Giovanni Luppis
Giovanni Biagio Luppis, 1869: Giovanni Biagio Luppis Ritter von Rammer (Croatian Ivan Lupis - Vukić ), ( born January 28, 1813 in Fiume, now Rijeka, † January 11, 1875 in Torriggia on Lake Como, Lombardy ) was a Croatian inventor, officer and engineer of the Austrian Navy. He developed the first propeller-driven torpedo.
Life
He was born in Fiume (Rijeka ), where he also completed high school. After he graduated from the Naval Academy in Venice and served in the Austrian Navy, where he rose to the rank of a frigate captain.
He imagined a device that was controlled unmanned and from land. The explosive charge contained therein should only detonate the moment of impact on a ship. His first prototype was a meter long, had wings made of glass and was controlled by means of long ropes from the shore. However, the experiment failed due to poor materials.
The second model had a " clock " mechanism, which drove a propeller. The explosive material was located in the rear and was ignited by a gun-like mechanism. It had two rudders: one on the left, the other on the right side; both were each moved from land. After numerous experiments, this model functioned - as " 6m " means - finally good enough. Luppis gave him the nickname "Salvation Coste " ( " Savior of the coasts ").
In 1860, he managed to show off his " 6m " Emperor Franz Joseph. Despite successful action, the Austrian naval Commission rejected the torpedo concerning the lack of drive and poor control systems.
The Mayor of Fiume, Giovanni Ciotta, Luppis presented to the British mechanical engineer Robert Whitehead, with whom he finally in 1864 a contract for the development and construction of the torpedoes completed. Although Whitehead undertook significant changes to the torpedo itself, he pointed to the merit of the invention always Luppis. You bewerkstelligten to let the torpedo run under water and built a one drive, which worked by compressed air. In addition, they were able to use automatic depth and direction controls.
On 21 December 1866, Whitehead and Luppis ' Torpedo - now referred to as " minelayer " - the Austrian naval Commission officially presented. The model had a width of 35.5 cm and a length of 3.35 m. The weight was 136 kg, of which accounted for 8 kg explosives. The Marine Commission finally accepted the model and instructed the engineers with the inclusion of a test production. 1873 opened Whitehead torpedo factory in Fiume, the first in the world in an adapted former iron foundry.