Obry gyroscopic gear installed in Whitehead torpedoes

Ludwig Obry was an Austrian engineer and naval officer of the Austrian Navy who invented a gyroscopic device for steering a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

in 1895. The

gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...

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

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ed his device and sold the rights to Robert Whitehead, who incorporated the mechanism into the Whitehead torpedo. The device consisted of a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

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 or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

s and how to maintain the fast rotation of the rotor.

External links

Ludwig Obry's US Patent for a "Device For Starting Torpedoes"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obry, Ludwig Inventors Austrian military engineers Engineers from Austria-Hungary Austro-Hungarian Navy officers 1852 births 1942 deaths