroscopic Monorail

Back at the very start of the 20th century, several inventors were working on monorails that stayed upright by using gyroscopes. It’s taken nearly 120 years, but a new gyroscopic monorail is …

Forsyth's Compendium of Curious Contraptions
Mar 5, 2024 at 4:19amWeb
Show threadJohn MaxwellMar 5, 2024
@feorag That's a wonderfully insane technology.
Show threadHelge WilkerMar 5, 2024
@feorag I am currently re-reading Jasper Fforde‘s „Shades of Grey“ (in preparation for its new follow-up „Red Side Story“) and was delighted to find that people in that world travel by gyroscopic monorail as well, since railways with a conventional two-rail track have been forbidden sometime in the past in one of the „Leapbacks“ their society uses in order to remove complicated objects and inconvenient facts from their lives.
Show threadroot42Mar 5, 2024
@hmwilker @feorag I was reminded of exactly that! They also make an appearance in Red Side Story.
Show threadKevin O'GormanMar 5, 2024
@hmwilker @feorag Shades of Grey finally has a sequel?! I thought he'd given up on it!
Show threadHelge WilkerMar 5, 2024
@heretohinder @feorag He even says there will be a third book, and the waiting time won’t be so long.
Show threadPeter SullivanMar 5, 2024
@feorag I dunno - sounds more like a *Shelbyville* kind of idea... #HadToDoIt
Show threadSteffen VoßMar 5, 2024
@ceemage @feorag I came to look for this answer. 😄
Show threaddr_barnowlMar 5, 2024

@feorag

I quite like the notion of these gyroscopic TRON stylee cycles as well.

https://www.litmotors.com/home

Show threadSir David NielsenMar 5, 2024
@feorag cool tech, monorails are really fascinating.
Show threaddr2chaseMar 5, 2024
@feorag Self-driving bicycle not good enough for them? https://youtu.be/_xR0ggqNtBA
(video alt: no-hands pink cargo bicycle swerving back and forth, carrying a fat man in black shorts with his hands together behind his back.)
The Self-Driving Bicycle stays upright despite my worst efforts to crash it.

YouTube
Show threadYsegrimMar 5, 2024
@feorag https://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung/deutsch-englisch/wanken "wanken" = "to sway".
wanken - Deutsch-Englisch Übersetzung | PONS

Übersetzung Deutsch-Englisch für wanken im PONS Online-Wörterbuch nachschlagen! Gratis Vokabeltrainer, Verbtabellen, Aussprachefunktion.

Show threadFeòragMar 5, 2024
@ysegrim I looked it up. Still appeals to my inner teenager.
Show threadGraydonMar 5, 2024
@feorag I can't read most of their materials, alas, but find the English ones disturbingly coy about how these things are to be powered. Do they explain how one gets tracks people can step over without electrocution risks?
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 5, 2024
@graydon @feorag I'm guessing batteries? These things are light, with much lower rolling resistance than car tires, and presumably run at < 100km/h. So an electric car sized battery would be good to run one all day, then charge back at the depot.
Show threadGraydonMar 5, 2024
@cstross @feorag That was my initial guess, too, and then I hit the parts supplier talking about the massive-DC-to-three-phase inverter they make and which is included in the rolling stock to drive the motors, which made me start to wonder about hot rails.
Show threadMichael KohneMar 5, 2024
@graydon @cstross @feorag They can't be using a hot rail - they've got nothing to use as a ground!
Show threadMichael KohneMar 5, 2024
@graydon @cstross @feorag Besides, if you have an electric train, you use AC on the rails/catenary/whatever because the losses from using DC would be profound.
Show threadGraydonMar 5, 2024

@mhkohne @cstross @feorag You can always use the other rail.

I mean, you shouldn't, but you can.

Or you can get clever and run conductors down both sides of the rail, or who knows.

Show threadMichael KohneMar 5, 2024
@graydon @cstross @feorag Yes, if you are building new, but in this case they are a single rail device, designed to make use of existing rails. So, for these guys, it can't be an electrified rail.
Show threadS.P.ZeidlerMar 5, 2024
@graydon @cstross @feorag the German text says they are to use batteries.
Show threadGraydonMar 5, 2024

@spz @cstross @feorag Thank you!

Another application where low mass is useful.

[ETA mass low in the vehicle, though I suppose the "not weighing very much" meaning would also apply.]

Show threadNelsonMar 6, 2024

@feorag I've thought for some time now that many "rail trails" ought to both have walking / biking paths *and* trains, with small trains that could run frequently.

This looks like it would be helpful for bringing any existing single track back into useful passenger service.

Show threadCuprohastesMar 7, 2024
@feorag @cstross
Ironically I just watched a video about this. They were stable, had a really great balance mechanism and could run on one rail of an existing track.
They never took off because they needed two huge flywheels per carriage!
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 7, 2024
@Cuprohastes @feorag What if—one wonders—they distributed the batteries around the rim of the flywheel to power the monorail car and keep it upright at the same time?
Show threadFluffy Kitty CatMar 21, 2024
@feorag just build a fucking train
Show threadFeòragMar 21, 2024
@fluffykittycat Did you notice the niche use? It’s for places that have proven to be unable to support a full-on train.