Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight

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Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight
Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight (book cover).jpg
Author Victor Appleton
Original titleTom Swift and His Great Searchlight, or, On the Border For Uncle Sam
LanguageEnglish
Series Tom Swift
Genre Young adult novel Adventure novel
Publisher Grosset & Dunlap
Publication date
1912
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages200+ pp
ISBN 978-1515122432
Preceded by Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera  
Followed by Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon  
Text Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight at Wikisource

Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight, or, On the Border For Uncle Sam, is Volume 15 in the original Tom Swift novel series published by Grosset & Dunlap.

Contents

Plot summary

Tom has finally perfected one of his latest inventions, a noiseless airship. This is a project Tom has been working on since the last few volumes, and now that it is finished, it appears that Tom is suddenly under scrutiny by United States border agents, who are tracking smuggling operations which utilize airships to move goods out of Canada, and avoid paying duty tax. Once Tom convinces the agents that he is not involved in smuggling, he is hired to help break up the operations.

Inventions and innovation

In previous volumes, but only mentioned peripherally, Tom has been working on a noiseless airship. These are basically modifications to the engine: a new muffler and sparking device.

Built for use in this adventure is Tom's giant searchlight, as the title of the story suggests. A device utilizing a mixed electric current, the searchlight can be seen for miles and miles, and is used specifically to search for smugglers during the night.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Swift</span> Fictional literary character

Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. Inaugurated in 1910, the sequence of series comprises more than 100 volumes. The first Tom Swift – later, Tom Swift Sr. – was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packaging firm. Tom's adventures have been written by various ghostwriters, beginning with Howard Garis. Most of the books are credited to the collective pseudonym "Victor Appleton". The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II for the author. For this series, and some later ones, the main character is "Tom Swift Jr." New titles have been published again from 2019 after a gap of about ten years, roughly the time that has passed before every resumption. Most of the series emphasized Tom's inventions. The books generally describe the effects of science and technology as wholly beneficial, and the role of the inventor in society as admirable and heroic.

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References