Brennan, Louis (1852 - 1932)

Summary

Louis Brennan invented a steerable torpedo propelled by counter-rotating screws, a monorail locomotive with gyroscopic stabilisers and a helicopter. He arrived in Melbourne in 1861 with his family and was, at an early age, apprenticed to the engineer Alexander Smith. In 1880 he took his steerable torpedo invention to the the English War Office. He did not return to Australia.

Details

From the "Australian Dictionary of Biograpphy" Volume 3, (1969): "At 22 he invented for coastal defence a torpedo which was propelled by counter-rotating screws driven by the unwinding of two fine steel wires from internal drums and steered by the differential action of the two wires which were wound on to drums on shore or on shipboard by a steam engine of twenty horse-power. Among the advantages claimed were that the torpedo could be retrieved if it missed its mark. William Kernot, then lecturer in engineering at the University of Melbourne, made calculations on which a working model was based, its test performances in 1879 on Hobson's Bay 'exciting wonder and approbation'. This work was aided by a grant of £700 from the Victorian government."

The Gillingham Library, England retains the archive of his papers. It was in Gillingham that he successfully demonstrated a full size gyroscopically-balanced monorail on 10 November 1909.

Chronology

1861

Life event - Arrived in Melbourne, Australia

c. 1870

Career position - Apprentice to Alexander Kennedy Smith

1874

Career event - Invented the Brennan Torpedo

1880

Life event - Arrived in England

1887

Award - £110,000 from the British War Office for the Brennan Torpedo

1887

Patent - Brennan Torpedo

1887 - 1896

Career position - Superintendent, Government Brennan Torpedo Factory, Gillingham, Kent, England

1896 - 1907

Career position - Consulting Engineer, Government Brennan Torpedo Factory, Gillingham, Kent, England

1906

Award - Honorary Member, Royal Engineers Institute, England

1907

Career event - Invented a monorail locomotive with gyroscopic stabilisers

1914 - 1918

Career position - Ministry of Munitions, England

1919 - 1926

Career position - Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, England

1922

Career position - Foundation Member, National Academy of Ireland

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Sandow, Mary, 'Brennan, Louis (1852-1932)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 223-224. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030208b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Beauchamp, David, 'The world's first guided missile: A Victorian invention', in From the Past to the Future: 18th Australian Engineering Heritage Conference 2015 [Newcastle] (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2015), pp. 62-71., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.696560494961022. Details

Edited Books

• Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Elton, J. M. H.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Thomas, R. E. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3: 1890-1920 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2014), 775 pp. 'Brennan, Louis Philip, CB', p.89. Details

Journal Articles

• Brennan, Louis, 'Monorail railways (Letter & Discussion)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. VIII (1908), 127-130. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24399. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1871553. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/70889988. Details
• 'Brennan, Louis (1852-1932)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1469676. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_b.html. Details
• Beauchamp, David, 'The World's First Successful Guided Missile', in Engineering Heritage Victoria, Speakers Programme (2016)., https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Event/worlds-first-successful-guided-missile-david-beauchamp. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. pp.176-177. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details