Patrick Cunningham (inventor)

Biography

At age nine, Patrick Cunningham left Dundalk, Ireland for New Bedford, Massachusetts. He learned cobbling from his father, then served in the Union Navy during the Civil War, sparking an interest in engineering and explosives. After deserting in 1865, he returned to New Bedford and built a thriving shoemaking business, becoming one of the city's wealthiest residents. His desertion was cleared from his record in 1892.

Inventions

With fellow cobbler Bernard Cogan, Cunningham patented the Iron Cunningham & Cogan whaling gun in 1877. In 1892 he built a 17-foot-long torpedo named The Flying Devil, carrying 125 pounds of explosive; the explosive was owned by the company of which he was president. Unlike typical torpedoes, it had spirals around its body to make it spin like a rifle bullet.

Tested at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in July 1893, it was found unsuitable due to short range and poor trajectory. On October 31, 1896, during a rally for the Republican candidate he did not support, Cunningham fired the torpedo down New Bedford's high street. It crashed into a shop, which collapsed before the explosive detonated, causing massive structural damage and injuring multiple people but killing none.

He was charged with maliciously destroying a building. He later built more torpedoes; in 1898 he tested two from a schooner he had purchased. The first fired correctly; the second exploded inside the ship, sinking it immediately with no injuries.