From the archives: Recalling death of genius Mayo inventor
By Tom Gillespie
NINTY-TWO years ago, February 6, 1932, The Connaught Telegraph carried an obituary on the death of Castlebar native Louis Brennan: the ‘Death of a Genius’ - inventor of monorail travel, simple idea that gave birth to torpedo.
The obituary read: Three most remarkable inventions are closely associated with a genius whose death occurred in Switzerland on January 17, 1932, at the age of 79.
He was Mr. Louis Brennan, C.B., whose ingenuity evolved the Brennan torpedo, the monorail, and the helicopter.
Mr. Brennan had been staying at Montreux, Switzerland, since suffering from bronchitis. Recently he was knocked down by a motorcar, but apparently recovered. Later, however, he had a seizure which proved fatal.
Brennan was buried at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London, in an unmarked plot numbered 2454 that is opposite the Chapel record office.
Though stumbling on the mechanical paradox that a machine can be made to travel forward by pulling it backwards, Mr. Brennan obtained the idea which led to the construction of the Brennan torpedo.
He demonstrated it by means of a cotton reel, with a pencil thrust through the hole in the centre.
By resting the ends of the pencil on two books, and unwinding the cotton by pulling it from underneath, he caused the reel to move forward, and the harder he pulled the faster the cotton unwound and the quicker the reel travelled in the reverse direction.
Substitute the reel for a steel cylinder carrying an explosive, and the cotton a coil of piano wire - that is the Brennan steerable torpedo.
When developed the torpedo weighed a ton-and-a-quarter, and it was propelled from the shore at first by means of a stationery steam engine.
In 1889 Mr. Brennan’s invention was purchased by the British Government for £110,000, Mr. Brennan being given the post of superintendent of the Brennan torpedo factory at Chatham.
Mr. Brennan’s gyroscopically balanced single-rail locomotive was first demonstrated before the Royal Society in 1907. A full-size car weighing 22 tons was completed in 1909 and made successful trials.
It had a speed of 25 miles, and on one occasion carried 107 passengers.
At the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 at London’s White City, Brennan 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 (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.
The war prevented the development of the monorail invention.
In 1916 Mr. Brennan put before the Ministry of Munitions a design for a helicopter, which was taken up by the Air Ministry, and for three years was developed in secrecy at Farnborough.
In 1925, during the secret tests, the machine crashed and was partially wrecked. Research was stopped partly on the grounds of economy and partly because of the success of the Cierva Auto-Giro.
In the later stages of his life Mr. Brennan actively supervised research and experiment on a secret invention said to be that of a one-wheel motorcar.
The invention, Mr. Brennan believed, would eclipse any of his previous achievements. It aimed at applying the principles of the monorail to the motorcar.
Louis Brennan was born in Main Street, Castlebar, on January 28, 1852, in the premises known as McEllin’s.
He married Anna Quinn (died 1931) on September 10, 1892. He was survived by a son and a daughter.
He was brother-in-law of Miss A. Quinn, Ellison Street, and Mr. T.M. Quinn, Newton.
Brennan was created a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1892, and was foundation member of the National Academy of Ireland in 1922.
From Castlebar he moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1861 with his parents where he started his career as a watchmaker. A few years later he 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. Clarke. Brennan invented the idea of a steerable torpedo in 1874. He went to England in 1880 and brought his invention before the War Office.
In December 2009, a photograph of Brennan’s unmarked grave in St. Mary’s Cemetery was published in the Castlebar Parish Magazine. It was supplied by Tommy Durcan, Moneen, Castlebar, who had been living in Harrow for many years.
This led to a campaign to have a suitable memorial erected to the acclaimed inventor.
Following a public meeting a small and dedicated group consisting of Ernie Sweeney, Michael Baynes, Ann Cresham, Martin Coyle, Michael Feeney, MBE, Councillor Ger Deere and the late historian Brian Hoban undertook trojan work to ensure the project reached fruition.
Their efforts paid off and on March 11, 2014, then Taoiseach Enda Kenny unveiled the headstone on the newly restored Brennan grave as well as a plaque at the cemetery oratory.
In attendance at the ceremony were the Irish Ambassador to the UK, Daniel Mulhall, Castlebar Town Mayor Noreen Heston, members of the Irish, British and Australian armed forces, members of the project committee, Gene and Karen Bobrow, relations of Louis Brennan, and Sarah Jenkins, Gillingham.
Later a plaque was unveiled marking the birthplace of Louis Brennan on the former McEllin’s building at Main Street, Castlebar, by another Castlebar man, Commodore Mark Mellett, then Deputy Commissioner of the Irish Armed Forces.