John Murdock, 87, inventor, physicist

John B. Murdock, 87, of Swarthmore, a physicist, business owner, and inventor who developed a countercurrent swimming machine and an automated car-turn device, died at home Feb. 16 of multiple myeloma.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Murdock cofounded Perlite Corp. in Arizona. The company, which relocated to Delaware County in 1950, designed equipment to expand perlite, a volcanic rock, for industrial purposes.

After he retired in 1985, he joined the International Executive Service Corps and consulted for mining industries in Turkey and Zimbabwe.

In 1988, Mr. Murdock's son, James, established Endless Pool Inc. in Aston, after he collaborated with his father on development of a small pool that generates current to allow for lap swims.

Mr. Murdock and his son also collaborated to establish CarTurn.com. The company makes a device that can turn a car around. Though often purchased by high-end homeowners, CarTurn was conceived by Mr. Murdock for safety reasons, so that drivers with narrow driveways would not have to back out onto a busy road.

He was always full of ideas, but they were grounded in reality, his son said. "He wasn't a crazy tinkerer."

Mr. Murdock's inventions include a combination haircutter and vacuum appliance and a directional hearing aid to be used in crowds. Concerned about global warning, he had recently been developing concepts for a small sea-based nuclear reactor as a power source and was investigating the possibility of using decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines to generate electricity.

He always wanted to learn more, his son said, and last semester, though ill, he took an engineering course at Swarthmore.

Mr. Murdock grew up in Tempe, Ariz., and in Washington, where his father, John R., served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1941 and then joined the Army Signal Corps.

During World War II, he managed a radar station on Long Island, N.Y., and later served in Europe. He followed the Allied front eastward, examining captured radar stations and establishing American positions. He became a pacifist, his daughter Jean Warrington said, after watching hungry German soldiers come out of hiding to trade their guns for hot food.

He enjoyed sailing, skiing and hiking at his vacation home in the Poconos.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Murdock is survived by his wife of 60 years, Janet Kennedy Murdock; a daughter, Nancy; and nine grandchildren.

A memorial gathering will be at 3 p.m. April 21 at Swarthmore Friends Meeting, 12 Whittier Place, Swarthmore.