My First Girlfriends Father Invented A Gyro Stabilized Two Wheeled Car

T

tubed

Lunatic Member
Tom Summers, boy genius and inventor of the first gyro stabilized applications for guidance control also invented a working two wheel vehicle stabilized by a 500lb. gyro that also "fed "energy back to the vehicles 360cc Honda motorcycle engine.
The cars exterior was designed by Alex Tremulis of Tucker fame.
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Apparently, a museum in Nashville says they are going to restore the car

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/1967-gyro-x-self-balancing-car-to-be-restored.html

The 1967 Gyro-X, a two-wheeled car stabilized by a gyroscope, has been acquired by the Lane Motor Museum and will undergo a complete restoration to working condition. The museum contracted with Honolulu-based Thrustcycle Enterprises, which specializes in gyroscopic stabilization technology, to re-create the car's gyroscope.

The plan is to have the restoration completed and ready to drive on January 23, 2014, when Alex Tremulis would have turned 100 years old. Although Tremulis died in 1991, getting the Gyro-X on the road will serve as a fitting tribute to his innovation and perseverance.
 

Somebody hacked one up. and converted it to a three wheeler.


Maybe there was only one built.

 
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BigElCat said:
Very interesting. Do the gyros spin inline or cross ways to the drive wheels ?
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I don't believe the gyro drove the wheels.
It was explained to me one time, most of it going over my head, that the gyro stabilized the vehicle to keep it upright, was integral to the steering and some how fed energy back into the system.
I don't know if the wheel(s) were powered by direct drive, chain or belt:dunno:.
 
Rodger that, I knew the gyro didn't power the wheels.

The cart wheels are powered by hydraulic motors, just like hydrostat lawn mowers. I assume the car used the same system.

I'm wondering about the orientation of the gyro wheel, is it front to back or side to side.

Maybe like this:

 
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^^^The gyro is bar bell shaped, not a wheel. It's contained in that thing that looks like a spherical propane cylinder.

The gimbels (axle function) is top and bottom, unlike the video in post 10, which has the gimbels on each side.
 
Maybe I'll build a car this weekend.

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The gyro wheel is oriented in tandem with the car's front tire, directly behind the tire. It's free to pivot, in same manner the front tire pivots to turn the car.

Hydraulic motors are used to spin the gyro wheel.
 
BigElCat said:
The gyro wheel is oriented in tandem with the car's front tire, directly behind the tire. It's free to pivot, in same manner the front tire pivots to turn the car.

Hydraulic motors are used to spin the gyro wheel.
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I'm reading the patent description gleaning some of the principle although Tom enjoyed explaining it endlessly over many holiday dinners.

Very interesting was that Mr Summers, up until the end of his life, always had investors who seemed to want to build this vehicle, actually build it up to a point while paying him a very generous salary and then completely "disappear", only to have another interested group willing to pay him to continue the project only to vanish themselves.
This type of thing occurred for close to thirty years.
Subterfuge:dunno:
 
I just remembered Tom owned the first 1953 Corvette convertible west of the Mississippi, flew to the factory and drove it back to El Lay.
 
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