In October 1866, the first experimental model was ready. As designed by Whitehead, the model was driven by a compressed air-driven two-cylinder reciprocating engine, which gave the torpedo a speed of 6½ knots for a distance (range) of 200 yards. Compressed air for propulsion was stored in a section of the torpedo known then, and still known now, as the air flask at a pressure of 350 psi.
Austria, the first government to show interest in the invention, purchased and conducted experiments with the torpedo during 1867–1869. As a result, in 1869 Austria purchased the manufacturing rights from Whitehead for an unknown price, but permitted Whitehead to sell his torpedoes to other governments.
Contemporary Russian literature on torpedoes states that the first self-propelled mine (torpedo) was developed by the Russian inventor I. F. Aleksandrovskiy in 1865. In spite of successful tests of the Aleksandrovskiy torpedo, the Russian Naval Ministry preferred to buy the torpedoes designed by Whitehead which, it is claimed, were no better in quality or characteristics than the Aleksandorovskiy torpedo.
Reference: A Brief History of U.S. Navy Torpedo Development by E. W. Jolie.
