The Naphtha Revolution: The Untold Story of an Invention that Changed the World (Hardcover)

The Naphtha Revolution: The Untold Story of an Invention that Changed the World By Graeme Ferguson Cover Image
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Description


A beautifully illustrated coffee-table book that launches the reader into the moneyed world of late 19th-century America, when men once known as Robber Barons amassed great fortunes and bought glamorous boats for themselves and their friends and family. In these early days, boats were powered by steam engines, but unfortunately some of the boilers exploded, with lethal consequences. It was a Swedish immigrant, Frank Ofeldt, who found the answer: naphtha, a derivative of oil that was used in lamps. He found a way to control the volatile substance, and then used his knowledge and experience to invent the naphtha launch, the world’s first successful motorboat. It was, as the late author Weston Farmer put it, a landmark in the history of technology—like the Model T Ford, the DC-3 airplane, and the Zippo lighter. As told by a modern inventor, the late co-founder of Imax, this book describes the 19th-century invention, its financing, production, and the challenges in bringing it to market.

About the Author


Graeme Ferguson was co-inventor of the IMAX® motion picture system that changed the way we see movies. He was co-founder of IMAX Corporation, and, for over 20 years, the company’s first president. He produced and directed several pioneering films, including Polar Life, a multi- screen film for Expo ’67 in Montreal; North of Superior, the first film to be shot entirely in IMAX; and The Dream Is Alive, the first IMAX film to be shot in space. He was also an antique boat enthusiast and owned a cabin launch, Heather Belle, which was once powered by a fuel called Naphtha.

Praise For…


The Naphtha Revolution shows the importance of the Naphtha Launch not only to boating but to the American and world-wide revolution of individual empowerment. It’s fascinating. It’s full of brilliant profiles of those captains of industry, including John Jacob Astor, who went down in the Titanic, and the men Matthew Josephson called ‘Robber Barons.’ How these money men treated inventors now clearly seems to be one of their major failures.” —Charles G. Houghton III, President, Electric Launch Company
Product Details
ISBN: 9781988025902
ISBN-10: 1988025907
Publisher: Barlow Publishing
Publication Date: October 6th, 2022
Pages: 304
Language: English