Henry Ford And The Air Conditioner

[itku2er]

The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and

> developed the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the

> temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees. The four brothers walked into old

> man

> Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that

> four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto

> industry since the electric starter.

>

> Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and

> instead

> asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car. They persuaded him

> to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air

> conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.

>

> The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he

> offered them $3 million for the patent.

>

> The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they

> wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air- Conditioner,'

> on

> the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.

>

> Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no

> way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords. They

> haggled back and forth for about two hours and 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.

So, now you know...