1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 3 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: job in Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and I am currently 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: vacationing in sunny Orlando, Florida. Hopefully it's sunny when I'm 6 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 1: down there. And yeah, we're going to continue our look 7 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: back on General Electric a k A. G E. So 8 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: yesterday we replayed an episode called the Founding of GE. 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,279 Speaker 1: Today we are going to the second part. This one 10 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: is called g E Through World War Two. Then it 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: originally published on September four, two thousand nineteen. Enjoy. In 12 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: our last episode, I was talking about General Electric, and 13 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: I was really focusing on the origin of the company 14 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: and its first two decades of its existence. And over 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: the next few episodes, we're going to start picking up 16 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: the pace a bit and exploring the full history of 17 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: the company and why. In recent months, that is, as 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: of August twenty nineteen, some analysts have expressed concern for 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 1: the integrity of the company. This is not a new development. Actually, 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 1: GE has had some struggles over the last decade or so, 21 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: but we haven't gotten there yet. We're still pretty early 22 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: on in its history, and there's a lot I could 23 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: talk about, including advances in some of the basic technology 24 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: that GE was built off of. For example, in nineteen 25 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: of physicists and chemist named Irving Langmuir proved that by 26 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: filling lightbulbs within inert gas like are Gone, it would 27 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: not only extend the useful life of the tungusten filaments 28 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: inside the lightbulb that's the part that actually lights up 29 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 1: in a light bulb, but it would also for the 30 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: the inside of the light bulb from turning black as 31 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: it got an internal coding of what's essentially soot from 32 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: the tungsten. Langmuir would make numerous contributions to science and 33 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: would ultimately receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in nineteen 34 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: thirty two, though that wasn't for light bulbs anyway. Another 35 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: thing that happened in ninet was that Charles Coffin, who 36 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,839 Speaker 1: had been president of the company, would become General Electrics 37 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: first chairman of the board of directors. Edwin Wilbur Rice, 38 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: who had studied under Alahu Thompson at Central High School 39 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia and who had worked for General Electrics since 40 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: the very beginning of the company became the new president 41 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: of GE. Rice had more than a hundred patents to 42 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: his name and had a strong hand in guiding how 43 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: General Electrics manufacturing facilities operated. He was one of the 44 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: founders for gees Research Laboratory. Not a bad pick for 45 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: president of the company, someone who could wreck the operational aspects. 46 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: Under Rice, General Electric continued to expand its business and 47 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: it acquired other companies as well as experiencing growth on 48 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: its own. In nineteen eighteen, for example, GE acquired the 49 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: Pacific Electric Heating Company and the Hues Electric Heating Company, 50 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: so GE then formed a new division within the company 51 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: itself called Edison Electric Appliance Company. Around that same time, 52 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: GE also acquired the Trumbull Electric Company, which created and 53 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: supplied parts related to the electric utility industry such as switchboards. 54 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: So really still investing in that world, and to be fair, 55 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: electricity and infrastructure was still very slowly rolling out across 56 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: the United States, and GE had a very large hand 57 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: in that. In nineteen nineteen, General Electric became one of 58 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: the founding companies to create the Radio Corporation of America 59 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: or our c A, and I covered this in the 60 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: episodes I did about our CIA. So the super short 61 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: version of this is that leading up to World War One, 62 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: the United States military pretty much commondered the radio communications 63 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: industry in the US. Now, at that time, radio stations 64 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: weren't broadcasting entertainment and news and sound over to radios. 65 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: There were no consumer radios. This was really all about 66 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: sending wireless telegrams, so most transmissions were just limited to 67 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: Morse code. Now, there were a few early radio broadcast 68 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 1: pioneers around this time as well, but it was very limited. Now. 69 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: The problem was, at least from the US military perspective, 70 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: that many of these communications stations, these radio transmitters were 71 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: actually owned and operated by companies that were from outside 72 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: the United States, and the First World War was driving 73 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: home how important it was to have a secure communications 74 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: network within your own borders. So the US military, namely 75 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: the the U. S. Navy, ultimately rested control of those 76 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: transmission stations away from foreign companies and then used them 77 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: for wartime communications for official military communications. But once the 78 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: war was over, the government needed to figure out what 79 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: to do with all these transmission stations, So rather than 80 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: operate them as government owned entities, the government reached out 81 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: to several companies US companies, including General Electric and also Westinghouse, A, 82 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: T and T, and the United Fruit Company. Yeah, I'll 83 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: have to do an episode about the United Fruit Company 84 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: at some point. It's a pretty interesting and controversial story. Anyway. 85 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: It was this group that would form our c A, 86 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: with each group partner in the group holding a certain 87 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: percentage of the ownership up of our ci A. General 88 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: Electric held the majority. Steak didn't hold a fifty steak. 