“Well, old man, it’s a sort of top, as you see. They’re stopping: it takes some time when they’re going at 5,000 a minute. You can see ’m spinning now. They’re in a vacuum, to get rid of air resistance and skin friction, and so you get a high velocity with a minimum of power.”
“That is not beyond my intelligence. Proceed with your lecture, and, if I may make a suggestion, begin with the use of this—gyroscope, I think you said.”
“It’s to keep the machine steady—balance it, you know.”
“I saw that it remained upright when stationary. That is very remarkable.”
“But that’s not all. Having two, I can take the sharpest corners with the greatest ease. I set them spinning in opposite directions, and they are so linked that as one sways to one side, the other sways to the other, so that the car doesn’t topple in turning a corner.”
“The machine apparently goes like a bicycle, with this difference, that you can stop dead without tumbling?”
“Yes, but it’s better than a bicycle. A cyclist has to keep his machine upright: the gyroscopes do that, and you can give your whole attention to steering. The wheels being tandem, too, I can use ball-bearings. I’ve got a petrol motor that actuates a dynamo, and so avoid the necessity of altering the gear going up-hill, and the noise it makes.”
In his enthusiasm he had forgotten his brother’s former aloofness, and was now bent on instructing him. He proceeded with a piece of stick to draw a diagram on the gravel in illustration of the scientific details he gave.
Maurice listened and looked patiently, but at the end of five minutes’ technical explanation he yawned and said:
“Ah! Very interesting, but quite beyond me. In other respects the thing is an ordinary motor-car?”