April 1st, 1887.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEV^^S. 



31 



THE FISH TORPEDO. 



PERHAPS no invention ever gained a reputation so 

 quickly and so cheaply as the Whitehead or Fish 

 Torpedo. The idea of its construction was first suggested 

 by an Austrian marine artillery officer, who is now dead. 

 In the year 1864 Mr. Robert Whitehead, who was acting in 

 the capacity of manager to an iron-works at Fiume, a sea- 

 port in Austria, situated at 'the head of the Adriatic Gulf, 



European Governments have purchased Mr. Whitehead's 

 secret, in addition to which a large and doubtless lucrative 

 business has been carried on at Fiume in the manufacture 

 of the weapons themselves. 



The Whitehead Torpedo consists mainly of a steel outer 

 shell, which is from fourteen to sixteen inches in diameter 

 in the centre, and from thence it tapers to a point at each 

 end. The length is either fourteen feet or nineteen feet. 

 It is propelled by means of two screws, which are actuated 



-a 



'j^iimBAUCd 



SECOND-CLASS YARROW TORPEDO-BOAT, SHOWING WHITEHEAD TORPEDO IN POSITION. 



took the matter up, and after a long series of experiments, 

 produced the Whitehead Torpedo. 



In the year 1870 Mr. Whitehead came to England, and 

 put his invention before the British Admiralty. He was 

 afforded a trial, and succeeded in destroying an old hulk 

 which was moored at the mouth of the river Medway. From 

 that date, the fortune of the Whitehead torpedo, or rather 

 of its inventor, may be said to have been made. He 

 received at the time seventeen thousand pounds for the 

 secret of his invention.* Since that date nearly all the 

 * Sleeman on " Torpedoes," published by Griffin and Co. 



by a small engine as in an ordinary steamboat. In place, 

 however, of the boiler and furnace, which of course 

 would be impossible in such a position, there is a strong 

 reservoir made of Whitworth fluid pressed-steel. Into this, 

 air is pumped until it has reached a pressure of about 

 1,000 lbs. to the square inch, although in the most recent 

 Woolwich-made torpedoes the pressure has been increased 

 by 200 lbs. additional, bringing it to 1,200 lbs. to the square 

 inch. In the front part of the weapon is placed the 

 explosive charge. By making the bows bluffer, which, 

 however, has not detracted from the speed, more storage 



