Edmund Zalinski
Encyclopedia
Edmund Louis Gray Zalinski, (December 13, 1849 – March 11, 1909) was a Polish
-born American
soldier, military engineer
and inventor. He is best known for the development of the pneumatic dynamite torpedo-gun
.
, Prussian Poland
on December 13, 1849, and emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1853. He began school in Seneca Falls, New York
and attended high school in Syracuse
until 1863, when he dropped out at the age of 15.
Lying about his age, Zalinski enlisted the United States Army
, and served during the American Civil War
as aide-de-camp
on the staff of General Nelson A. Miles
from October 1864. In February 1865, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, having been recommended for promotion for gallant and meritorious conduct at the Battle of Hatcher's Run
, Virginia
. He continued on General Miles's staff until the surrender of General Robert E. Lee
in April 1865.
Zalinski was mustered out of the volunteer service in September 1865 and was recommended for an appointment in the regular army. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th United States Artillery on February 23, 1866. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in January 1867, and finally to Captain on December 9, 1887.
as professor of military science
. He graduated at the Artillery School
, Fort Monroe
on May 1, 1880, and at the school of submarine
mining, Willets Point, New York
, in July of the same year.
His name became widely known in connection with the invention and development of items of military technology, particularly the pneumatic dynamite torpedo-gun
. He also invented the electrical fuse
and other devices for the practical application of the weapon, and devised a method for the exact sight allowance to be made for deviation due to wind in the use of rifled
artillery and small arms. Other inventions included a modified entrenching tool, a ramrod-bayonet, and a telescopic sight
for artillery.
Zalinski also helped John Philip Holland
raise money for the development of one of his submarines, which was armed with one of Zalinski's pneumatic guns
.The two men having formed the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company, started working on a new submarine in 1884. The so-called "Zalinsky boat" was constructed in Hendrick's Reef (former Fort Lafayette
), Bay Ridge
in the New York City
borough
of Brooklyn
. "The new, cigar-shaped submarine was 50 feet long with a maximum beam of eight feet. To save money, the hull was largely of wood, framed with iron hoops, and again, a Brayton-cycle
engine provided motive power." The project was plagued by a "shoestring budget" and Zalinski mostly rejecting Holland's ideas on improvements. The submarine was ready for launching in September, 1885. "During the launching itself, a section of the ways collapsed under the weight of the boat, dashing the hull against some pilings and staving in the bottom. Although the submarine was repaired and eventually carried out several trial runs in lower New York Harbor, by the end of 1886 the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company was no more, and the salvageable remnants of the Zalinski Boat were sold to reimburse the disappointed investors." Holland would not create another submarine to 1893.
In 1889 and 1890 Zalinski traveled in Europe
to study military affairs. He undertook garrison duty at San Francisco, California
in 1892, and retired from military service in 1894.
Zalinski died of pneumonia
in Rochester, New York
.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soldier, military engineer
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
and inventor. He is best known for the development of the pneumatic dynamite torpedo-gun
Dynamite gun
A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces distinguished by their specialized operating mechanism and purpose: they use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile...
.
Early life and military service
Zalinski was born in KórnikKórnik
Kórnik is a town with about 6,800 inhabitants , located in western Poland, approximately south-east of the city of Poznań. It is one of the major tourist attractions of the Wielkopolska region....
, Prussian Poland
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
on December 13, 1849, and emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1853. He began school in Seneca Falls, New York
Seneca Falls (town), New York
Seneca Falls is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 9,347 at the 2000 census.The Town of Seneca Falls contains a village also called Seneca Falls...
and attended high school in Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
until 1863, when he dropped out at the age of 15.
Lying about his age, Zalinski enlisted the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, and served during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
as aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
on the staff of General Nelson A. Miles
Nelson A. Miles
Nelson Appleton Miles was a United States soldier who served in the American Civil War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War.-Early life:Miles was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, on his family's farm...
from October 1864. In February 1865, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, having been recommended for promotion for gallant and meritorious conduct at the Battle of Hatcher's Run
Battle of Hatcher's Run
The Battle of Hatcher's Run, also known as Dabney's Mill, Armstrong's Mill, Rowanty Creek, and Vaughn Road, fought February 5–7, 1865, was one in a series of Union offensives during the Siege of Petersburg, aimed at cutting off Confederate supply traffic on Boydton Plank Road and the Weldon...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. He continued on General Miles's staff until the surrender of General Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
in April 1865.
Zalinski was mustered out of the volunteer service in September 1865 and was recommended for an appointment in the regular army. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th United States Artillery on February 23, 1866. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in January 1867, and finally to Captain on December 9, 1887.
Academia and military engineering
From 1872 till 1876 Zalinski served at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
as professor of military science
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
. He graduated at the Artillery School
United States Army Field Artillery School
The United States Army Field Artillery School trains Field Artillery Soldiers and Marines in tactics, techniques, and procedures for the employment of fire support systems in support of the maneuver commander...
, Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
on May 1, 1880, and at the school of submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
mining, Willets Point, New York
Willets Point, Queens
Willets Point, also known locally as the Iron Triangle, is the name currently applied to a neighborhood of Corona, in the New York City borough of Queens....
, in July of the same year.
His name became widely known in connection with the invention and development of items of military technology, particularly the pneumatic dynamite torpedo-gun
Dynamite gun
A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces distinguished by their specialized operating mechanism and purpose: they use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile...
. He also invented the electrical fuse
Fuse (electrical)
In electronics and electrical engineering, a fuse is a type of low resistance resistor that acts as a sacrificial device to provide overcurrent protection, of either the load or source circuit...
and other devices for the practical application of the weapon, and devised a method for the exact sight allowance to be made for deviation due to wind in the use of rifled
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
artillery and small arms. Other inventions included a modified entrenching tool, a ramrod-bayonet, and a telescopic sight
Telescopic sight
A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an optically appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point...
for artillery.
Zalinski also helped John Philip Holland
John Philip Holland
John Philip Holland was an Irish engineer who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the U.S...
raise money for the development of one of his submarines, which was armed with one of Zalinski's pneumatic guns
Pneumatic weapon
A pneumatic weapon is a weapon that fires a projectile bymeans of air pressure, similar in principle to the operation of pneumatic tube delivery systems...
.The two men having formed the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company, started working on a new submarine in 1884. The so-called "Zalinsky boat" was constructed in Hendrick's Reef (former Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette was an island coastal fortification in the Narrows of New York Harbor, built offshore from Fort Hamilton at the southern tip of what is now Bay Ridge in the New York City borough of Brooklyn...
), Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. "The new, cigar-shaped submarine was 50 feet long with a maximum beam of eight feet. To save money, the hull was largely of wood, framed with iron hoops, and again, a Brayton-cycle
Brayton cycle
The Brayton cycle is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the workings of the gas turbine engine, basis of the airbreathing jet engine and others. It is named after George Brayton , the American engineer who developed it, although it was originally proposed and patented by Englishman John Barber...
engine provided motive power." The project was plagued by a "shoestring budget" and Zalinski mostly rejecting Holland's ideas on improvements. The submarine was ready for launching in September, 1885. "During the launching itself, a section of the ways collapsed under the weight of the boat, dashing the hull against some pilings and staving in the bottom. Although the submarine was repaired and eventually carried out several trial runs in lower New York Harbor, by the end of 1886 the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company was no more, and the salvageable remnants of the Zalinski Boat were sold to reimburse the disappointed investors." Holland would not create another submarine to 1893.
In 1889 and 1890 Zalinski traveled in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to study military affairs. He undertook garrison duty at San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
in 1892, and retired from military service in 1894.
Zalinski died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
.