Background
Frank M. Leavitt was born at Athens, Ohio, on March 3, 1856, the son of Review John McDowell Leavitt, later president of Lehigh University, and his wife Bethia (Brooks) Leavitt of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Frank M. Leavitt was born at Athens, Ohio, on March 3, 1856, the son of Review John McDowell Leavitt, later president of Lehigh University, and his wife Bethia (Brooks) Leavitt of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Leavitt devised one of the earliest machines for manufacturing tin cans and later invented the, the chief torpedo weapon used by United States Navy in World War I. Leavitt was part of an emerging cadre of American engineers whose design feats were putting United States manufacturing might on the map at the dawn of the twentieth century. Leavitt married Ohio-born Gertrude Goodsell at Brooklyn, New York, on November 8, 1893, and settled in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where he pursued his career as an engineer By 1904, Leavitt had turned his attention to weaponry: he began working with the civilian contracting firm East. West. Bliss Company of Brooklyn to design a new type of torpedo.
The recently concluded Russian-Japanese War had caught the attention of United States Naval officials, because both nation"s fleets had lost most of their battleships to underwater explosives.
The race was on to perfect the deadly armaments, and the United States Navy was becoming the world leader in torpedo technology. Leavitt, who served as chief engineer for the East. West. Bliss Company for many years, died at his home in Scarsdale, New York, on August 6, 1928.
Commander Frank McDowell Leavitt Davis, who graduated from the United States. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Lieutenant Commander Davis later commanded a Naval torpedo bombing plane squadron in World World War II, and perished while on duty in a Navy plane crash off Malta in 1946.
Frank McDowell Leavitt Davis is honored with a plinth at the Naval Academy cemetery.
L. Davis and his father, Lieutenant Ralph Otis Davis, both were assigned to the Navy submarine service.