Arthur Jones, 80, the swashbuckling inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment, which revolutionized strength training by replacing the dead weight of barbells with a variable resistance technique, died Aug. 28 at his home in Ocala, Fla. No cause of death was reported.
Gruff and profane, Jones did not fit the image of the creator of the machines used by svelte, leotard-wearing exercise enthusiasts. He wore horn-rimmed glasses and ill-fitting pants.
It was his invention of the Nautilus that made his fortune and reshaped the world’s physique. It took bodybuilding out of the subculture of dank gyms and bulging muscles and ushered in an era that brought sedentary office workers into brightly lit fitness centers.
The creation was born of frustration. Living in the Tulsa YMCA in 1948, he routinely became irritated when the barbells and exercise regimes then in vogue failed to give him the big muscles he sought. One day, instead of quitting when he reached a plateau, he cut his routine in half and was surprised to see results.
Jones introduced his product in 1970 at a Los Angeles weight-lifting convention and dubbed it the Nautilus, after the nautilus seashell, which resembles the kidney-shaped cam that was his breakthrough development.
The machines and the company he formed to sell them made him a multimillionaire and landed him on the Forbes 400 list.
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Photo by Nautilus.
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