This is the Lane Motor Museum, home of the one and only Gyro-X. The Gyro-X is a two-wheeled prototype vehicle. Developed in the years ‘ 60, by two very famous characters, Tom Summers and Alex Tremulis and was proposed as a solution for the future of transport. The machine remains in perfect balance on two wheels through the use of a gyroscope under the hood. The gyroscope is a device consisting of a wheel or a disc that rotates quickly, so that its axle can turn freely in all directions. As the axle spins, the wheel remains stationary. Gyroscopes can be used to measure and maintain orientation.
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Source: Business Insider Youtube
Alex Tremulis was a automobilinoto designer for his work as Ford’s styling director. Thomas Summers was an expert in gyroscopes who had integrated technology into missile navigation systems during World War II.
Both lived in the Los Angeles area and became friends, became passionate about an ambitious project: to develop a gyroscopically balanced car. So in ‘ 66 and ‘ 67 they got about three quarters of a million dollars from investors to develop this machine.
Both lived in the Los Angeles area and became friends, became passionate about an ambitious project: to develop a gyroscopically balanced car. So in ‘ 66 and ‘ 67 they got about three quarters of a million dollars from investors to develop this machine.
The duo believed that Gyro-X could solve many of the problems presented by cars at that time: the car would be safer , more stable, and more aerodynamic than a typical machine of that time.
Also it would have been half the width of a normal car of the time, which would have meant being able to double the presence of cars on the roads.
Unfortunately, Gyro-X was considered unstable, due to its complex engineering that was still far from being perfected. The company of Tremulis and Summers Gyro Transport Systems went bankrupt around 1970 before the vehicle reached production.
Jeff Lane bought the car in 2011, but vaguely resembles the original design: He doesn’t have his gyroscope and a third wheel was added to balance it. To bring it back to the original wishes of its inventors it took six years:
“We knew from the outset that the most challenging part of the restoration would be the construction of a gyroscope. We finally found an Italian company that builds gyroscopes to stabilize the big yachts. I’d say we ran it like it always did. “
Source: Business Insider