According to Arthur Jones, the man who invented Nautilus exercise machines, the first Nautilus machine was built in 1948, but the first Nautilus machine produced for sale was built more than twenty-two years later, in 1970. As Jones recalled:

The first type of machine was a Pullover Torso Machine, and the first type delivered to a customer was also a Pullover. But in fact, the two machines -- the first built, and the first sold -- had little more than the name in common. During the twenty-two years of developmental work that passed prior to the first sale of a Nautilus machine, twenty-seven distinct models of the Pullover were built and tested -- and literally hundreds of other models were considered and rejected before reaching the prototype stage.

In short, it was a long, slow process, leading to a final result that probably would never have occurred under any other set of circumstances. The first Nautilus machine was not built for commercial purposes -- instead, it was built in an attempt to produce a literally perfect exercise tool. The first Nautilus machine was built at a time when quite a number of people were beginning to realize that something basic was missing in conventional exercises. The barbell was (and is) a tool capable of producing outstanding degrees of muscular strength -- eventually; but it obviously is not the ideal tool.

At or about the same time that the first Nautilus machine was built, other people were also making attempts in the direction of improving the tools available for exercise, but they made the mistake of going in exactly the wrong direction. Instead of devoting their attentions and efforts to exercise, they concentrated on attempts to improve the available tool, the barbell. You can design a better saddle for a horse, you can feed a horse better, you can train a horse better, but so long as you restrict your attentions to a horse, you will be forced to work within the limitations of a horse. And you will never travel faster than the maximum speed of a horse. Modern speed of travel developed only after the horse was scrapped as a means of practical transportation. Conventional weight machines that merely copy the functions of a barbell are now about as practical for the purpose of exercise as a horse is for the purpose of transportation.

Nautilus was based on the concept that the basic tool was wrong, so the development of Nautilus equipment was a process of determining the functions of human muscular structures in an effort to design new and much improved tools that could meet the actual requirements of muscles. Instead of trying to fit human muscles to an imperfect tool, the barbell, Nautilus was an attempt to design perfect tools that would exactly fit the requirements of muscles.

For over 30 years Nautilus has been conducting on-going research into the “requirements of muscles” and have spent tens of millions of dollars on designing better machines – machines that will not only rehabilitate individuals, but also deliver maximum fitness in minimum time. Two of Nautilus’ most renowned research projects were the “Colorado Experiment” and “Project Total Conditioning".

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