DaveFoster
06-04-2007, 02:24 PM
Automotive History, I betcha didn’t know.
The three Goldberg brothers, Norman, Himan, and Maxwell invented and developed the first automotive air conditioner.
On July 17th 1946 the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees, the three brothers walked into old man Henry Ford’s office and sweet talked his secretary into telling him that three 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, but they refused and instead invited Henry to come down to his parking lot and meet them at their car. They persuaded him to sit in the car which was approximately 130 degrees and then they turned on the air conditioning which immediately cooled down the interior air temperature.
The old man got very excited and invited them back into his office where he offered them three million dollars for the patent. The brothers refused saying they would settle for two million but wanted the recognition by having a label “The Goldberg Air-Conditioner” on every car that it was installed on.
Now old man Ford was more than a little bit anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg’s name on two million of his automobiles. They haggled back and forth for about two hours and finally agreed on four million dollars and just their first names would be shown on the dashboard.
And so now you know why even today all Ford air conditioners show on the controls their names, “Norm, Hi, and Max”
The three Goldberg brothers, Norman, Himan, and Maxwell invented and developed the first automotive air conditioner.
On July 17th 1946 the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees, the three brothers walked into old man Henry Ford’s office and sweet talked his secretary into telling him that three 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, but they refused and instead invited Henry to come down to his parking lot and meet them at their car. They persuaded him to sit in the car which was approximately 130 degrees and then they turned on the air conditioning which immediately cooled down the interior air temperature.
The old man got very excited and invited them back into his office where he offered them three million dollars for the patent. The brothers refused saying they would settle for two million but wanted the recognition by having a label “The Goldberg Air-Conditioner” on every car that it was installed on.
Now old man Ford was more than a little bit anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg’s name on two million of his automobiles. They haggled back and forth for about two hours and finally agreed on four million dollars and just their first names would be shown on the dashboard.
And so now you know why even today all Ford air conditioners show on the controls their names, “Norm, Hi, and Max”