The Goldberg Brothers - The Inventors of the Automobile Air
Conditioner
Here's a little fact for automotive buffs or just to dazzle your
friends.
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. Have a look....it's true! LOL Sam
Conditioner
Here's a little fact for automotive buffs or just to dazzle your
friends.
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. Have a look....it's true! LOL Sam
