Louis Brennan (28 January 1852 – 17 January 1932) was an
Irish-Australian
Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australians, Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the Ireland, island of Ireland.
Irish Australians ...
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
and
inventor.
Biography
Brennan was born in
Castlebar
Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and moved to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia in 1861 with his parents. He started his career as a watchmaker and a few years later was articled to
Alexander Kennedy Smith, a renowned civil and mechanical engineer of the period.
He served as a sergeant in the Victorian Engineers under the command of Captain
J. J. Clark.
Brennan invented the idea of a steerable
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
in 1874, from observing that if a thread is pulled on a reel at an angle with suitable leverage, the reel will move away from the thread side. Brennan spent some years working out his invention, and received a grant of £700 from the
Victorian government towards his expenses. He patented the
Brennan Torpedo in 1877. The idea was trialled at
Camden Fort near
Crosshaven
Crosshaven () is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in lower Cork Harbour at the mouth of the River Owenabue, across from Currabinny Wood. Originally a fishing village, from the 19th century, the economy of the area became more re ...
,
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Brennan went to England in 1880 and brought his invention before the War Office. Sir
Andrew Clarke alerted the authorities to the possibilities of the torpedo if used in the defence of harbours and channels, and the patent was eventually bought for a sum believed to be more than £100,000 (£ in ). In 1887 Brennan was appointed superintendent of the Brennan torpedo factory, and was consulting engineer 1896–1907.
He did much work on a
monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...
locomotive which was kept upright by a
gyrostat
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
. In 1903 he patented a
gyroscopically-balanced monorail system that he designed for military use; he successfully demonstrated the full sized system on 10 November 1909, at
Gillingham,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. At the
Japan–British Exhibition
The took place at White City, London in Great Britain from 14 May 1910 to 29 October 1910. It was the largest international exposition that the Empire of Japan had ever participated in and was driven by a desire of Japan to develop a more favora ...
of 1910 at
White City, London
White City is a district of London, England, in the northern part of Shepherd's Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, 5 miles (8 km) west-northwest of Charing Cross. White City is home to Television Centre (previously th ...
he built a mile long monorail track and gave rides for around 40 people at a time on his gyro stabilised 22-ton prototype.
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
(then Home Secretary) was one of the passengers and then drove the vehicle himself for one circuit. He was so impressed that he brought along the Prime Minister and other cabinet members and family to see it the following week. The exhibit was awarded the Grand Prize for the exhibition. Although the ability of the vehicle to balance itself on a single rail was amazing, especially when stationary, it was not to prove a commercial success, partly due to fears that the gyroscopes might fail, and partly because any wagons or coaches towed by the locomotive would also need powered gyroscopic stabilisation.
From 1916 to 1919 Brennan served in the munitions inventions department. In 1916 he submitted a patent application entitled "Improvements Relating to Aerial Navigation" in which he outlined designs for a helicopter, and in June 1916 he received support for his experimental helicopter project from the British
Ministry of Munitions
The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...
. From 1919 to 1926 he was engaged by the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
in aircraft research work at the
Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough,
and gave much time to developing his
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
. The first tethered flights (inside a hangar) took place in December 1921, at which time the engine was up-rated from the
Bentley BR1 to the
Bentley BR2
The Bentley B.R.2 was a nine-cylinder British rotary aircraft engine developed during the First World War by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley from his earlier Bentley BR.1. Coming as it did near the end of the war, the BR.2 was built ...
. Flight trials in the open started in May 1924, however in October 1925 a demonstration flight ended with one of the twin blade rotors touching the ground causing damage to several components. The government had spent a large sum of money on it, and the Air Ministry was still offering an award of £50,000 for the developments of a successful machine, but in 1926 the air ministry gave up funding the Brennan helicopter project, much to Brennan's disappointment.
He married Anna Quinn (died 1931) on 10 September 1892. He was survived by a son and a daughter. Brennan was created a Companion of the
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...
in 1892, and was foundation member of the National Academy of Ireland in 1922. In January 1932 he was knocked down by a car at
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...
,
Switzerland, and died on 17 January 1932.
[ Brennan was buried at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, ]London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in an unmarked plot numbered 2454 that is opposite the Chapel record office. On 11 March 2014, Irish Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...
unveiled a new gravestone for Brennan at St. Mary's in a ceremony honouring the inventor's life and career.
Gillingham Library retains the archive of his papers.
See also
* Gillingham
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
The gyroscopic monorail of Louis Brennan
in ''Heroes and Villains of Ireland''. Turtle Bunbury.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Louis
1852 births
1932 deaths
19th-century Australian inventors
Engineers from Melbourne
Australian people in rail transport
People from Castlebar
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Irish emigrants to colonial Australia