89 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: It was more like, but it held more interest in 90 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: our Cier than any other party did. In I saw, 91 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: we saw something pretty darn cool. Well I didn't, I 92 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 1: wasn't born yet, but the world in general saw something 93 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: pretty cool. In built a supercharger for an airplane. So 94 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: there was an engineer named Sanford Moss who came up 95 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: with this idea. He had this hypothesis that fuel would 96 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: burn better in a chamber with compressed air. It would 97 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: actually produce more energy, would be a greater energy output 98 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: with compressed air inside the chamber. And it turned out 99 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: that this hypothesis was correct, and so using that knowledge, 100 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: he designed what was called a supercharger to produce a 101 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: lot more power in an engine. Now, a plane with 102 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: one of those superchargers would set an altitude record at 103 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: the time, and it reached a new altitude of forty thousand, 104 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: eight hundred feet or about twelve thousand four dreds. Obviously, 105 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: we've left that way behind now, but at the time 106 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: that was a significant achievement. In nineteen twenty two, g 107 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: S own radio station in Schenectady, New York with the 108 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: identity of w g Y would go on the air. 109 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: The station had a fifteen hundred what transmitter. Now today 110 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: that station is owned by the company I work for 111 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: my Heart Media. Fun little fact, though. It has also 112 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: changed a bit since nineteen twenty two. For example, the 113 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: transmitter today is at fifty thousand watts, so that's a 114 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: big change, and the wattage pretty much determines how far 115 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: the transmissions can go. It gets a little more complicated 116 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: than that, but that's a general rule of thumb. Also, 117 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty two, Rice would step down as president 118 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: of the company and a guy named Gerald Swope became 119 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: the new president of GE and pushed the company to 120 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: produce more consumer appliances. So this is really the era 121 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: where g E started to seriously get into the consumer 122 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: appliance manufacturing business, stuff like refrigerators and electric stoves. So 123 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: while GE had made a few consumer products over the 124 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: previous twenty years, it hadn't really seriously delved into that market. 125 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: And then in the nineteen twenties that all changed. GE 126 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 1: branded appliances became more and more common. So who was 127 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: this Swope fellow? Well, unlike Rice, he wasn't at General 128 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: Electric at the very start of the company, and technically 129 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: Rice was actually in the precursor company. He had worked 130 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: for the Thompson Houston Electric company that preceded General Electric. 131 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: But Swope wasn't like that. Nope, Swope was a newcomer. 132 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: He originally joined g E in eight three, one whole 133 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: year after the company was founded. Johnny come lately, Okay, 134 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: I'm being a bit cheeky. Swope had joined the company 135 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: as a helper while he was still in school. It's 136 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: sort of like a gopher, someone who did whatever it 137 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: was that needed doing at any given time. His starting 138 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: salary back then was an entire dollar a day of 139 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,439 Speaker 1: princely some presumably he was making a bit more than 140 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: that by the time he took on the role of 141 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,719 Speaker 1: company president in nineteen twenty two, and I don't mean 142 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: to suggest his employment and GE was unbroken from eighteen 143 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: ninety three to nineteen twenty two. That was not the case. 144 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: He left GE, he was attending m I T. He 145 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: graduated from m I T with a degree in electrical engineering, 146 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: and then he took on a job for Western Electric, 147 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: which is a company that's even older than GE. Swope 148 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: had also served on the United States War Department General 149 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,080 Speaker 1: Staff during World War One. He aided in the procurement 150 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: and supply operations for the army. Charles Coffin brought Swope 151 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: back over to the fold at G in nineteen nineteen. 152 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: Now as the president of GE, Swope would do more 153 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,439 Speaker 1: than just push the company into manufacturing more consumer appliances. 154 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: He was also concerned about employee benefits. Under his leadership, 155 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: General Electric began to implement employee benefit programs such as 156 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: voluntary unemployment insurance, profit sharing programs, and a cost of 157 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: living wage adjustment program. Swope would serve as the president 158 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: of the company twice in fact, and his first run 159 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: that would stretch from nineteen twenty two to nineteen forty, 160 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: meaning that Swope also led the company as the entire 161 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: world went through the Great Depression, a challenging time for everybody. 162 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: And just to stick with this for a second, I 163 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: should explain who Swope's successor was and why Swope would 164 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 1: return to serve as president a second time, because generally 165 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: when you hear that someone left as president and then 166 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: had to come back as president, it sounds like something 167 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: really wrong happened in the interim. That's not exactly the case. 168 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 1: So in nineteen forty, Gerard Swope retired and Charles E. Wilson, 169 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: who had first started working for ge UH specifically a 170 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: g E subsidiary, when he was twelve years old, and 171 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: had been with a company pretty much ever since. He 172 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: actually completed his education by taking night courses. Wilson was 173 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: promoted to president in nineteen forty and he led the 174 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: company for about two and a half years, but then 175 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: a different president called on him. That president was Franklin 176 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: Delano Roosevelt, who wanted Wilson to join the War Production 177 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: Board as vice chairman. The United States had entered World 178 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: War Two in December of nineteen forty one, and there 179 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: was a pressing need to devote manufacturing capabilities towards producing 180 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: equipment