Lewis H. Temple
(1800-1854)
Born: October 22, 1800
Died: May 1854, at the age of 54.


Born in 1800 as a slave in Richmond, Virginia, Lewis Temple lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts from 1830 to 1854, where he had his own waterfront blacksmith shop.
By 1836, Temple was one of the 315,000 free Black people in the United States and a successful businessman who operated a whale craft shop on the New Bedford waterfront.
Temple never received formal schooling. In 1829, he married Mary Clark and established a family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a major whaling center. As a metal worker at Coffin's Wharf, he studied the primitive design of the whaling harpoon, which whalers threw at the animal, then approached in small boats to complete the kill with lances. Temple, was working as a blacksmith to support his wife, Mary, and their three children. In 1845, he was able to open a larger store.
The procuring of whale oil, whale meat and by-products was a leading industry in Massachusetts and New England. Whaling also provided thousands of jobs for seamen, many of whom were black. Based on conversations with the whalers who came to his shop to have their whaling tools made and to buy harpoons, Temple probably learned that many whales escaped, since the harpoons used at the time were not particularly effective in holding a struggling whale.
In 1848, Lewis Temple invented a new type of harpoon, by upgrading the original arrowhead harpoon replacing the less sophisticated harpoon model with a pivoting device set at right angles to the shaft. Held in place by a wooden pin, the mechanism set in the whale's jaw when tugs on the harpoon broke the pin and set the barb, creating the “Temple's Iron" and revolutionized the whaling industry in the middle of the 19th century. Temple, was working as a blacksmith to support his wife, Mary, and their three children. In 1845, Temple was able to open a larger store.
Initially, whalers did not accept Temple's harpoon. However, after some trials, most whaling captains were convinced that Temple's "Toggle Iron" was far superior to the ordinary barbed head harpoon. Lewis Temple never patented his invention, but was able to make a fairly good living from his harpoon sales. This sum, of course, was nowhere near the fortune he could have made if he had patented his invention. Temple was able to buy the building next to his shop and, in 1854, arranged for construction of a blacksmith shop near Steamboat Wharf.
Temple accidentally fell one night while walking near his new shop construction site, into a hole left open by a negligent city worker and never fully recovered from his injuries. Temple sued the city and was awarded $2,000 by the court. He never fully recovered from his injuries. Temple was unable to return to work and money became scarce for his family.
A few weeks later Temple died, unacknowledged and destitute. Today, he is presented as one of New Bedford's most ingenious citizens. In 1987, a life-size statue of Lewis Temple was erected on the lawn of the New Bedford Free Public Library.

Lewis Temple was the creator of the Temple Iron, a more updated version of the, whale harpoon. It had a moveable head that prevented the whale from slipping loose. By upgrading the original arrowhead harpoon replacing the less sophisticated harpoon model with a pivoting device set at right angles to the shaft. The harpoon was the designed with

a small wood shear pin placed through holes drilled through the head and shaft.


The Temple toggle iron was difficult to make due to the U-shaped section. An improvement was made in which this extra piece was eliminated. The end of the shaft was simply flattened and inserted into a recess cast in the cast iron toggle head.
An added benefit was an increased flat area of the toggle head presented to the blubber after the head toggled, giving more holding power. There were some differences in the shape of the toggle head, depending on which foundry cast them. There was no change in difference attributed to one over another.

Word of the success of toggle irons spread quickly. The following was printed in The Whalemen's Shipping List, and Merchants Transcript on May 31, 1853, and is typical of the reports which led to the popularity of toggle head harpoons:

By: Tashell G. Simon-Hayward