Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation
magnetic levitation whereby a spinning magnet(s) is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet or array of magnets, and stabilised by gyroscopic effect due to a spin that is neither too fast, nor too slow to allow for a necessary precession
Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation is a phenomenon of magnetic levitation whereby a spinning magnet or array of magnets (typically as a top) is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet or array of magnets, and stabilised by gyroscopic effect due to a spin rate that is neither too fast, nor too slow to allow for a necessary precession.
The phenomenon was originally discovered through invention by Vermont inventor Roy M. Harrigan in the 1970s. On May 3, 1983, Harrigan was granted a US patent for his original levitation device based upon this phenomenon he discovered. Independent of Harrigan, a Pennsylvanian inventor named Joseph Chieffo made the same discovery in 1984 employing a flat base magnet, a geometry that proved a significant change over his predecessor's patented design which relies upon a dish shaped mounting of magnets for the base. Chieffo's design, publicized in a 1991 edition of the periodical "Magnets In Your Future", further differed from Harrigan's in its incorporation of an un-weighted top. Harrigan's technology, either solely or in conjunction with Chieffo's published flat-base variation, provided the basis for the development of a series of mass marketed levitating toy tops sold predominantly in the United States under the brand name, 'Levitron' and in other countries from different manufacturers under their brand names (e.g. UCAS in Japan).
In 2012 and 2014 Max Michaelis reported operating Levitron brand magnetic tops at inclination angles of 45° and 90° (i.e. with the spin axis, horizontal) after employing novel configurations for the supporting magnetic fields.
Physics
Earnshaw's theorem does not allow for a static configuration of permanent magnets to stably levitate another permanent magnet or materials that are paramagnetic or ferromagnetic against gravity.
“Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation” enters the record as magnetic levitation whereby a spinning magnet(s) is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet or array of magnets, and stabilised by gyroscopic effect due to a spin that is neither too fast, nor too slow to allow for a necessary precession. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Spin-stabilized, magnetic and levitation can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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