and weapons for American soldiers. Wilson responded to the 181 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: request and he left General Electric, so Gerard Swope came 182 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 1: out of retirement and once again led the company until 183 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five and World War Two's end. At that point, 184 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: Wilson returned to GE and resumed his role as president 185 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,439 Speaker 1: of the company for another five years. Now, the reason 186 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: I decided to follow that particular trail and kind of 187 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: move away from the timeline for a second was again 188 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: to illustrate how important General Electrics business had become. It 189 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,959 Speaker 1: was integral to the modernization of the United States, and 190 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:33,119 Speaker 1: gees manufacturing facilities were formidable both for their industrial businesses 191 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,840 Speaker 1: and consumer appliance businesses. No wonder the President looked to 192 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: GE for help in manufacturing and acquisitions for wartime production. Okay, 193 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: so let's get back to the timeline and learn what 194 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: GE was doing during all those years. One note I 195 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: saw pop up on several sites was that in nineteen 196 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: twenty four, g E opted to exit the utilities business 197 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: because of antitrust concerns from the U. S. Government. But 198 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,559 Speaker 1: despite my certain change, I couldn't find any other information 199 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:07,319 Speaker 1: on that, and I just saw essentially the same timeline 200 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: popping up on multiple websites. So that suggested to me 201 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: that they were all pulling from a single common source. Now, 202 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: this does not mean that the information is wrong. It 203 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: might be right, and I just wasn't able to find 204 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: corroborating evidence of it. But because I couldn't find any 205 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: confirmation outside that list, I got a little leery of it. 206 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: So I'm including this whole story in this podcast simply 207 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: to point out that it can be important to look 208 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: for those corroborating sources that really indicate that you're looking 209 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: at true information and you're not just looking at somebody's 210 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: list that is unsupported and other people have just copied 211 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: that exact, exact same list and put it up on 212 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: their own websites. That does happen. It happens a lot, 213 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: So you'll actually find a lot of plagiarism out there 214 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: on the Internet. You'll be looking at us source for information. 215 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:03,439 Speaker 1: You'll be reading up on a paragraph and you think, 216 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: all right, that's interesting, let's see if I can find 217 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: any more data about this, and you'll do a search 218 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: and a different website will pop up. You start reading 219 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: that and you think, well, this sounds really familiar, and 220 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: if you put the side by side, you realize this 221 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: is exact exactly the same language, and there's no indication that, uh, 222 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: that it was done on the up and up. Now, 223 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: occasionally someone will write a piece and it will all 224 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: be agreed upon that that piece will be distributed to 225 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: different outlets. But a lot of times people are just 226 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: taking whatever they think is cool or interesting or will 227 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:40,400 Speaker 1: drive traffic, and they'll just put it up on their 228 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: site without asking. That's not cool. Anyway, back to GE, 229 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: there were a couple of big important events that definitely 230 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: happened in nineteen twenty four. Um, whether GE got the 231 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: utilities business because of antitrust issues, I can't speak to 232 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: because I couldn't find anything about it. But stuff that 233 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: got started or happened in nineteen why for, there were 234 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: some important things. One of those was a lawsuit that 235 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: would go all the way up to the Supreme Court. Now, 236 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: let me explain. In the United States, GE held the 237 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: patents for pretty much all the basic components for the 238 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: light bulb. That is, they had a patent on the 239 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: tungsten filament in the gas filled bulb and all this 240 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: other stuff. Westinghouse had entered into a licensing agreement with 241 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: GE so that Westinghouse could produce and more importantly, sell 242 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: light bulbs. In return, GE said that Westinghouse would have 243 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: to set its prices for light bulbs according to g 244 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: e s direction, and that it would have to follow 245 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: certain quotas. In other words, g was using its power 246 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: to say, you can sell lightbulbs based on our designs, 247 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: but they have to be at this price, and you 248 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,160 Speaker 1: can't make more than x number of them because that 249 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 1: would eat into our own profits. And GE said, we 250 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: can change our our price at any time for any reason. 251 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: And that's really the issue that went to court. Now, 252 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: what the courts would all likely find, and the Supreme 253 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: Court decision would come down in nine six, is that 254 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: typically if you license out a patent, if you've invented 255 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: something and you've got the patent for your invention and 256 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: someone asks to license your invention, typically you cannot dictate 257 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: a price for a product made from your patented invention. However, 258 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: in this case, GE had not just licensed out the 259 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: right to manufacture light bulbs and had also licensed out 260 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: the right to sell light bulbs, and that meant GE 261 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: could determine other things like the selling price of the 262 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: light bulb. At least, this is what the court found 263 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: and This is one of the more controversial business related 264 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: decisions made by the Supreme Court. It's been challenged several 265 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: times and upheld a few times, sometimes with just a 266 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: split court decision like split right down the middle. It 267 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: means that you could potentially patent and invention and then 268 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: not only licensed it out to other entities, but you 269 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: can dictate at what price those entities could sell your invention. 