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Thanks to Sammie for this one!
The four
Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Maximillian, 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.
I can hear your groans from here. Control
yourself !!!