James Brown F. Herreshoff (1834–1930) was an American inventor and chemist with a number of American patents[1][2] related to chemicals and filed in the 1900s and 1910s: a coil-stream boiler, keels used on racing yachts, sliding seats on rowboats, mercurial anti-fouling paint, an apparatus for measuring heat of gases.

[3][4] James Brown Herreshoff was born in Bristol, Rhode Island on March 18, 1834, into a notable American family of chemists, boat designers and inventors.

He died in Riverdale, New York on December 5, 1930.

[3] Herreshoff was the father of Charlies Frederick Herreshoff II (1876–1954), yacht designer, automotive designer, and automotive manufacturer.

By way of his mother, Julia Ann Lewis (maiden; 1811–1901), he was a grand nephew of Captain Winslow Lewis (1770–1850), sea captain, engineer, inventor, and contractor active in the construction of many American lighthouses during the first half of the nineteenth century.