WEBVTT - The GE Story, Part 1 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.960 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.720 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.840 and then welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:21.840 Poulette and I'm an editor and how stuff works dot 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.800 Com sitting in a cross from me as always a 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.960 senior writer Jonathan. Everyone my age remembers where they were 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.080 and what they were doing when they first heard about 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:34.920 the contest. Oh, I know I have an idea where 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.879 that might be from excellent. Um. Actually, today we're off 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.400 to see the Wizard. Yes, well sort of the Wizard 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:46.199 of Men. Yeah, so before we before everyone gets excited, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.160 we are not doing an episode specifically about Thomas Alva Edison. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.280 In this episode We're gonna be talking about him a lot, 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.920 but this episode is really about the first of a 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.800 three part series about the company General Electric or g E. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:05.080 And why might we be mentioning uh, Mr Thomas albat Edison. Well, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.880 probably because he was one of four people that you 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:12.120 could credit the whole existence of GE. Uh, you know, 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.760 without whom g would not exist, right. Yeah. The other three, 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.839 I would argue would be Charles A. Coffin, Eli, Hugh Thompson, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.520 and Edwin Houston or Houston. I have no idea how 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:26.920 he would have pronounced his name. I've heard it both ways. 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.440 So but but Edison of clearly is the the name 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.640 that jumps out at people when you talk about General Electric. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:39.920 And it's no surprise. He was a famous inventor, UH, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.080 an engineer. He was a great businessman. He was a 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:47.280 very good showman. UH and UH and in his day 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.360 he was the equivalent to a rock star, you know. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.600 I mean the newspapers wrote about them, and people would 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.840 flock to see demonstrations the same way you might go 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:00.640 and try and get those second row seats to see 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.160 you know, a C D C. Yeah, there we go. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.560 That's that's awesome. I'm sorry, I just had to throw 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.320 that in there. I was struggling to figure out a 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.200 good band name to throw in. But a C D 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.919 C S works so well. Yeah. Yeah, Well, the reason 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.160 I wanted to uh to start with UH with Edison 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.000 specifically and Jonathan Thrt. The these uh, these four gentlemen 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.919 are crucial in understanding where ge comes from. But uh, 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:31.720 you know, in in business, the business world, when two 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.600 companies decide to merge, they will often take the name 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.760 that they think will be the most successful. And G 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:43.240 E actually the name itself derives mostly from Edison's company 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.400 that he started, Edison General Electric. And to to know 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.320 about ess in General Electric, we actually have to go 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.960 a little further back, because g traces its history back 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:57.079 to even before Edison General Electric existed. All right, so, uh, 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.640 you've got in eighteen seventies six. Okay, so Edison was 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:06.080 born in eighty seven. Uh So Esson goes in E 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.679 and moves to Menlo Park, New Jersey, which is now 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:17.359 called Edison, New Jersey. Yes, no relation, there's no muection. No, 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.520 just no, it was it was weird. I don't know. No, No, 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.440 it is of course named after Thomas Alva Edison. Um. So, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.840 in eighteen seventy six he creates and an industrial research 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.760 lab in Menlo Park. And and this was a lab 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:39.240 specifically meant to help study and and push innovation in industry, 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.520 not just not just you know, a think tank, but 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.360 they were Esson was really looking at ways to improve 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:51.200 systems and create technology that would be useful in some way. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:56.400 And and that was his focus. So that's what GE 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.480 traces its history back to, was that the formation of 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.840 that lab up in eighteen seventy six, which is kind 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.480 of funny because when you think about it, there were 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.200 other things going on at the same time. That ge 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.840 also owes its existence too, And really you could argue 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.920 since the Edison, the General Edison or the Edison General 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.159 Electric Company didn't exist yet. In fact, that wouldn't exist 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.200 until eighteen ninety. It's kind of interesting to see the 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.440 centennial trace back to um eighteen seventy six. But in 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.520 eighteen seventy eight Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company, 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.120 which was one of the many companies that would eventually 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.480 kind of meld together to become Edison General Electric. And uh, 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.800 you guys probably know or at least have heard about 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.800 Edison and his relationship with the lightbulb. He did not 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:49.240 invent the light bulb. He he created an incandescent lightbulb 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.400 that actually was useful, But there were other inventors who 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:57.640 had come up with incandescent light bulbs before Edison. It's 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.520 just that they were they would light for very brief 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.440 amount of time and then they burn out, and so 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.360 Edison was the one who actually managed to improve upon that. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.440 So we often credit him with creating the lightbulb, because 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.080 he really created the first useful one, right. And then, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.359 of course, uh, one of the things that we touched 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.400 on a moment ago about him being a shrewd business person, um, 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.680 he was good about once he had uh set out 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.880 to create this, this new lightbulb, this more effective lightbulb. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.040 He also got into the business of helping wire people's 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.440 homes because hey, I mean, let's let's look at it 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.240 from this perspective. You've got a lightbulb, but people's homes 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.560 aren't wired for electricity. So what's the point. Yes, how 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.839 many people does it take? The scruminal label doesn't matter. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.560 We don't have electricity exactly. And so there there were 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.720 a lot of um, wealthy business people who wanted electricity. 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.720 I mean, hey, this is pretty cool, um. And so 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.599 Mr Edison was in the habit of, um he really 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.839 wanted to set up an entire system and uh, you 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.239 know that's really kind of the background. But behind starting 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.960 this uh laboratory, as Jonathan likes to say, is hey, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.000 let's find ways to capitalize on this. We can we 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.280 can do this, and we can wire homes. Let's let's 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.480 what else can we do to capitalize on what we 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.279 know about electricity, and so he really got into the 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.920 business along with all the other people with whom he worked, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:27.039 of really making an electrical industry. And that's really what 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:28.840 g E is about. And he was even looking at 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.800 things like electric railways, which that that was that was 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.919 the method of transportation back at that time. You know, 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.120 if you were traveling, if you weren't traveling by rail, 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:42.680 you're traveling by horse like electric trolleys, street cars. So 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.120 that these were really important projects for him, and and 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.040 you know, to be able to develop these things, you 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.600 also had to develop the infrastructure. I mean the infrastructure 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.120 didn't exist either. So this was an enormous undertaking. And 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.000 he employed lots and lots of other folks working with him, 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:03.240 many of whom contributed UH to the innovative developments in 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:08.279 the General Electric Company, both before and after it actually 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:13.720 became GE. So nine he starts to UH to merge 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.720 these different companies that he started together and calls it 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.680 Edison General Electric. So it makes sense it's all these 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.680 different specialized companies and now it's General Yes exactly. Yeah, 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.440 because because it wouldn't make sense to call it one thing, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.400 like call it the Electric you know, the Electric Light Company, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.960 but they also work in rail. Yes, you know, that 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:37.000 just doesn't make sense unless it's light rail. But anyway, 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.960 so at the same time that this is going on, 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:45.040 there's another company called the American Electric Company. Yep. Now 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:49.760 we touched on on one of Edison's major rivalries before 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.400 on the podcast, of course, that being a Mr Tesla 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.680 who's photo is still staring a hole into the side 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.480 of your head. Yes. Yes. One of the funny things 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.680 about this studio that we record in is, I mean, 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.360 everybody on all the House stuff works dot Com podcast 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.880 records in this room. Yet we have Edison and Tesla 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.080 in here with us, and all the other famous people 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.960 photos are out out there. So yeah, anyhow, we we 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.040 touched on his relationship. We also, um, I don't recall 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.320 if we mentioned George Westinghouse in that podcast. He have 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.400 He of course was uh sort of instrumental in working 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.160 with Tesla to bring around a C when when Edison 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.720 wanted d C as the standard. But there were other 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:35.400 people who were competing with Edison for the purposes of 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.640 wiring homes and bringing electric lighting to homes and businesses. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.559 I should say, yeah, no, no, the American Electric Company 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.040 was one of those, and they were They were out 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.800 of New Britain, Connecticut, and there was a group of 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.680 investors there that was in charge of financing the company. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.120 But the company was kind of struggling, and the company 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.240 had been founded had been founded by two of those 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.000 gentlemen I had engined earlier, Elihu Thompson and Edwin Houston, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.959 both of whom were engineers Uh and Uh. Thompson was 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.160 an engineer, an inventor, and Houston was an electrical electrical engineer. 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.960 And they they had founded this company. The investors had 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:16.719 put their money into it, but they were kind of 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.760 stuck in this tiny little region. There were some other 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.640 investors who thought that the company had potential to grow 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.560 and blossom, but it needed to get out from under 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.160 the thumb of those investors, and so they called in 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.360 a fellow named Charles A. Coffin, who was a businessman. 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:34.800 He was not an engineer. He was a guy who 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:39.720 had a shoe factory um and what a very successful one. 