270 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: So you could in theory produce your own products and 271 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: sell them for a lower cost than your competitors could 272 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: because of your demands, and thus you are undercutting them 273 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: while you're simultaneously licensing your invention to them. It's pretty 274 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: cut throat stuff. Now, there are limitations on this. The 275 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: Supreme Court essentially said patent holders can only do this 276 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,439 Speaker 1: if they themselves are also manufacturing the product. So you 277 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: couldn't just come up with a cool invention, get it patented, 278 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 1: and then just sit on that patent and wait for 279 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: people to license your ideas and then tell them how 280 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,199 Speaker 1: much they have to sell the product for. That's off limits. 281 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: You have to actually be actively using that patent yourself, 282 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: so patent trolls would not be able to do this. 283 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 1: But again it shows how gees business would end up 284 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,439 Speaker 1: shaping the world around it. I've got a lot more 285 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,640 Speaker 1: to say about General Electric, but before I get to that, 286 00:17:50,720 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Early or I alluded to 287 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:03,199 Speaker 1: the fact that a couple of big things happened in 288 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 1: nineteen four and they both had to do with lightbulbs. 289 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: And that's ironic because this next big thing was really shady. 290 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,880 Speaker 1: Executives from g E attended a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. 291 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: That meeting was also attended by representatives of companies like 292 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,199 Speaker 1: Phillips and the company de Lump and Oserum. All of 293 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 1: these are light bulb manufacturers, or were at the time. 294 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: They signed a document that was titled Convention for the 295 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: Development and Progress of the International Incandescent Electric Lamp Industry. 296 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: But the agreement has a more sinister nickname, the Phoebus Cartel. Now, 297 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: Phoebus is another name for Apollo, the god of the Sun, 298 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,639 Speaker 1: So that's fun. But what this group was doing was 299 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: working out a global agreement about the manufacture and sale 300 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: and design of light bulbs, and that agreement divided up 301 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 1: the world into read's assigned to the various members of 302 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,920 Speaker 1: the cartel. Each member would have its own region to 303 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: lord over, and it would have a quota that it 304 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: was supposed to stay below in order to meet manufacturing 305 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: needs and to meet the needs of all the members 306 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,160 Speaker 1: at the cartel. But more than that, the group actually 307 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: determined that the useful life of a light bulb should 308 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: be one thousand hours. They were collectively agreeing to limit 309 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: a lightbulb's lifespan. And this is called planned obsolescence, and 310 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: it's a pretty shifty way to ensure continued success. Essentially, 311 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: it's when a company builds a product that is only 312 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: supposed to last a certain amount of time, and it 313 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: comes along with the expectation that the customer who buys 314 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: your product is going to go out and buy a 315 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: new version of the thing that just broke. So these 316 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: companies could make better light bulbs. In fact, they had 317 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: already done that. The average light bulb lifespan in n 318 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: was already twenty five hundred hours, so two point five 319 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:09,199 Speaker 1: times as long. Now they were going to work to 320 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: reduce that lifespan in order to dram up more business. 321 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: Lightbulbs burned out faster, people have to go back and 322 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: buy more lightbulbs. It was making their own business by 323 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,359 Speaker 1: making the products worse in a way, and because it 324 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: would be an agreement across multiple companies around the globe, 325 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:32,640 Speaker 1: there'd be nowhere else to go. Insert maniacal laugh here. Interestingly, 326 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:37,919 Speaker 1: though GE was crucial to forming this cartel, it was 327 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: part of the meeting that created it. GE itself was 328 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: not a member of the cartel. It did, however, own 329 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: interests in nearly all of the companies that were members 330 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: of the cartel, and it did have one subsidiary, a 331 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: British subsidiary called International General Electric that was part of 332 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,040 Speaker 1: the cartel, but the overall company was not cut and 333 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: He's in the cartel had to send light bulbs to 334 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: a testing facility in Switzerland to make certain they were 335 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: manufacturing bulbs with the right lifespan. And like I said, 336 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: they were given those strict quotas. If you sold more 337 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: than your quota allowed, you would get fined. You would 338 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 1: also get fined if the light bulbs you made didn't 339 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:23,359 Speaker 1: last long enough, or worse, lasted too long. This really 340 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: did happen, and the plan was for the agreement to 341 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: last until nineteen fifty five, so it was a thirty 342 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: year agreement. The only reason that didn't actually happen was 343 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,640 Speaker 1: because of a little thing called World War Two. But yeah, 344 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 1: that's a heck of a thing to learn about. And 345 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: g E engineers really did work on ways to decrease 346 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: the useful life of light bulbs for various products, including flashlights. 347 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,479 Speaker 1: They were saying, well, you know, flashlight flash bulbs, they 348 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 1: last three hole changes of batteries. Right now, let's reduce that. 349 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: They got it down so that the light bulbs would 350 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: only last two whole sets of batteries, and then eventually 351 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: got to a point where the lightbulbs lifespan was about 352 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,360 Speaker 1: the same length as the useful lifespan of a set 353 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: of batteries. That's the way progress works, I guess anyway. Uh, 354 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,919 Speaker 1: it's a it's a heck of a thing to read about, 355 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: and it it does kind of stink, But I get 356 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: it from a sales perspective. I mean, if Willie Wonka 357 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: had actually made an everlasting gob stopper, he'd only have 358 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: to sell one to each kid, and then he would 359 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: have innovated himself out of business. He would never sell anymore. 