John Louis Lay

John Louis Lay (January 14, 1833 – April 17, 1899) was an American inventor, and a pioneer of the torpedo.

Biography Lay was born in Buffalo, New York. He was appointed 2nd assistant engineer in the Union Navy on July 8, 1862, and was promoted to 1st assistant engineer on October 15, 1863. He designed the spar torpedo which was used by Lieutenant William B. Cushing to destroy the Confederate ironclad ram at Plymouth, North Carolina, on October 27, 1864. After the fall of Richmond in 1865, Lay was sent in advance of Admiral David D. Porter's fleet to remove obstructions from the James River. It had a length of 7.6 m and a diameter of 600 mm and with an effective range of 1.25 miles, speed of 6 knots, 100-pound dynamite load and 2,800-pound total weight. The Lay torpedo was one of several designs tested by U.S. Navy at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1880, he produced an improved version – the Lay-Haight Torpedo. This used a 3-cylinder Brotherhood engine fuelled by carbon dioxide (a mixture of carbonic acid and calcium), to increase its speed to 8 knots, with a range of 2,300 meters. Having passed the initial tests, the governments of the United States and the Russian Empire bought its manufacturing rights. Lay himself set up a manufacturing plant in Russia where more than 10 large torpedoes were reportedly manufactured. However, it never had successful application.

Lay's inventions made him a rich man, but he lost it all in speculation, and he spent his final years in poverty. He died at Bellevue Hospital, New York City, in April 1899.