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.440 Had become quite a wealthy man, and he was called 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.400 in to actually buy out this company from under these investors, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:51.520 and it was renamed the Thompson Houston Electric Company, and 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.400 it actually flourished. It did really well, in fact, so 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:59.040 well that it was rivaling Edison's General Electric Company, especially 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.960 in specific regions. In fact, Thompson Houston Electric, you know, 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.439 one of the city's, one of the stays we're very 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:09.400 very close to right now, was wired by Thompson Houston originally. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:17.080 Really yeah, they'd be hard Lanta, Georgia. What, yes, indeed, yeah, 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.320 it turns out that Mr Coffin was there for the undertaking. Yes, 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.120 and both talk more about Coffin as well. So well, 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.080 now I was gonna say, you remember when we talked 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:31.280 about the Colombian Exposition, the Chicago World's Fair. Uh, Thompson 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:36.120 Houston was one of the rivals to Edison for lighting 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.720 that exposition, and they you know, there was a bitter, 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.400 bitter rivalry between the two companies there for a while, 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.560 but they kissed and made up because in eighteen ninety two, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.880 so just two years after Edison General Electric was founded, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:55.160 in Edison, General Electric and Thompson Houston Electric merged and 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.839 they formed General Electric. And the very first CEO of 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.439 General Electric was Charles A. Coffin. Well, look at that, 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.040 so Edison was considered a founder of General Electric and Coffin, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.680 since he had shown a very acute sense of business acumen. 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.240 As it was an obtuse, it was acute. Uh. He 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.680 he ended up being the guy in charge and he 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.679 started to um to really take take initiative. And in 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.080 fact he had a big test early, early, early on 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.640 in the history of ge in eight so just one 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.520 year after the company had been founded, out of these 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:42.280 other two separate companies, Uh, Coffin had to guide the 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:47.640 company through what was called the Panic of eighte. Yeah, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.240 it was a it was an economic depression. So we're 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.319 just getting weird sound effects through the rest of this podcast. 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.439 It's great, it's no work at all for our producer. Hi, Annie, 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:02.680 we have a new producer today. Uh, she's stepping in capably. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.120 I might add. So in eightee, you have this economic 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.120 depression that actually was part of an economic bubble. In 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.200 this case, in e it was a railroad bubble. There 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.520 was such a run on trying to build out railroads 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.400 throughout the country that there was an overbuilding problem, and 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.120 this overbuilding problem ended up having a bubble burst and 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:28.120 then banks began to fail. So if this sounds familiar, 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.040 it's because you could say the housing bubble was very 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.920 similar to the railroad bubble, and that, in fact, we 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.000 do not learn from our own history. But that's first 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.680 stuff you missed in history class. This is tech stuff. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.199 I will concentrate on the tech anyway. Coffin ended up 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.360 making this deal with banks where they would lend loans 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.880 to g E in return for utility stock, and that 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.000 actually kept the company going during this depression and they 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.440 were able to ride it out and as a result, 0:12:55.520 --> 0:13:01.000 they're still around today. So in eighteen five ge builds 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:07.520 the world's largest electric locomotive, wow, ninety ton electric locomotive, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:12.000 and also builds transformers capable of moving this electric locomotive 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.400 because without it, now you just have this enormous thing 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.440 that sits there, just like the light bulb in the 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.080 house that has no electricity. Uh. The transformers, which were 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.400 not Optimist Prime nor Megatron. We're talking about the transformers 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:29.120 that are able to change electric current from one voltage 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.160 to another effectively could handle up to eight kilowatts. And UH. 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.800 Also that year in something else happened that would become 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:43.360 an important part of GEES history. It was not directly 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.599 involving g at this point, but there was a scientist 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:53.520 named Vilhelm Conrad Rutgen. Yes, he discovered something. He discovered 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.360 X rays. Yeah, you know, I've I've heard about this guy, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.720 and uh I see right through him. Yeah, totally transparent. Actually, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.280 uh Renchen's work played a big part in GE. I mean, 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.360 he's he's his work, UH will come up many times 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.080 over the course of the next three podcasts two and 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.320 a half podcast I should say, because GE one of 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:22.880 gs major um industries that it's involved in is medical equipment, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.920 especially medical imaging, but but medical equipment in general. And 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.360 in fact that that first instance happened the next year, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.120 in so just one year after X rays had been 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:41.000 first demonstrated to exist, Ali Hu Thompson created electrical equipment 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.800 that was capable of producing X rays, which that that 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:50.080 actually launched gees foray into medical imaging equipment. That was 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.040 the same year the GE got listed on the Dow 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:59.560 in eight So yeah, they're UM, they're already making headway 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.720 