Ivan, this is the Goldberg joke.
The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Maxwell, invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946 , the temperature in Detroit was 40C degrees.
The brothers walked into Henry Ford's office telling they had the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.
Henry was curious so they asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car where the inside temp was over 70C degrees, they turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car down almost immediately.
Henry got very excited and offered them $3 million for the patent. The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.
No way was Ford going to put the Goldberg's name on millions of his cars. After much haggling they finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.
And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show -- Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max -- on the controls.
No comments:
Post a Comment