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Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website This reel of silent 16mm film footage shows tests of a groundbreaking, gyroscopically stabilized, cargo carrying vehicle. This innovative machine was designed by an inventor and MIT grad named Herbert Harris. Harris spent part of his early career working for the U.S Forest Service, maintaining and building trails across the wilderness. That effort typically involved using mules or pack horses, but Harris believed there could be a better way. Later, as director of the Forest Service's Equipment Development Center in Missoula, Montana, Harris contacted engineer Tom Summers. Development of a gyroscopically stabilized trail maintenance vehicle began under Summers' supervision in 1961. The company behind the enterprise was called the Summers Gyrocar Co., a subsidiary of Gyro Dynamics Inc. By 1965, two gyro-stabilized cargo carrier prototypes or “trail trucks“ were completed. The machines used gasoline powered engines built by Onan. Each had four wheels: two main and two stabilizer wheels. These would retract once enough momentum was gained to keep the vehicle upright. Controls were located on the rear of the machine. Each had a cargo bed that was approximately 3x4 feet. The vehicles featured stabilizer wheels raise and lower them. As you can see in the film, the cargo carriers underwent testing on roads and mountain trails near Missoula. After initial testing, the second prototype model (seen throughout the film) was given a fresh coat of yellow paint and revealed to the public in Missoula in July, 1967. It was touted as the first gyroscopically-stabilized land vehicle on record. At 2:02, the vehicle is shown operating without a human operator, and at 3:26 the driver shows how easy it is to step on and off the moving vehicle. At 5:30, the cargo carrier is shown operating in snow, and several shots show how easy it was to load the carrier on and off a pickup truck. (Note the words “Gyro Transport“ written on the pick-up truck shown at start of the film.) In 1968 the Cargo Carrier was written about as a finished product, supposedly ready to replace pack mules on the trails. But sadly, the Cargo Carrier never left the prototype stage and the concept was mostly forgotten. It wasn't for decades that the reason behind the project's failure were revealed: the electronic controllers available during the 1960s did not respond quickly enough when the carrier hit large rocks, and once the carrier was part way over, the gyroscope literally threw it to the ground. (One imagines that modern stabilization systems such as those seen in the Segue would easily deal with that problem.) A surviving example of the cargo carrier can be seen at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee (). The one on display is one of at least three built but the only one known to survive. It was literally in a Forest Service storage shed for fifty years before making its way to the Museum -- talk about a barn find! Special thanks to Lane Motor Museum's Rex Bennett for supplying portions of this descriptive text. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