360 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: Why would he? Everyone already has one and it never 361 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,640 Speaker 1: gets smaller. That that's that's inventing yourself out of business. 362 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: But still, there's something particularly sinister about a company or 363 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: group of companies that agree to build into their products 364 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: the intent for those products to stop working after a 365 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: certain amount of time, forcing people to go and buy 366 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: a new one. It's not super cool. On a less 367 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: conspiratorial note, in nineteen twenty seven, g E was one 368 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: of a few companies to demonstrate a live TV broadcast. 369 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,119 Speaker 1: Now earlier in nineteen a T and T had to 370 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,000 Speaker 1: demonstrated a long distance broadcast of its own. GEES claim 371 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: is that their demonstration was the first to broadcast to 372 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: a television in an actual home, as opposed to a 373 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: demonstration theater or a showroom. The broadcast came from GES 374 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: radio station w g Y, and the TV was in 375 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: a home located in Schenectady, New York, and GEES headquarters. 376 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: The television was not an electric electronic television that had 377 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: just recently been pioneered by Filo Farnsworth that same year. 378 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 1: This was actually a mechanical television, meaning there were actual 379 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: moving parts inside the television. But I've talked about that 380 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,199 Speaker 1: in several earlier episodes of Tech Stuff, so I'm just 381 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: gonna move along here. In nineteen twenty eight, the Radio 382 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: Corporation of America, in which I remember g E OH 383 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: owned a large steak created the NBC networks. Now technically 384 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: they were two networks of affiliates, so you had two 385 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: NBC networks. There was NBC Red and NBC Blue, so 386 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: you could say GE had partial ownership of NBC at 387 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: this time, though that wouldn't last for very long for 388 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 1: the time being. That's because in nineteen thirty, the US 389 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 1: government began to investigate GE, Westinghouse and our CIA for 390 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: monopolistic practices. The antitrust investigation was followed by formal charges 391 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,160 Speaker 1: and a long period of negotiation, and ultimately the parties 392 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: agreed to our c A becoming its own incorporated company 393 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: and the various partners, including GE, would divest themselves of 394 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: their shares in our CIA. In addition, g E and 395 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: Westinghouse had to agree to stay out of the radio 396 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: broadcast business for two and a half years in order 397 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: to give our CIA a chance to stand on its own. 398 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: And boy how they did it ever, But that's covered 399 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: in other episodes I did not too long ago. We'll 400 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: get back to both NBC and r c A later 401 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: on in this series. For now, let's talk about plastic. 402 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 1: Plastic was something that had been around for a while. 403 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:19,480 Speaker 1: Synthetic plastic was a relatively new idea. There are natural plastics, 404 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: but those are limited because it's hard to get to 405 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: them and you have to do some processing. It's not 406 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:30,120 Speaker 1: very efficient. So synthetic plastics was something that people really 407 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: wanted to be able to develop because plastic is incredibly 408 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: useful stuff, but you have to have a more efficient 409 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: way to make it. That had been experimented with as 410 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,199 Speaker 1: early as the mid nineteenth century, but the first fully 411 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: synthetic plastic was developed in nineteen o seven. It was 412 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: called bake Light by the way, and companies since then 413 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: had been working to try and find cheaper, more efficient 414 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: ways to produce synthetic plastic because it could be put 415 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: to so many applications. G E was one of those companies, 416 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: and throughout the nineteen thirties and into the nineteen forties, 417 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: g E engineers worked on lots of different experiments to 418 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: develop synthetic plastic. It was around this time that James Wright, 419 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: an engineer for GE, who was trying to make synthetic rubber, 420 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: ended up developing silly putty. So you may remember that 421 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: from a recent tech stuff episode. Corning would end up 422 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: beating GE to the punch as far as the development 423 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: of silicone goes. The two companies were in fierce competition 424 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: to try and develop it first, and Corning came out ahead, 425 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 1: but GE was able to create a more efficient manufacturing 426 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: process and ended up being extremely successful in the market 427 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: as a result. So Corning developed it and GE figured 428 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: out how to make it more efficiently. G E introduced 429 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:55,280 Speaker 1: the first electric household food waste disposer called the disposal. 430 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: This is a garbage disposal which mounts beneath the drain 431 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,399 Speaker 1: on a sink, and the idea is that there's a 432 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: spinning disk or impeller plate under the drain which has 433 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: some protrusions on it, and turning on the disposal activates 434 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: an electric motor that then spins the plate rapidly and 435 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: the spinning pulverizes the food or whatever else is down 436 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: the disposal and turns into a slurry. They can get 437 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: washed down the holes on the outer edge of the 438 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: disposal and then down into the pipe system of your house. 439 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 1: And it also would create an effective means of creeping 440 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: out audiences and horror movies because we all know what 441 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: happens when a character is at a garbage disposal. Something important, 442 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,080 Speaker 1: usually a ring is gonna fall down there, and then 443 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: they're gonna put their hand down the drain, even as 444 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: we all scream, don't put your hand down there. Anyway, 445 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: the disposal went on sale in n I should also 446 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,560 Speaker 1: mention that ge E did not invent the garbage disposal. 