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Robert Whitehead (engineer)
Robert Whitehead (3 January 1823 – 14 November 1905) was an English engineer who was most famous for developing the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. Early life He was born in Bolton, England, the son of James Whitehead, a cotton-bleacher, and his wife Ellen Whitehead née Swift. He trained as an engineer and draughtsman, and attended the Mechanics' Institute, Manchester. His first professional employment was at a shipyard in Toulon, France, for Philip Taylor & Sons, and then as a consultant engineer in Milan, Italy. He then moved to Trieste, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast of Austrian Empire, Austria. Whitehead's work in Trieste was noticed by the owners of ''Fonderia Metalli'', a metal foundry in the nearby city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia). In 1856, Whitehead became manager of the company, and changed its name to ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'' (STF). STF produced marine steam boilers and engines, which were the most modern products of that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolton
Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and villages that form the wider Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, borough, of which Bolton is the administrative centre. The town is within the Historic counties of England, historic county boundaries of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textile production since the 14th century when Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area, introducing a wool and cotton-weaving tradition. It was a 19th-century boomtown, development largely coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. At its peak in 1929, its 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dyeing works made it one of the largest and most productive centres of Spinning (textiles), cotton spinning in the world. The Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majesty's Ship). The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine came into being after the formation of Austria-Hungary in 1867, and ceased to exist in 1918 upon the Empire's defeat and subsequent collapse at the end of World War I. Before 1867, the Imperial Austrian Navy or simply the Austrian Navy, saw action in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the Austrian expedition against Morocco (1829), the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War, the First Italian War of Independence, First and Second Italian War of Independence, Second Italian unification, Wars of Italian Independence, the Second Schleswig War, and the Third War of Italian Independence. Following Austria's defeat by Prussia and Italy during the Seven Weeks' War, the Austrian Empire Austro-Hungarian C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SM U-XXI (Austria-Hungary)
SM ''U-21'' or ''U-XXI'' was a or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy ( or ) during the First World War. The design for ''U-21'' was based on submarines of the Royal Danish Navy's ''Havmanden'' class (three of which had been built in Austria-Hungary), and was largely obsolete by the beginning of the war. ''U-21'' was just over long and was armed with two bow torpedo tubes, a deck gun, and a machine gun. Construction on ''U-21'' began in mid 1915 and the boat was launched in September 1916. After suffering damage during a diving trial in January 1917, ''U-21'' underwent seven months of repairs before her commissioning in August 1917. The U-boat conducted patrols off the Albanian coast in October 1917, but experienced the failure of the seal on her main hatch. The repairs kept the boat out of action until June 1918. But in July a piston in her diesel engine broke, knocking the submarine out of the rest of the war. At the end of World War I, ''U-21'' was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SM U-XX (Austria-Hungary)
SM ''U-20'' or ''U-XX'' was the lead boat of the of submarines or U-boats built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy ( or ) during the First World War. The design for ''U-20'' was based on that of the submarines of the Royal Danish Navy's ''Havmanden'' class (which had been designed by Whitehead & Co. in Fiume), and was largely obsolete by the beginning of the war. ''U-20'' was just over long and was armed with two bow torpedo tubes, a deck gun, and a machine gun. ''U-20'' had no wartime successes and was sunk in early July 1918 by the Italian submarine ''F-12''. The wreck of ''U-20'' was located in 1962 and salvaged. A portion of her conning tower is on display in a military museum in Vienna. Design and construction When it became apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Navy that the First World War would not be a short war,Halpern, p. 382. they moved to bolster their U-boat fleet by seizing the plans for Denmark's ''Havmanden'' class submarines,Gardiner, p. 344. which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armstrong-Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and aircraft. The company was founded by William Armstrong in 1847, becoming Armstrong Mitchell and then Armstrong Whitworth through mergers. In 1927, it merged with Vickers Limited to form Vickers-Armstrongs, with its automobile and aircraft interests purchased by J D Siddeley. History In 1847, the engineer William George Armstrong founded the Elswick works at Newcastle, to produce hydraulic machinery, cranes and bridges, soon to be followed by artillery, notably the Armstrong breech-loading gun, with which the British Army was re-equipped after the Crimean War. In 1882, it merged with the shipbuilding firm of Charles Mitchell to form Armstrong Mitchell & Company and at the time its works extended for over a mile (about 2 km) alon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Limited
Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entire large ships, cars, tanks and torpedoes followed. Airships and aircraft were added, and Vickers jet airliners were to remain in production until 1965. Financial problems following the death of the Vickers brothers were resolved in 1927 by separating Metro-Cammell, Metropolitan Carriage Wagon and Finance Company and Metropolitan-Vickers, then merging the remaining bulk of the original business with Armstrong Whitworth to form Vickers-Armstrongs. The Vickers name resurfaced as Vickers plc between 1977 and 1999. History Foundry Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor (businessman), George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo-Fabrik Von Robert Whitehead
Whitehead Torpedo Works was a company established in the 19th century by Robert Whitehead that developed the Whitehead torpedo. It grew from its initial location at Fiume to Wyke Regis and to Livorno, but the former two plants closed by the end of World War II. The Italian branch maintained the name Whitehead for a long time into the late 20th century, and still exists as Leonardo Sistemi di Difesa . History Robert Whitehead worked for a metal foundry in the city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia), and became its manager in 1856, and changed its name to ''Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume'' (STF). STF produced marine steam boilers and engines, including for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The invention of the self-propelled torpedo happened at that company, but it was not profitable and the company went bankrupt in 1873. The Whitehead company, Torpedo-Fabrik von Robert Whitehead, was founded in 1875 and would produce for the first torpedoes sold all around the world. In 1890 Whitehead op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Obry
Ludwig Obry was an Austrian engineer and naval officer of the Austrian Navy who invented a gyroscopic device for steering a torpedo in 1895. The gyroscope had been invented by Leon Foucault in 1851, but industry ignored the device for nearly 50 years. In 1895 or 1896, Obry rediscovered Foucault's device and adapted it into a mechanism for steering a torpedo. This increased the weapon's accuracy from hundreds to thousands of yards. Obry then patented his device and sold the rights to Robert Whitehead, who incorporated the mechanism into the Whitehead torpedo. The device consisted of a bronze wheel weighing less than 1.5 pounds that was spun by an air jet. Obry's device was notable for solving many problems; how to get the gyroscope to begin rotating as quickly as possible, how to direct the vertical rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pendulum-and-hydrostat Control
Pendulum-and-hydrostat control is a control mechanism developed originally for depth control of the Whitehead torpedo. It is an early example of what is now known as proportional and derivative control. The hydrostat is a mechanism that senses pressure; the torpedo's depth is proportional to pressure. However, with only a hydrostat controlling the depth fins in a negative feedback loop, the torpedo tends to oscillate around the desired depth rather than settling to the desired depth. The addition of a pendulum allows the torpedo to sense the pitch of the torpedo. The pitch information is combined with the depth information to set the torpedo's depth control fins. The pitch information provides a damping term to the depth control response and suppresses the depth oscillations. Operation In control theory the effect of the addition of the pendulum can be explained as turning the simple proportional controller into a proportional-derivative controller since the depth keeping is not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Hoyos
The House of Hoyos is a prominent Austrian noble family of an ancient Castilian origin, whose members held significant political positions during the Austro-Hungarian and the German Empire. History It derives its name from El Hoyo de Pinares in Ávila, Castile and León, and can be traced back to the 9th century. Juan de Hoyos and his family accompanied the later Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, to Lower Austria in 1525, founding the Austrian branch of the family. This branch rose to prominence in Austria and in Hungary as Hungarian magnates over the centuries. Johann Baptist von Hoyos (1506-1579) was awarded with the title of Imperial Baron in 1549. His two sons, elder Ferdinand Albrecht Freiherr Hoyos von Stichsenstein (1533-1609) and younger Ludwig Hoyos Freiherr Hoyos von Stichsenstein (1550-1600) formed two branches of the family. Members of the elder line of the family were elevated to the rank of Imperial counts in 1682 and survived until today. Members of the young ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitehead Torpedo
The Whitehead torpedo was the first self-propelled or "locomotive" torpedo ever developed. It was perfected in 1866 by British engineer Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. It was driven by a three-cylinder compressed-air engine invented, designed, and made by Peter Brotherhood. Many naval services procured the Whitehead torpedo during the 1870s, including the US Navy. This early torpedo proved itself in combat during the Russo-Turkish War when, on 16 January 1878, the Ottoman ship ''Intibah'' was sunk by Russian torpedo boats carrying Whiteheads, though this story has been disputed in one book. The term "torpedo" comes from the torpedo fish, which is a type of ray that delivers an electric shock to stun its prey. History During the 19th century, an officer of the Austrian Marine Artillery conceived the idea of using a small boat laden with explosives, propelled by a steam or an air engine and steere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Whitehead With Battered Test Torpedo Fiume C1875
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown, godlike" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin.Reaney & Wilson, 1997. ''Dictionary of English Surnames''. Oxford University Press. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe, the name entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
