Do You Know Who Invented Automotive Air Conditioning?

[scannon]

Do you know who invented the Automobile A/C?

 

 

 

 

 

It was the

 

Goldberg Brothers:

 

Here's a little factoid 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.

 

I can hear your groans from here.

[Hank]

You got me there!

[MHKflyer52]

You got me also....Lo, Norm, Hi and Max....funny....but is it true?

[scannon]

You got me also....Lo, Norm, Hi and Max....funny....but is it true?

 

Of course it is true! Don't you believe everything you see on the internet?

 

Fun facts from Wiki:

 

The Packard Motor Car Company was the first automobile manufacturer to build air conditioners into its cars, beginning in 1939.[18] These air conditioners were originally optional, and could be installed for an extra $274 (about $4,050 in 2007 dollars[update]).[19] The system took up the entire trunk space, was not very efficient, and had no thermostat or independent shut-off mechanism.[20] The option was discontinued after 1941.[21]

 

In 1954 the Nash Ambassador was the first American automobile to boast front-end, fully-integrated heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system.[22] The Nash-Kelvinator corporation used its experience in refrigeration to introduce the automobile industry's first compact and affordable, single-unit heating and air conditioning system optional for its 1954 Nash models.[23][24] This was the first system for the mass market with controls on the dash and an electric clutch.[25] Marketed under the name of "All-Weather Eye", the Nash system was "a good and remarkably inexpensive" system.[26] Entirely incorporated within the engine bay, the combined heating and cooling system had cold air for passengers enter through dash-mounted vents.[24] Nash's exclusive "remarkable advance" was not only the "sophisticated" unified system, but also its $345 price that beat all other systems.[27]

[solder_guy]

wow how things changed .. my parents bought a '69 Malibu new .. then had an aftermarket AC installed .. Dad removed it and sold it when he traded in the car years later.

 

Rob