447 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: That honor goes to John Ham's. Not Jon Hamm, who's 448 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: a great actor, but John Hamm's. He invented the device 449 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: in nine seven and filed a patent for it, though 450 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: as far as I can tell, he wasn't able to 451 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 1: go to market with a device until after ge had 452 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:18,640 Speaker 1: already introduced the disposal. Also in n G E provided 453 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,679 Speaker 1: the lamps for the first Major League Baseball night game, 454 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: which took place in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cincinnati Reds played 455 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies and they won two to one. Night 456 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 1: games actually were really important. They helped transform the sport 457 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: of baseball. It meant that folks who worked during the 458 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: day could still have the opportunity to watch a game 459 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: live in the evening, and it boosted crowd attendance and 460 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: gave a healthy dose of umph to the sport, and 461 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 1: of course other sports would follow suit. Throughout the nineteen thirties, 462 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: the company continued to work on multiple industries. G E 463 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: introduced more consumer products for the average joe, and the 464 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: company also worked on high tech components for airplane and 465 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: car engines for a more let's say, elite clientele. Howard 466 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: Hughes himself used a g E supercharger in nineteen thirty 467 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: seven to set a transcontinental air record. He flew across 468 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,959 Speaker 1: the United States in seven hours, twenty eight minutes, and 469 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: twenty five seconds. In nineteen thirty eight, the labs at 470 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: GE managed to reinvent the company wheel, by which I 471 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: mean the light bulb. The invention was a fluorescent lamp, 472 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: which works a different way from incandescent lamps. And incandescent 473 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: lamp creates light by using electricity to heat up a 474 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,960 Speaker 1: filament until it gives off light when it incandesses, and 475 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: that's the basic premise behind all incandescent lights, but a 476 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,720 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamp is different. The idea for fluorescent lamps was 477 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: actually a few decades old, but the challenge was to 478 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: create one that was practical from both a use case scenario, 479 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: as in the is giving off enough light for me 480 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: to do stuff. And also from a manufacturing standpoint, dozens 481 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: of people worked on solving these problems, and a lot 482 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: of people made various contributions, so there's not one single 483 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: person I can point to as being the inventor of 484 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: the fluorescent lamp, which is a bit of a relief 485 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: since it means I don't have to explain that so 486 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: and so invented this and then walk it back and say, okay, well, 487 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,719 Speaker 1: actually it's way more complicated than that. I'll explain how 488 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamps work when we come back from this short break. Okay, 489 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: so fluorescent lamps. There's actually a few different types of 490 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamps, but I'm going to focus on hot cathode 491 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 1: lamps because that was sort of the earliest ones that 492 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,239 Speaker 1: were able to be manufactured for the mass market. And 493 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: typically the lamp is a long glass tube, and inside 494 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: of this long glass tube there is a coating of 495 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: fluorescent powder on the inside surface of the tube, and 496 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: also inside the tube is low pressure are gone gas 497 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: and there's also a little bit of liquid mercury in there. Um. 498 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: This is why handling fluorescent lamps is a bit dangerous. Well, 499 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons. Another is that they're tubes 500 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: made of glass, so breaking one not only releases a 501 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: small amount of toxic chemical to the environment and also 502 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: can cut you up pretty badly. Now, a hot cathode 503 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamp has two electrodes on either end of the tube, 504 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: so you have one on one end one on the 505 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: other end. Both of these electrodes are cathodes, meaning they 506 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: both contribute electrons into the tube, though they do this 507 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: one at a time. It's another example of thermionic emission, 508 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,719 Speaker 1: like with a vacuum tube where you heat up a 509 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: filament and it starts to give off electrons. A pulse 510 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,360 Speaker 1: of voltage creates an arc between the cathodes, starting from 511 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: one cathode and traveling to the other, and alternating current 512 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: makes the arc go one way, then it goes the 513 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: opposite way many times a second. A C works better 514 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: for fluorescent lamps than d C direct current because it 515 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 1: means one electrode will act as a cathode and then 516 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 1: the other electrode will act as the cathode, and they'll 517 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: switch back and forth, and that creates a more even 518 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: lighting within the lamp. If there was one side that 519 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: was just always the cathode, that side would be much 520 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 1: brighter than the other side. That's what you would get 521 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: with direct current. So that's why fluorescent lamps work best 522 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: with a C electricity rather than d C. Now, getting 523 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: the arc started can be a bit of a challenge, 524 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: especially with those early bulbs. That requires a spike of 525 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: high voltage, and you can think of voltage kind of 526 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: light pressure. So in a hydraulic system, In a water 527 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: based system like pipes, it's the more pressure you put 528 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: behind the water, forcing water through the pipe system faster. 529 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: With a fluorescent lamp, the higher voltage forces a current 530 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: to flow from the cathote across to the other electrode, 531 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: but the gas inside the tube actually resists this, and 532 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 1: the colder the gas is, the more it resists the current. 