into to the industries that they would become known for 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.960 further on in their in their history. And one of 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.240 the really good things if you can, if you're a 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.680 business person, if you can find an industry that is 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.280 uh getting started and jump in with both feet, like 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.960 like these people did, um, you can make us pretty 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.840 big um impact on the industry. And that's exactly what 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.000 what G was doing at this point, because they were 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.880 founding whole industries. Really, when you get down to it, 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.440 I mean, the medical imaging field really didn't exist as 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.080 we know it today. And of course now we know 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.960 so much more about these things, but GE was certainly 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.440 a leader in that department. Yeah, and if you've listened 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.280 to our other podcasts about companies, you've heard sort of 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.600 similar stories, things like Texas Instruments being really into the 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.440 whole the solid state electronics. I mean, uh, there are 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.120 certain companies that really shaped the way these technologies developed. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.760 It's not just that they were innovators, but they actually 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.360 because they got in so really they almost dictated to 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.560 the rest of the world how these technologies would take form. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.520 And uh and occasionally you'll see a company really depart 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.480 from that and make something pretty cool, but more often 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.080 than not, you find out that the form that was 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.240 settled on by the company that founded it is the 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:22.680 one that's the most stable. So yeah, G was doing 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.000 some some really important work here, and in nineteen hundred 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.320 they registered the trademark for the GE monogram. Yeah, that's 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:35.160 the logo. Yeah. Um. And and this is not especially 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.640 significant in a way, but in another it is because 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.680 they're still using that exact same logo. They have established 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.640 themselves as a leading brand and they are. You know, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.720 it's it's a name known worldwide, and brand recognition is 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.840 a tricky thing, right, you don't want to mess with 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.240 it too much. And so GE has done a good 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.120 job at preserving that the monogram itself has changed slightly. 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:59.160 Sometimes the color scheme changes a little bit, sometimes the 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.680 the the lines are adjusted a little bit, but in 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.600 general it's the same monogram as was trademarked back in 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.000 And also in nineteen hundred, they established a research and 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.360 development lab and uh, this was this is the one 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.399 that most people say is the first lab in the 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.240 United States that was dedicated just to scientific research. That's 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.080 all it was meant for. Yeah, they realized that if 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.639 if they could come up with a lab, a lab. 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.040 So now you're doing that. That's why I that's why 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:29.720 I'm shortening it to lab. Now you don't hear me 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.520 saying laboratory, Yes, that's true. Um, Yeah, the reason they 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.399 wanted to start a lab was, uh, you know, you 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:40.119 might think it's counterproductive. Well, if they're not necessarily working 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:44.000 on uh ge stuff, how are they making money from this? Well, 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.359 they figured out that. Um, if they're working on uh, 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.240 you know, in a in a general direction towards something 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.360 that they want to accomplish that uh, they will make 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:58.040 discoveries that they can use and capitalize on later. Um. 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.600 And uh you know that's actually pretty common in the 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.680 podcast that we've talked about that other companies have followed 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.880 ges lead in this regard and has paid off for them. Yeah, 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.800 I mean look at look at Google, and it's twenty 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.280 percent time. Now. You could also argue that a lot 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.520 of the Google projects that came out of time ultimately 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.440 kind of didn't go anywhere. But the point is is 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.560 that a lot of innovation that eventually finds its way 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.480 into Google products and services comes out of that twenty 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.680 percent time. It may not be its own individual thing. 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.840 Like you might not point out a specific product and 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.920 say this is the result of twenty time from Google, 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.560 but you might see a feature that's in another product 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.639 and say, actually that that grew out of other project 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.040 that it wouldn't exist without it. So yeah, that's really 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:49.200 gees recognition that the innovation is going to play a 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.560 major role in an industry. And and of course this 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.879 is an era in the United States history where industry 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.719 and innovation were paramount in in people's minds. I mean, 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.159 it was one of those things that was just uh 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.679 stressed by by the news and just the development of 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:13.520 the industrial age overall. So it was an exciting time. Yeah, 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.080 in the United States. Right around the same time, you've 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.879 got the physicists who are making incredible discoveries. I mean, 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:25.359 this is an era of discovery that is is hard 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.480 to it's hard to exaggerate, you know, because it was 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:30.520 so amazingly important. It's like right up there with the 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:35.879 Renaissance as far as uh, as as discoveries and and 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:40.040 uh and the advancement of thought goes. Yeah, oh, by 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.960 the way that that lab, that lab was in Schenectady, 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.040 New York. Yeah, I keep on saying just New York. