Winfield Scott Sims

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Winfield Scott Sims (April 6, 1844 – January 7, 1918) was an American inventor who focused on using electricity for ships and big weapons. He was born in New York City and grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He served in the Civil War with the 37th New Jersey Volunteers from 1861 to 1864.

After the war, Sims worked on military inventions. He became the first to use electric power to move torpedoes. He built a submarine torpedo boat with a copper hull and conical ends, powered by electricity from shore or on board. Earlier inventions included an electric motor and a light 45‑pound motor that, with twenty small batteries, could move a 16‑foot boat with six people at about 4 mph.

Sims later devised a fast 22 mph boat to carry a 500‑pound dynamite charge. In 1907 he designed a wireless dirigible torpedo for Japan. His Sims–Dudley dynamite gun was used by Cuban insurgents and at the Battle of Santiago with the Rough Riders. He also developed other dynamite guns for airships and airplanes and was president of the New York Ordnance Company. He died in Newark in 1918.