Abstract
ALTHOUGH the theory of the gyroscope has been taught for more than fifty years in several universities, it is only recently that the instalment of gyro-stabilisers for ships, yachts, and aircraft carriers has begun to be adopted. The largest gyro-stabilising plant in the world has recently been completed for the new 46,000-ton luxury Italian liner Conte-di-Saoia at the works of Messrs. Vickers, Armstrong, Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness. An interesting account of the plant is given in the Metropolitan-Vickers Gazette for April. The plant consists of three identical stabiliser equipments, each one of which can function as a stabiliser independently of the other two. The rotating element in each consists of two solid forged steel disks. The rotating part (the rotor) weighs 110 tons and at normal working speeds it rotates at 910 revolutions per minute, being driven by a spinning electric motor mounted directly on the shaft. This motor is of the three-phase type and gives 560 horse-power at the normal speed. It is capable of giving 750 horse-power for 90 minutes during the accelerating period. The Sperry gyro-stabiliser is used, and this never allows the vessel to start rolling. A single wave can start a roll. In an unstabilised vessel, should the period of the rolling swings and the waves be the same, resonance might occur, and if the damping were small the rolling might become dangerous. Usually, however, the waves are only synchronous with the ship's natural swing for a brief period, and so its maximum swing is due to the accumulated effects of the waves. The Sperry device quenches the effects of these waves one by one, and so the stresses and strains on the hull of a stabilised ship are comparatively slight.
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Gyro-stabilisers for Liners. Nature 130, 17 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130017c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130017c0