Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With
Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone,
Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette
Speaker 1: and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: Sitting acrush from me is he always does when we
Speaker 1: record podcast, because hey, what else are we gonna do?
Speaker 1: That would be senior writer Jonathan Strickland. There was a
Speaker 1: boy called Eustace Clarence Scrub and he almost deserved it.
Speaker 1: All right, then, welcome to part two of our g
Speaker 1: e extravvagance. If you're just joining us, Uh? Five or
Speaker 1: no sorry? Four people founded ge and based on on
Speaker 1: a merger between two companies, Yes, Edison General Electric and
Speaker 1: Thomason Houston Electric. Yes, and you know those three guys
Speaker 1: plus a guy named Charles Coffin who was a business
Speaker 1: person who brought the companies together in a merger. And um,
Speaker 1: they went from a brand new field, um, you know,
Speaker 1: wiring homes for electricity lighting homes. Uh and and really
Speaker 1: uh decided to create a company that could make things
Speaker 1: that could use electricity and would sell equipment to generate electricity.
Speaker 1: UM and really uh turned into a a eight hundred
Speaker 1: pound guerrilla as they say in marketing speak of the
Speaker 1: electric world. And we got all the way up to
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one in GES history. That was the year
Speaker 1: that Thomas Alva Edison died. So we pick up in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two when GE formed the GE Credit Corporation,
Speaker 1: which was to help finance sales of products to families.
Speaker 1: And that reason for this is, uh, GE had already
Speaker 1: weathered one major economic depression, but now the country was
Speaker 1: still reeling from the Great Depression, which was not that great. No,
Speaker 1: it was huge, but it wasn't great now now and uh.
Speaker 1: And in the last podcast several years earlier, we talked
Speaker 1: about well several years earlier in the g E timeline right, Um,
Speaker 1: we we talked about how GE had started helping companies,
Speaker 1: financing companies that were starting out, um and basically to
Speaker 1: help them get off the ground and hopefully use electricity
Speaker 1: and buy stuff from them. UM. So this is this
Speaker 1: is GE getting into a different segment of the financial market. UM.
Speaker 1: Which again, if you're if you're looking at it on paper,
Speaker 1: you may say, why would they get into financing, Well,
Speaker 1: they're they're working in their own business interests as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're financing the sale of their products to people,
Speaker 1: so you know, there's there's definitely self interest in there.
Speaker 1: But it also was very helpful to families who needed
Speaker 1: to have these these sort of appliances in order to, uh,
Speaker 1: to have an efficient and cost effective home. So it was,
Speaker 1: you know, a mutually beneficial sort of thing. It's not
Speaker 1: we don't want to say that it was completely altruistic,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, we don't want to say
Speaker 1: it was some sort of how can we get those
Speaker 1: last few pennies out from their clutches. It wasn't either
Speaker 1: of those things. No, no, no, no no. UM and UH.
Speaker 1: Also in the last podcast, we discussed how GE had
Speaker 1: started very early on for the company, really one of
Speaker 1: the very first research and development labs UM for corporations,
Speaker 1: because they realized that if they could come up with
Speaker 1: more cool scientific breakthroughs UM. Again this this is sort
Speaker 1: of in that same bucket that they could, uh, they
Speaker 1: could come up with things that would help people and
Speaker 1: that they could monetize and add value to the company.
Speaker 1: And UH one of the first things that they could
Speaker 1: really brag about UM not that they couldn't some of
Speaker 1: the others, but one of the scientists won a Nobel
Speaker 1: Prize in that year as well, Irving Langmuir won a
Speaker 1: Nobel Prize for his work in surface chemistry, and that
Speaker 1: was the very first United States industrial scientists to win
Speaker 1: a Nobel Prize. So that's a that's a big bragging
Speaker 1: point for g. E. H. Skipping ahead a couple of
Speaker 1: years produces the first electric food waste disposal unit, the Disposal. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was creatively named the Disposal. Uh yeah, so this
Speaker 1: is um I personally love this kind of invention. It's
Speaker 1: a fantastic invention. I have a have an electric food
Speaker 1: waste disposal unit in my house and uh, very useful
Speaker 1: because I don't have to make a compost heap in
Speaker 1: my house. I don't live in San Francisco. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so this was this was definitely one of those inventions
Speaker 1: introduced to try and make the whole home life more
Speaker 1: simple and clean and efficient, which was kind of like geez,
Speaker 1: thing like that was that was there. That was their
Speaker 1: space was that we're going to make your life easier
Speaker 1: and here's how through electricity. They also had the very
Speaker 1: first night baseball game played in the United States thanks
Speaker 1: to some lights provided by ge Yes Crossley Field. Yes
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, Cincinnati Reds versus the Phillies and who won.
