en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_monorail
2 corrections found
who each built full-scale working prototypes during the early part of the twentieth century.
This overstates Pyotr Shilovsky’s monorail work. Credible historical sources say Shilovsky developed a model, but his full-size monorail prototype was contemplated rather than completed.
Full reasoning
This sentence is inaccurate at least as to Pyotr Shilovsky/Schilowsky. Reliable historical sources do not show that he built a full-scale working monorail prototype.
- The Science Museum Group entry for Model of the Schilowsky mono-rail car states: “No full-size equipment was ever completed” for the Schilowsky monorail.
- The Industrial Railway Record likewise says that, according to Kerr Stuart records, “a full size prototype was contemplated but not constructed.”
So while Brennan and Scherl did have full-size monorail vehicles, the blanket claim that Brennan, Scherl and Pyotr Shilovsky “each built full-scale working prototypes” is too broad and factually incorrect.
2 sources
- Model of the Schilowsky mono-rail car | Science Museum Group Collection
No full-size equipment was ever completed, though the Schilowsky monorail was seriously considered by the Soviet Government in 1921 for a high-speed link between Petrograd and Gatchina.
- For the record | The Industrial Railway Record No. 29
Reference to Kerr Stuart records shows that a full size prototype was contemplated but not constructed.
In 1929, at the age of 74, Brennan also developed a gyrocar.
Brennan’s age is wrong here. He was born on January 28, 1852, so in 1929 he would have been 76 or 77, not 74.
Full reasoning
The age in this sentence does not match Louis Brennan’s documented birth date.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography gives Brennan’s birth date as 28 January 1852. That means in 1929 he would have been 76 before 28 January and 77 after 28 January. Either way, he was not 74 in 1929.
So the problem is not necessarily the year 1929, but the stated age attached to it.
1 source
- Biography - Louis Brennan - Australian Dictionary of Biography
Louis Brennan (1852-1932), mechanical engineer, was born on 28 January 1852 at Castlebar, Ireland ... Life Summary: Birth 28 January, 1852.