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CHAPTER X
THE TORPEDO
After all is said and done about the submarine boat,
the fact remains that without the modern automobile
torpedo it becomes valueless as an instrument of warfare.
In 1864 Captain Lupuis of the Austrian Navy conceived
the idea of a new form of destructive engine to be used in
naval warfare. The proposed weapon was a very crude
affair resembling a small surface boat in shape, which was
to be driven by a propeller turned by clock work from
within and guided by means of ropes from the shore. The
fore part of the little boat was to carry a heavy charge of
gunpowder which was to be exploded by a trigger device
operated by a contact spar fitted to the bow. When the
spar struck the side of a ship the impact would puli the
trigger and explode the charge.
The only bit of importance attached to this device how-
ever, is that in its conception Captain Lupuis consulted
Mr. Robert Whitehead, an English civil engineer residing
in Fiume, Austria, about some of the mechanical problems
involved. The idea brought to Mr. Whitehead in this
way without a doubt was the first occasion that he had
ever given thought to such a device. His imagination was
set to work though, and after about two years he built his
first torpedo, which was made of boiler plate, carried
eighteen pounds of gun-cotton and had a speed of six
knots for a very short distance. It was the forerunner of
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