Today in Technology History
(To receive "Today in Technology History" by e-mail, click here. To read past issues click here.)
July 8
The revolving gun turret is one of the most important inventions in the history of naval military technology. Before the revolving turret, the best way for ship designers to give a warship the maximum firing and aiming ability was to put a lot of guns aboard -- but that made ships longer and less maneuverable. With a revolving turret, a ship could be small and quick while still being able to bring concentrated firepower to bear on a particular target.
Drawing of guns in a rotating turret, from Timby's patent. Click to see more images. Although there is evidence that people were thinking about naval gun turrets as early as 1805, it seems clear that the first person to strenuously argue in favor of them was New York inventor Theodore Ruggles Timby (1822-1909). Timby realized that stationary guns are difficult to move and aim, so starting in 1841 he tried to interest the U.S. government in the construction of a revolving battery of guns -- for use on land or at sea. He filed papers with the government in 1843, and sent models of his invention to the U.S. President as well as to China and Europe.
No one showed any interest in Timby's invention until the American Civil War, when a revolving gun turret was used on the Monitor, the Union ironclad steamship that famously battled with the Confederate ironclad ship Merrimack (renamed the Virginia) in 1862. That battle -- which we will write about next year -- demonstrated the usefulness of the revolving gun turret.
A few months later, on July 8, 1862, Timby obtained two patents for his invention. The first patent was for a revolving battery tower, the second was for a method of "discharging guns in revolving towers by electricity."
Despite those patents, and related patents he was later granted, Timby never felt he was paid the royalties he deserved for inventing a device that forever altered naval warfare.
Related links:
This page briefly discusses Timby's grudge about royalties.
We wrote about the designer of the Monitor earlier this year.
| Biotechnology | Convergence | Creativity | Culture | E-conomics | Education |
| Equity | Gov't & Politics | Innovation | National Security | Personal Security |
For errors, broken links, questions or comments,
contact webmaster@tecsoc.org.