533 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: So it might take a few false starts to get 534 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: that that arc actually going, and there are a couple 535 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: of different ways of doing that, including like preheating the gas. 536 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: These are all things that would be built into the 537 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,360 Speaker 1: lamps themselves. It's not something that you would have to 538 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: do in addition to that, but that whole discussion deserves 539 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: its own podcast. So the arc will vaporize the mercury. 540 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: That's inside the tube, turning that liquid mercury into a gas, 541 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: and as the arc passes through this vaporized mercury, it 542 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: gives off ultra violet light. But hey, I hear you 543 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: say ultra violet light is outside the visible spectrum for 544 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: we puny humans. Ha ha ha, puny humans. I say 545 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,600 Speaker 1: that is true, And that's where the fluorescent powder coding 546 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: the inside of the tube comes into play. Stuff like 547 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,320 Speaker 1: phosphor will give off light or fluoresce, or if you 548 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: really want to make it easy to understand, you could 549 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: just say glow when exposed to certain types of energy, 550 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,359 Speaker 1: such as ultra violet light. So the light given off 551 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: by the vaporized mercury is invisible to we puny humans, 552 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,760 Speaker 1: but the light given off by the fluorescing phosphor isn't. 553 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: And that's how fluorescent lamps generate light. G E engineers 554 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 1: figured out how to make the fluorescent light bulb in 555 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,760 Speaker 1: a way that was efficient and suitable for actual applications 556 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,919 Speaker 1: as opposed to interesting lab experiments, and the fluorescent lamp 557 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,239 Speaker 1: had some distinct advantages and a few disadvantages compared to 558 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: incandescent lamps. For one, it was more energy efficient, it 559 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: required less energy to generate and equi volent amount of light. 560 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: So we measure the amount of light given off by 561 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: stuff in units called lumens, and we measure electricity and watt's. 562 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: The typical incandescent light bulb produces sixteen lumens per what 563 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,879 Speaker 1: of electricity. A fluorescent lightbulb might produce between fifty two 564 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: one hundred lumens per what. So, in other words, you 565 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,319 Speaker 1: don't have to use nearly as much electricity to get 566 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: an equivalent amount of light out of a fluorescent lamp. 567 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: That's oversimplifying, but it gets the point across, which means 568 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: you save money in the long run by using these 569 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent ones. Fluorescent bulbs also last longer, 570 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: usually ten to twenty times longer than incandescent bulbs. Granted, 571 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: I also just talked about how companies were actively working 572 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: to limit the useful life of light bulbs, so part 573 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: of the fluorescent bulb advantage was really because companies were 574 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: purposefully planning out the obsolescence of the incandescent bulbs. So yikes. 575 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: Fluorescent lamps also generate less heat than incandescent lamps do, 576 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,319 Speaker 1: so that was another area where they were superior and 577 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,800 Speaker 1: they diffuse light very well, but they also had disadvantages. 578 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,720 Speaker 1: One was the environmental hazard I talked about. There's stuff 579 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:22,359 Speaker 1: in fluorescent bulbs, namely the mercury that you don't want 580 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: getting out into the general environment. They are also more 581 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: expensive than incandescent bulbs, and they can't without special adjustments, 582 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,800 Speaker 1: be used with any sort of dimmer switch. They also 583 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,279 Speaker 1: flicker slightly, usually too fast for most of us to 584 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,320 Speaker 1: pick up, but it can drive some people a little bonkers, 585 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,600 Speaker 1: like if it's slowing down a bit, Because as bulbs 586 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,640 Speaker 1: get closer to the end of their lives, they can 587 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:51,239 Speaker 1: flicker more noticeably. It can cause discomfort for people who 588 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: have epilepsy can it can trigger epileptic episodes. So there 589 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,279 Speaker 1: are some other dangers with this stuff. And maybe you 590 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:04,800 Speaker 1: end up being affected psychologically by the way these lights 591 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 1: give off light. You could end up like Joe and 592 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,080 Speaker 1: Joe versus the volcano, and you might believe that you've 593 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: got a brain cloud. But seriously, there are folks who 594 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 1: just swear by the fact that fluorescent lights generate a 595 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: light that is unpleasant to them, and they much preferred 596 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: the warmer light from an incandescent bulb. In nineteen thirty nine, 597 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: a remarkable woman named Catherine Burr joined the GE Research Laboratory. 598 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: She was the first woman to be part of the 599 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: Ge Research labl and she developed a non reflective glass. 600 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: It was nicknamed Invisible Glass. The glass would become the 601 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,720 Speaker 1: basis for all sorts of applications, such as for camera 602 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,879 Speaker 1: lenses and for telescopes, you know, stuff where you want 603 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 1: to minimize or eliminate reflection as much as you possibly can. 604 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: So hats off to you, miss Burr. That was pretty incredible. 605 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty, g E began to relay t V 606 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,200 Speaker 1: broadcasts from New York City to its television station w 607 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 1: r g B, which was in Schenectady, New York, and 608 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 1: this would set the path for the development of television 609 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: networks TV stations that would end up carrying the broadcast 610 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: of neighboring stations, and this would follow the path that 611 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 1: was pioneered by radio networks like NBC. Now, by this time, 612 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,320 Speaker 1: much of the world was already involved in World War Two, 613 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 1: and as it became more apparent that the US would 614 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 1: likely become involved as well, the government and particularly the military, 615 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: began to seek out innovation from American companies to augment 616 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:43,160 Speaker 1: the military capabilities of the United States. GE would work 617 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,360 Speaker 1: on many of those projects, including the design and production 618 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: of the first jet engine in the United States, called 619 00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: the I A. Now I should stress that this was 620 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,440 Speaker 1: not the first jet engine in the world. Other countries 621 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: had already produced jet engines, but it would be the 622 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,920 Speaker 1: first one designed and produced in the United States. It 623 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,880 Speaker 1: was largely based off the design of a British jet 624 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:13,040 Speaker 1: engine called the Power Jets W DOT two B. The 625 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,440 Speaker 1: I A was essentially a prototype jet engine, the result 626 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: of about a year of r and D and production. 