Whitehead, Robert (1823 - 1905)

inventor, designer, founder

Robert Whitehead was an English engineer. He developed the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. His company, located in the Austrian naval centre in Rijeka (Fiume), was the world leader in torpedo development and production up to the First WorldWar. He envisioned with the italian Giovanni Biagio Luppis a floating device for destroying ships that would be unmanned and controlled from land, while the explosive charges would detonate at the moment of impact.First prototype was one metre long, had glass wings, and was controlled via long ropes from the coast.
Who-is-Who in MMS, History of machines, history of mechanical engineering, machine design, engineer, designer, inventor,.

variant spelling:
Whitehead, Robert

Curriculum vitae

* 03.01.1823	Bolton	born
1864		he signed a contract with Luppis
1866		demonstration of first torpedo
1873		he founds Torpedo Fabrik von RobertWhitehead
† 14.11.1905	Shrivenham	died

Collections

Industrialisation, ca. 1850-1920

Images

Permanent links

DMG-Lib		https://www.dmg-lib.org/dmglib/handler?biogr=25320004
Europeana		http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/2020801/dmglib_handler_biogr_25320004.html

Follow us

Newsletter

Whitehead, Robert (1823 - 1905)