Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to travel over 100 miles per hour on water.

Early life

Gar Wood was born on December 4, 1880 in Mapleton,

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

, into a family of 13 children. His father was a ferryboat operator on

Lake Osakis Lake Osakis is a lake in Todd and Douglas counties in west-central Minnesota. The town of Osakis is situated on the southwest shore of the lake. Name The lake received its English name by translation from the Ojibwe ''Ozaagi-zaaga'igan'', mean ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, and Gar worked on boats from an early age. In 1911, at age 31, he invented a

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...

lift for unloading coal from rail trucks.

Garwood Industries

He established the Wood Hoist Co. in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, and soon became a successful businessman. Later, he changed the company's name to Garwood Industries, which built racing and pleasure boats under the ''Gar Wood'' brand. Wood also capitalized on experience with coal unloaders to successfully produce and market ''GarWood'' truck, bus and coach bodies. He had a home in Algonac, Michigan. Garwood Industries also built truck bodies, tractor attachments and winches that were used by truck and tractor manufacturers such as

Allis-Chalmers Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial s ...

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

, and were an OEM supplier to both the civilian and military market. Many trucks built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

came equipped with Garwood bodies and winches. Garwood Industries also developed the garbage truck, originally sold as the

Garwood Load Packer The Garwood Load Packer was a refuse collection vehicle built by Garwood Industries in Detroit, Michigan. Engineered by Melvin Donald Silvey, the Packer brought significant changes in the mode and automation of garbage collection in the United St ...

Racing career

In 1916, Wood purchased a motorboat for racing called ''Miss Detroit''. He also bought the company that made it, run by brothers Chris and Henry Smith (who would work for Wood until 1922, when Chris formed the Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company in Algonac, Michigan, renamed Chris-Craft in 1924). This led directly to the construction of ''Gar Wood'' brand pleasure craft. Initially still focused on racing, Wood set a new water speed record of in 1920 on the Detroit River, using a new twin

Liberty V-12 The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both ...

powered boat called ''Miss America''. In the following twelve years, Wood built nine more ''Miss Americas'' and broke the record five times, raising it to in 1932 on the St. Clair River. In 1921, Wood raced one of his boats against the Havana Special train, up the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

coast from

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Wood made the trip in 47 hours and 23 minutes and beat the train by 12 minutes. In 1925, he raced the

20th Century Limited The ''20th Century Limited'' was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along ...

train up the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

between Albany and New York and won by 22 minutes. As well as being a record breaker and showman, Wood won five straight powerboat Gold Cup races between 1917 and 1921. Wood also won the prestigious Harmsworth Trophy nine times (1920–21, 1926, 1928–30, 1932–33). In 1931, he lost the Trophy in dramatic circumstances to his younger brother George. The race was held on the Detroit River and was billed as a match race between the Wood brothers and English (sic) racing driver and record-breaker

Kaye Don Kaye Ernest Donsky (10 April 1891 – 29 August 1981), better known by his ''nom de course'' Kaye Don, was an Irish world record breaking car and speedboat racer. He became a motorcycle dealer on his retirement from road racing and set up Amba ...

, driving '' Miss England II''. Before an estimated crowd of over a million spectators (one of the largest crowds for a sporting event ever), Don won the first heat of the race. In the second heat, Wood was leading Don, when ''Miss England II'' suddenly flipped over rounding one of the turns, without injury to Don and his co-driver. Gar Wood finished the race first, but both he and Don were disqualified because they had jumped the starter's gun by seven seconds. George Wood completed the final race to win the trophy. In April, 1936, Wood, along with many other sports champions and stand outs, was honored at a banquet in

Detroit, MI Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. This banquet was the first celebration of Champions Day. In July, 1936, a plaque was presented to Detroit from the White House honoring Detroit as the City of Champions. The plaque has five "medallions" featuring athletes. One of these medallions is of a power boat racer, representing Wood. Wood retired from racing in 1933 to concentrate on his businesses.

''Gar Wood'' boats

Garwood Industries began building boats under the "Gar Wood" brand following his early successes racing. The most famous were the exclusive

-powered 33’ "Baby Gar" gentleman’s racer built in the 1920s and early 1930s. Along with numerous models of runabouts (variously available as sedans, landaus, and limousines), a 28' "Baby Gar", a 25' triple-cockpit runabout, and 40' commuter, a limited number of the 16 ft

Gar Wood Speedster The Gar Wood Speedster is a model of 16 ft racing boat produced and offered from 1934 to 1938 by Garfield Wood under the "Gar Wood" brand, and powered with various single six-cylinder Flathead engine, flathead marine engines. Of the fourteen ...

s were built from 1934 to 1938. Starting in 1935 a 20' utility and 26' family cruiser were made, followed by an 18' utility and 36' express cruiser in 1936. During World War II Garwood Industries produced a limited number of tugboats and target craft for the U.S. Navy. After the war, however, new technologies such as plywood and fiberglass, and mass production methods, entered the pleasure boating world. The company continued to build its traditional all wood boats until 1947, when it ended production.

Inventions

Wood was known as an inventive genius who, at one point, held more US

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

than any other living American. In 1897, at age 17, he invented a downdraft

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...

which enabled his inspection boat to outrace the other inspectors. In 1911 or 1912 he invented the profitable hydraulic hoist for dump trucks. He used the money it earned to build racing boats which won many championships between 1917 and 1933. At one point he had a job selling lightning rods to farmers, and to demonstrate their effectiveness he invented an

induction coil An induction coil or "spark coil" ( archaically known as an inductorium or Ruhmkorff coil after Heinrich Rühmkorff) is a type of electrical transformer used to produce high-voltage pulses from a low-voltage direct current (DC) supply. p.98 ...

device to mimic lightning.

Retirement and later years

In the 1950s, Wood acquired Fisher Island in South

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

, the last of a series of millionaires to occupy it as a one-family island retreat. He sold it to a development group in 1963. Wood also had a summer retreat in McGregor Bay, Ontario. A 1967 Popular Mechanics article showed even in retirement Wood was still active inventing an Electric Vehicle (EV) controller, which he used in the EV he built. Wood died in

16 Jun 1971, at age 90 and days before the 50th anniversary of his first Harmsworth win. Upon his death, George Van of

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

wrote: ''“To the public, he was

Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...

, Frank Merriwell with a little bit of

Horatio Alger Horatio Alger Jr. (; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through good works. His wr ...

thrown in.”'' Wood was buried near his home in Algonac, Michigan.

Award

He was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycle ...

Gar Wood
at the

in 1990.

References

External links

''Gar Wood History'', at Gar Wood Boats

Gar Wood Society

"The Speediest Craft Afloat", June 1929, Popular Science

"The Gadget King of America" ''Popular Mechanics'', October 1934, pp 536-539

"Gar Wood's Mystery Boat" ''Popular Mechanics'', September 1935
''Miss America X''
Detroit News retrospective

Gar Wood Speedster Collection

1967 July Popular Mechanics article on Gar Wood's Electric Vehicle (EV)
pages=82–85 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Gar 1880 births 1971 deaths People from Mapleton, Iowa Water speed records American motorboat racers Hydroplanes H1 Unlimited Racing motorboats APBA Challenge Cup School bus manufacturers Defunct bus manufacturers of the United States Coachbuilders of the United States People from Algonac, Michigan American shipbuilders Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States