Originated as a child’s toy
——The invention of the gyroscope in 1908 allowed the autopilot to fly passenger planes around the earth accurately, and the ship remained relatively stable on the rough seas. The submarine traveled through the depths of the ocean to reach its destination, all thanks to a child's toy and an imaginative American named Elmer Ambrose Sperry.
One day in the summer of 1905, children were playing with tops. One of Sperry's children asked him: "Why does it stand up when it rotates?" The child's question prompted Sperry to think. The final result of his thinking was the birth of the gyrocompass and the profound advancement of aviation and navigation technology it brought. change.
Sperry borrowed a gyroscope used for teaching and demonstrating the rotation of the earth to study it to see if its operation method could be used by engineers in practice. Later, during a voyage to Europe, the ship encountered a storm, and Sperry was thrown out of his bunk by the bumps of the ship. He thought it would be great if he could use a gyroscope to balance the boat. After three years of experiments, he built the first stabilizer, which was used on the USS Worden destroyer.
The basic principle of a gyroscope used as a stabilizer is that its rotating axis with a constant position can compensate for the sway of the ship's hull and reduce the amplitude of the ship's sway to a certain extent.
In 1908, Sperry used the same principle to invent the gyrocompass. It can maintain its true north state and is not affected by any magnetic force. The gyrocompass first came into use in 1910. Soon it was adopted by the U.S. Navy as a ship's azimuth indicator.
Derived from Sperry's invention are: the autopilot, which has a small gyroscope system that allows the aircraft to fly in clouds or darkness; the direction finder used in drilling ; Relative inclinometer showing aircraft attitude relative to apparent gravity, etc.
Sperry died in 1930 at the age of 69. He obtained more than 400 patents during his lifetime.