Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1887 — The Whitehead Torpedo. [ARTICLE]

The Whitehead Torpedo.

The torpedo that has been by nearly every naval power of Europe is known as the Whitehead, and belongs to what may be designated as the “projectile class,” that is, having been started on its course toward the enemy, no control of it is retained by the ©iterator. Most of the various types of this class are wholly submerged when operated against an enemy, and are generally arranged to run at a given depth below the surface, varying from 5 to 15 feet. Naturally, one of the main objects of inventors of torpedoes, as well as of those engaged in other fields of invention, is financial profit. The Whitehead is the only torpedo that has yet proved a success in this respect. It is built of thin sheets of steel, is cigarshaped, like those already described, but without the attached float, and is made in three sizes, the largest being 19 feet long by 16 inches diameter, and the smallest 9 feet long by 11 inches diameter. The motive power is compressed air, carried at a pressure of about 70 atmospheres, in a cylindrical reservoir within the torpedo. The speed attained is about 25 miles per hour for a distance of 450 yards. The torpedo divided into three sections “forward,” “middle,” and “rear”—containing, respectively, the charge of 70 to 93 pounds of gun-cotton; the adjusting mechanism, wherein lies the secret of the inventor, and by which the hydrostatic pressure of surrounding water is made to regulate the depth of immersion ; and the air-engines and steering machinery. It is designed to be carried on board a very swift torpedoboat, capable of overtaking the fast iron-clad, and, when within effective range, to bo discharged from the boat with the steering rudder of the torpedo set in such a position as to direct its course toward the enemy. The first motion, or “discharge,” is effected through a guide-tube in the bow of the boat, either above or below the surface of the water, usually by means of a very small charge of powder, after which, upon reaching the water, the torpedo is propelled by its own engines. The explosion may be made to take place either upon impact with the enemy or after the torpedo has run a given distance. Lieut W. S. Hughes, in Scribner's Magazine.