Simple Rotation

Around 1810, Johann von Bohnenberger of Tübingen University designed a "machine" to demonstrate the laws of the earth's rotation. This was essentially the first gyroscope. It was first mentioned by Poisson (1813), and described in detail by Bohnenberger in 1817.

Bohnenberger's original design, as executed by Johann Buzengeiger, ca. 1810	A later nineteenth-century model, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute	An early 20th-century model (US Military Academy at West Point, New York)
References Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Bohnenberger: "Beschreibung einer Maschine zur Erläuterung der Geseze der Umdrehung der Erde um ihre Axe, und der Veränderung der Lage der letzteren." Tübinger Blätter für Naturwissenschaften und Arzneikunde 3 (1817), pp. 72-83. Denis Poisson: "Mémoire Sur un Cas particulier du Mouvement de rotation des Corps pesans." Journal de l'École Polytechnique 9, 16 (1813), pp. 247-262. J. Wagner, H. Sorg, and A. Renz: "The Machine of Bohnenberger." European Journal of Navigation 3, 4 (2005), pp. 69-77.