British engineer who invented the modern torpedo. He was the first to produce an effective, sub-surface, self-propelled torpedo. It much improved on the spar torpedo used during the American Civil War, which used a charge triggered by a long pole and floated to its target on a small boat. Whitehead’s first torpedo lacked speed and range. However, by 1870 he had increased its speed to 7 knots, able to hit a target 2100-ft away. The following year the British Navy purchased Whitehead’s invention.Whitehead’s torpedo was propelled by a compressed-air engine, and carried 18-lbs. of dynamite. Its most important feature was a self-regulating device which kept the torpedo at a constant preset depth. Edison made a movie of a Whitehead torpedo launch (12 May 1900).
At Fiume, a novel port, Whitehead designed and built engines for several Austrian warships, and the high quality of his work led to an invitation in 1864 to co-operate in perfecting a ‘fireship’ or floating torpedo designed by Captain Lupuis of the Austrian navy. The officer’s proposals were dismissed by Whitehead as too crude for further development. At the same time he carried out with the utmost secrecy, in conjunction with his son John and one mechanic, a series of original experiments which culminated in 1866 in the invention of the Whitehead torpedo.