Idaho State Journal Article July 22, 1970
More history from the Idaho State Journal
BANCROFT, IDAHO--Solar energy researchers in Israel, Africa, Europe and Russia may never have heard of Bancroft, Idaho, but they know about Jim Gessford. Inventors, like artists, are supposed to survive in obscurity. Or they are paid to think for corporations.
But Jim Gessford is not a typical inventor. The Bancroft resident organized and manages his own business. Or in other words, he is an entrepreneur.
For the curious Gessford, boats may have been the beginning of his inventing profession. He intended to make a success of that profession, and did. "I'm the designer of all our hulls and our molds. I.'m the designer of the equipment we use," the boat marketer says. "When it comes right down to it; I'm also the builder, take care of marketing. I'm the bookkeeper, the janitor, you name it."
But why start a boat building firm at Bancroft? " Bancroft ? " he asks. "Well, that's a long story. When I sold my property in Utah and was looking for a site, my dealer in Soda Springs belonged to the Bancroft Lions Club. He approached me about coming up here." "I took a look around, made inquiries. This building was available. The Lions Club and the local community helped me move. We had every farm truck in the area down in Utah loading up merchandise. It all seemed to fall together and we moved here in May, 1970."
Gessford occupied a building that had been left vacant since a Bancroft flood ruined it. The roof was falling apart and two inches of mud were rock hard on the floor. It wasn't until that September that Gessford's first boat was completed. At that time, the little company had only one set of molds and produced a 16-foot, low profile sports ski boat. Today, the inventor says, "we've expanded to a total of 11 different models and have quite an inventory of molds of various decks, hulls and this sort of thing."
In addition to the deluxe 16-foot, low-profile runabout, Gessford's company builds a 16- foot jet drive unit, an 18-foot family model inboard-outboard, an 18-foot low performance jet drive and a fairly well-rounded 18-foot line which, until recently, has been sold all over the United States.
Since start of the energy crisis, Gessford has dropped his sales east of the Mississippi River. Gessford has been in the boating business for between 26 or 27 years, but started his "honeycomb" boat-building process after coming to Idaho. Prior to that time, it was a tricky and experimental process. "I played around with it for three or four years, but only for the last five years have we had it in full development," he laughs. "Incidentally," he adds, "We have something unique here. We manufacture with an exclusive structural process through the use of this honeycomb. And we are the only people in the world who manufacture a boat in this particular fashion."
Gessford has also invented "honeycomb" boats and special anticorrosive tanks. for which“….Patents pending all belong to me and are controlled by my MNK Enterprises."
The process includes an inner and outer fiberglass laminate with a hollow honeycomb core. "In the boat business, this means several things," he explains. "In these days of energy problems, you can use the smallest possible engine to get that maximum performance because of its light weight. Structurally , pound for pound, this laminate with honeycomb core that weighs 10 pounds will be as strong as 30 pounds of solid laminate." With time , Gessford learned more and more about his new boat material. Fuel Is saved because his boat uses an 85 horsepower motor where a conventional boat the same size needs 115 to 125 horsepower in the engine. There are other structural advantages, including the fact the material shows no hull flexing and, therefore, no fatigue in the material. "We liked the safety features that were built in because of the honeycomb," Gessofrd says. "Break this boat up into pieces and each section will float. Honeycomb also acts as an insulation and is quiet."
Gessford and his working crews were impressed by their honeycomb. Then in 1973 the fuel shortage hit. "The petro-chemistry folk were having a pretty rough time. We were not able to buy enough raw materials to build our products." The Bancroft businessman branched out into custom corrosion-control fabrication. His company began manufacturing tanks for companies such as Monsanto and J.R. Simplot Co. About a year ago, he was asked to design a tank for solar heating. "The tank is as important a part of solar heating systems as a battery Is to an auto electrical system," Gessford comments. The tank is able to store energy created by a solar energy panel.
About seven or eight months ago, the Bancroft inventor built his first solar energy panel. Gessford has two licensing agreements for this device pending with Israel. Similar agreements are pending "for the major part of the European continent with principals for the second agreement based in Switzerland." A Dutch firm which has manufacturing facilities in 46 countries is negotiating to produce Gessford's panel in South Africa. "I'm pretty excited about some of the things on the drawing board. One which I really can't elaborate on at any great extent is a solar collector panel which will produce electricity. I think it will work. I think it will work well. It will, I believe, be a tremendous jump from the collector panels in use today," he adds.
One thing which Gessford gets a kick out of while doing business with these foreign concerns is their ignorance of Bancroft's existence. "This is the thing that tickles me. No matter where I go, the people I have talked to have never heard of Bancroft. I'm trying to emphasize the fact that good ideas and good products aren't necessarily all located in metropolitan areas. I have been able to develop and to do more work since I've been in Bancroft, being isolated as I am, than I was ever able to accomplish in California or Utah."
Gessford thinks inventors or men who use their ideas to come up with energy devices, should be welcomed with open arms. "If the hid business and the material end of it are as critical as the politicians say, then we have a very real problem. Any ideas should be welcomed, not discouraged by utility companies or unions or competition." Marketing is a problem for all inventors. Markets for several .of Gessford's products were developed by Utah Tron-Ack people. They produced the end product. All Gessford's company did was manufacture the cabinet or housing. He developed the design work on a tank or environmental system which would contain and hold their equipment. And it all began with honeycomb construction. Or maybe it all began with the Pony brand name boats. In any case, It all began, and it's still going strong in Bancroft, Idaho.