The Joke |
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Automotive History. The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97°. The Goldbergs 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. Old Henry, reputed to have been a bit anti-Semitic, was reluctant 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. Thus, all Ford air conditioners showed, "Lo, Norm, Hi, and
Max" on the controls. |