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.760 If I ever say just New York, it's chances are 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.600 M saying s connected e, which I can't say. I 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.639 just like saying Schenectady. Actually, that's going to come up 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:57.520 a lot too, which is why I'm just going to 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.280 say New York. And then Chris can pop in with 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.159 the actual town name, because I want to embarrass myself 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.000 as as as a few times as possible in this podcast. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.160 You could say an area just northwest of Albany. There 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.159 we go, just northwest of Albany. Is the place in 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.800 New York? All right? In nineteen o two, a fellow 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:20.359 names James J. Wood received a patent for an invention 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.720 that GE ended up turning into a product. Do you 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.520 know what I'm talking about? That would be the electric fan? Yes, indeed, 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.680 something that is incredibly important down here in the South. 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:36.120 Also incredibly important for those of you who have computers, Yes, 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.320 or at least a lot of computers, which require a 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.639 very small electric fan to keep the processors from overheating 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.560 and your computer from shutting down. Yes, we can thank 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:50.800 James Wood for that. Not James Woods, different guy. I mean, 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:52.760 he's awesome and everything, and you could go up and 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:54.959 thank him for the electric fan and he might even 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.240 say you're welcome, But that's not the right guy. That 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.760 was actually done for the Fort Wayne Electric Works. There's 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.600 a really cool well to me, it was really cool, 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.120 uh photo of this on the GE website because it's got, 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.000 you know, the big f W E W thing right 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.080 in the hub in the center of the fans. So 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.440 it's it's um, very um turn of the century looking. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.800 it's pretty cool stuff. In n three, they created the 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.479 world's largest steam turbine engine at that point. It was 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.159 capable of generating five thousand kilowatts. They went to the 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.040 Fisk Street station in Chicago, UM, and that was this 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:37.400 is one of those things that Edison and his company beforehand, 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:42.040 we're doing. They were working on ways to electrify parts 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:45.480 of the city. So they were very big into creating 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:49.359 these stations that could be placed in local areas to 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.280 provide electricity to uh, you know, different parts of the town. 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:58.800 And um, how many people was it? It was? Uh, 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:01.840 well it was it? Well, yeah, you said that you 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:06.000 were talking about the killer watts, used less space and 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:10.280 came in um under budget, and was more efficient than 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.399 they expected it would be. Yeah, they thought that it 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:14.199 was going to be. I think it was something like 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:17.040 four times larger than what it actually was. So it 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:20.959 was it really spoke to the the skills of the 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.080 engineers and the designers behind it, who were able to 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:28.760 create a much more efficient system than they had originally imagined. Well, 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.119 considering that we were talking about at the beginning of 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:33.879 the podcast how this all started. This whole venture was 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:38.480 started in the mid eighteen seventies, and we're talking about 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.600 thirty years later and they're already making these these huge advances. 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.160 It just you know, and they really moved quickly. Speaking 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.680 of huge advances, in nineteen o five, the Model D 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.600 twelve hits the scene and changes the world. It was 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:59.000 the greatest thing since sliced bread. Yes, the electric toaster. 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:01.679 There's another really cool picture of the toaster because it 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.160 has no side. Yeah. I just sit there and look 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:06.520 at them like that just looks like potential second degree 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:09.600 burn written all over it. Yes, keep the cat off 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.800 the counter, Yeah, keep keep everything off again. Put the 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.240 electric toaster in the backyard. Yeah. Imagine if you will, 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:20.840 the the traditional style vertical toaster where you dropped the 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:23.879 bread inside the toaster and everything with the slots. But 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.480 the thing is, yeah, and remove the casing so it's 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:29.880 basically just the metal framework. And I'm sure it worked great. 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:33.880 But yeah, but here again g is coming up with 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.240 ways to monetize electricity. So hey, it's something else you 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:39.040 can put in your home along with your fan and 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:41.280 your light bulb. Yeah, that's right, that's right. That's another 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.200 thing is that you know, G had a vested interest 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.720 in making sure that there were lots of products that 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:50.040 ran on electricity so that you would want it. Uh. 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.320 They also in nine to know five they established the 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.920 Electric Bond and Share Company, which was designed to provide 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.240 financing too smaller companies out there that would so in 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:02.280