627 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: It would lead to a production model called the General 628 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:26,400 Speaker 1: Electric J thirty one. This would become the first mass 629 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,839 Speaker 1: manufactured jet engine in the United States, and it would 630 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,799 Speaker 1: be used in aircraft like the Ryan F R Fireball 631 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: and the Bell P fifty nine era comment. The US 632 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,960 Speaker 1: officially joined the jet age in nineteen forty three. General 633 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,840 Speaker 1: Electric also introduced an early form of autopilot, a system 634 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: designed to keep an aircraft on a specific course. I've 635 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 1: done a few episodes mentioning how these systems work. I 636 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,799 Speaker 1: might need to do an update on that, but in 637 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three it was a pretty rudimentary system designed 638 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: to hold a steady course and make minor adjustments. Also 639 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three, General Electric formed another division within 640 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,280 Speaker 1: the company called GE Capital, which is a financial services 641 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:15,800 Speaker 1: company within General Electric. It was sort of evolved from 642 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:20,759 Speaker 1: an earlier division called the General Electric Contracts Corporation. That 643 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 1: one formed in nineteen thirty two as a way to 644 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:27,680 Speaker 1: help customers purchase GE products through various finance plans, because 645 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,439 Speaker 1: that was around the time of the Great Depression, so 646 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:34,399 Speaker 1: people who wanted appliances couldn't really afford to buy them 647 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:38,000 Speaker 1: out right, So GE formed this as a way to 648 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,799 Speaker 1: help customers pay for stuff and still be able to 649 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:45,799 Speaker 1: sell consumer goods to people. GE Capital pretty much picked 650 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: up where the Contracts Company had left off, but it 651 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 1: would become a truly enormous company in its own right 652 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,399 Speaker 1: Later on, when I get to more recent years, we'll 653 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: talk about how it was one of the major bits 654 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:03,360 Speaker 1: of the company spun off when GE encountered major financial difficulties, 655 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,520 Speaker 1: But just as a sneak peak. At its height, this 656 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:11,600 Speaker 1: company by itself, the the G E Capital Company, had 657 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:17,240 Speaker 1: assets exceeding six hundred thirty seven billion dollars. So yeah, 658 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: big business in n General Electric demonstrated the first commercial 659 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,760 Speaker 1: use of radar technology that had been developed in Europe 660 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,040 Speaker 1: and which was of considerable importance in wartime. G E 661 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,279 Speaker 1: used radar to show how it could help vehicles, even 662 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:37,720 Speaker 1: non military ones, navigate through darkness, and in nineteen forty 663 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,080 Speaker 1: six the company would design and produce the world's most 664 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,840 Speaker 1: popular jet engine. It was called the J forty seven, 665 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,440 Speaker 1: capable of providing up to five thousand pounds of thrust 666 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 1: per engine. The company and others licensed to produce the 667 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: J forty seven would build more than thirty thousand of 668 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,120 Speaker 1: the things over the following decades, and this engine was 669 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,920 Speaker 1: used in lots of for an aircraft, including the Boeing 670 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: B forty seven strato Jet, the Martin x B fifty one, 671 00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:10,360 Speaker 1: the Conveyor B thirty six Peacemaker, and the Republic X 672 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:15,200 Speaker 1: F nine one thunder Scepter, in addition to many others. 673 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,239 Speaker 1: And if I ever get fired from tech stuff, I 674 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: want to get a job naming jets, because that seems 675 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,919 Speaker 1: like it's a pretty cool gig. In nineteen forty nine, 676 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: the U S Courts ruled on a case that had 677 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: been working its way through the system for the better 678 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:30,800 Speaker 1: part of a decade, and it all had to do 679 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,279 Speaker 1: with patents about light bulbs and lamps. The argument was 680 00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,880 Speaker 1: essentially that through the control of patents, GE was restricting 681 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:44,399 Speaker 1: competition and practicing monopolistic company policies, which was a big 682 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,720 Speaker 1: no no and in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. 683 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,840 Speaker 1: The court decision stated that g E had made numerous 684 00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:56,960 Speaker 1: undeniable contributions to the advancements of technology in general and 685 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,479 Speaker 1: the light bulb in particular, but it had also used 686 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:05,360 Speaker 1: its leverage to quote insulate itself from competition end quote. 687 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,320 Speaker 1: The finding sited numerous smaller companies that had been in 688 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,120 Speaker 1: the lamp manufacturing business but had either gone out of 689 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: business or were entirely beholden to General Electric as licensees 690 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: of the company's patents, and the ruling essentially stated that 691 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,600 Speaker 1: all those patents on lamp and lamp parts should be 692 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: quote dedicated to the public end quote, and so General 693 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 1: Electric was compelled to release its patents on those particular technologies. 694 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,960 Speaker 1: Um the company certainly had performed in ways that gave 695 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: it all the advantages, which again from the perspective of 696 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,400 Speaker 1: a company, seems like a no brainer. You want to 697 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: give yourself every chance of success, but from an external 698 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 1: perspective that it looked like Ge was a big bully, 699 00:43:55,160 --> 00:44:03,839 Speaker 1: and so that was how this decision came down. Text 700 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,279 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 701 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,080 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 702 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.