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 said 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.
