The Wolseley Gyrocar

THE GYROCAR

In 1912 one of the most unusual vehicles ever built was constructed at the Adderley Park Works. The Wolseley Company was approached by a Russian Lawyer, Count Peter Schilovsky, to build a machine to his own design.

The Count claimed his vehicle would be of great military value as it would be able to cross terrain that was impassable to conventional 4-wheeled vehicles. He believed that a single track vehicle, kept upright by gyroscopic control, could attain a given speed with a less powerful engine, and with a lighter frame and body than was needed for a four-wheeler.

The Wolseley directors accepted the job and work began immediately under the supervision of A W Dring, Chief Experimental Engineer. The chassis took a year to build. By November 1913, the Gyrocar was complete.

The Gyrocar had two wheels, placed in line, like a motorcycle, and was steadied by a gyroscopic device controlled by two pendulums. When the vehicle leaned to one side, the pendulums brought the gyroscope into action to oppose the tendency to overturn. It was powered by a modified Wolseley engine of 16-20 hp with a bore of 90mm and stroke of 121mm. Mounted ahead of the radiator, the engine drove the rear wheel through a conventional clutch and gearbox. A transmission brake was fitted behind the gearbox (there were no brakes on the wheels themselves). The weight of the vehicle was 2ľ tons and it had a very large turning circle, which was not promising for a proposed military vehicle. The gyroscope was of 40 inches diameter and 4˝ inches thick at the rim. It spun at between 2000 and 3000 rpm and was powered by a 110 volt 1.25 hp electric motor. The electric motor was powered from an engine-driven dynamo mounted beside the clutch. The gyroscope rotor weighed 12 cwt and absorbed about 10% of the engine’s power. A governor rang an alarm bell if gyroscope’s speed fell below a set level, and support sprag wheels on either side came into operation, lowering themselves automatically as the car and engine came to rest.

"On November 27th, 1913," reported the Test Engineer, "I made an effort to move the car, which was successful, no derangement of the governing gear taking place. We drove the car backwards and forwards for a distance of about 6 feet many times. During these tests, it was noticeable that one could stand on the side of the car and step into the body without any disturbance of balance. We then moved the car partially round a radius to the left, backwards and forwards. Eventually we drove the car the whole length of the Arden Works, backwards and forwards, with four passengers. Then His Excellency decided to take the machine over on to the track, impressing on me that we must go very gently. We drove into the Arden Road, making two stops on the curve, and we had to reverse so that we should not use the full lock. I then drove the car steadily up the Arden Road, going as slowly as possible and slipping the clutch on first gear all the time. We took a wide sweep into Bordesley Green Road, and suddenly, when opposite the Directors' Mess Room, the vehicle heeled to the near side and dropped on its sprag. It was lifted by eight men, the engine was re-started, and the car driven back to the Experimental Department, but it was supported by outside assistance as His Excellency did not attempt to balance the car in the street."

On 28th April 1914, the Gyrocar was put on public display in London, in Regent's Park. The vehicle was stopped and restarted many times, and then taken for a longer trial in the park. The runs were made at slow speed to demonstrate that the gyroscope kept it in complete control as far as equilibrium was concerned.

According to a contemporary newspaper report, it could crawl along with people jumping on and off, and still maintain its stability.

Schilovsky own description of how his car performed, from his book "The Gyroscope: Its Practical Construction and Its Applications” as follows: "The car made experimental runs in London in the summer of 1914. However, as the eccentricity of the gyroscope was only sufficient for a smooth curve in the direction of spin of the gyroscope, no rounding of sharp curves was possible to the left. This was the only, but very objectionable, defect, and it prevented the development of the system; no remedy was found at that time to enable the car to negotiate sharp curves, either to left or to right with equal ease."

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Schilovsky returned to Russia. The Wolseley factory was fully occupied in war work, and the Gyrocar lay abandoned in a corner. The Wolseley directors assumed that the Count had been a casualty of either the war or the Russian Revolution. Wanting to get it out of the way, but not wishing to dispose of it completely in case he reappeared, they dug a hole and buried it.

In 1938, it was decided to dig up the Gyrocar, although this was complicated by the fact that a railway yard had been built on top of the site. However, the tracks were lifted, and the car unearthed. It was then restored and put on display in the company museum.

Schilovski survived the First World War, the Revolution, and the civil war that followed. He returned to England and worked for the Sperry Gyroscope Company. He wrote an article for "The Morris Owner" for the May 1939 issue, advocating gyrocars, in which he conceded that, at 2ľ tons, the original prototype was too heavy.

In 1948, for no obvious reason, the Gyrocar was broken up for scrap.

St John C Nixon, in his book “Wolseley, a Saga of the Motoring Industry”, said of the Gyrocar that it was a “striking example of misapplied talent on the part of the Inventor, and ingenuity on the part of the Wolseley Company in turning out something, the like of which the world had not seen previously, and as far as can be foreseen, never will again”.