The Naphtha Revolution: The Untold Story of an Invention That Changed the World (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781988025902)

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.

Author: Graeme Ferguson
ISBN-10: 1988025907
ISBN-13: 9781988025902
Publisher: Barlow Publishing
Language: English
Published: 10/06/2022
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.85lbs
Size: 10.31h x 8.35w x 1.34d