| Torpedo | |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Etymology: | nitroglycerin "torpedoes" used in the petroleum industry |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pennsylvania |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Warren |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Pennsylvania |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Torpedo in Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | 41.7792°N -79.4656°W |
| Established Title: | Settled |
| Established Date: | ~ |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation Ft: | 1391 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset1: | -5 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | -4 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 16340 |
Torpedo is a village located on Pennsylvania Route 27 in Pittsfield Township, Warren County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The village got its unusual name from an incident involving torpedoes used in oil wells to increase the flow of oil, which contained unstable nitroglycerin.
Torpedo was first settled sometime around 1845 after the construction of a mill, which closed 10 or 12 years later.[2] A lumber mill was opened in 1875 - 1876.
Torpedo acquired its name during the winter of 1882 - 1883, when a horse-drawn wagon loaded with of nitroglycerin torpedoes bound for Clarendon got stuck on a nearby set of railroad tracks for the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad.[3] One of the horses had tripped on the gap between the rail and a wooden plank, and fallen. The driver, knowing a passenger train was due, attempted unsuccessfully to free the fallen horse. Failing to free it, he unhitched the other horse and moved it to a safe distance. The driver had started to unload the torpedoes from the wagon, when the train came around the bend.[3] Even after applying the brakes, the train still struck the fallen horse at nearly full speed, severing two of its legs. The wagon containing the torpedoes was tipped over, but the nitroglycerin did not explode, because the wagon was mired in deep mud. None of the train's passengers and crew were injured.[4]
Torpedo is located on Pennsylvania Route 27 in Pittsfield Township, north of Pennsylvania Route 36 in Pleasantville, Venango County and south of U.S. Route 6.