Speaker 1: The Reds beat the Phillies two to one. Thank you
Speaker 1: awesome take that Phillies. As a Braves fan, I can't
Speaker 1: say that enough that from two to one and nine.
Speaker 1: My wife's from Philadelphia. Yeah, these were the Nova Lux lamps. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Chicago was skeptical of these. I'm I'm kidding Chicago.
Speaker 1: The Cubs were skeptical of these lamps up until I
Speaker 1: don't know, just a few years ago. Now I'm I'm teasing. Um. Oh,
Speaker 1: I like how we've something become a baseball podcast. No, uh,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just find it kind of interesting that
Speaker 1: they were so successful that they took off. And uh,
Speaker 1: the if you're not a baseball fan, if you live
Speaker 1: in a different part of the world where baseball is
Speaker 1: sort of a curiosity rather than a national pastime. Um,
Speaker 1: the Chicago Cubs are a team that has been around
Speaker 1: for a very very long time, and they didn't uh
Speaker 1: set up electric lights in their ballpark until, um, just
Speaker 1: a few years ago at the time we're recording this.
Speaker 1: And I have absolutely no problems with that. I'm just teasing.
Speaker 1: I actually kind of like the Cubs. Yeah. Everyone everyone
Speaker 1: loves an underdog, right So anyway, oh the poor cubs.
Speaker 1: A nineteen thirty six, that's when ge starts a small
Speaker 1: appliances division essentially, I mean they really get into creating
Speaker 1: small appliances for the home. So again, if you remember
Speaker 1: from our last podcast, I talked about how the president
Speaker 1: and CEO during this time really wanted to focus on
Speaker 1: targeting the consumer, the average consumer as a customer for
Speaker 1: GE because a lot of Gees customers were big companies,
Speaker 1: not consumers. Um. This was a continuation of that, and
Speaker 1: they started to make stuff like juicers, roasters, mixers, countertop cookers,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, you mean, like the juice so
Speaker 1: Matt juicer and the Olive Carte table cooker like if
Speaker 1: you need to eat a whole table, I'm gonna say,
Speaker 1: if you need to cook your table yep. And the
Speaker 1: Dorchester coffee maker. Yes, um, actually this is this is
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. We talked about in the HP series
Speaker 1: of podcasts. Um they Hewlett Packard over its history, which
Speaker 1: is quite a bit shorter than g ees. UM got
Speaker 1: into a number of fields and then later divested themselves
Speaker 1: of it UM. As we look at GE, note that
Speaker 1: they get into a wide range of different UM businesses,
Speaker 1: but they pretty much are working in the same fields
Speaker 1: that either they created or UM augmented in such a
Speaker 1: significant way that they are a big part of them.
Speaker 1: And really they didn't let go of a whole lot
Speaker 1: of this stuff. They continue to be involved in in
Speaker 1: these So there's a there's a few that they did
Speaker 1: divest themselves and sometimes not choice. Well, that's true. Our
Speaker 1: c A was taken from them, and it's states who
Speaker 1: gave it to them in the first place. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that was the last podcast. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: go off on that again, but yes, that's true. GE
Speaker 1: was more known for developing these different technologies, getting involved
Speaker 1: in it and staying with it UM. They were very
Speaker 1: careful too about what they got into. Like you know,
Speaker 1: there was there was a stressed innovation, but they weren't
Speaker 1: so much about innovation that they were going to go
Speaker 1: and embrace something that was unproven. Right there that have
Speaker 1: done that, right, yeah, I mean in the last podcast
Speaker 1: I talked talked about Google. You could argue that Google
Speaker 1: has done that as well, where they've embraced stuff that
Speaker 1: wasn't quite proven and not fully baked, maybe and it
Speaker 1: just didn't work out, maybe for one reason or another.
Speaker 1: Who each one is is fairly complex. But GE was
Speaker 1: pretty good about identifying innovative designs that would be sustainable.
Speaker 1: So that's part of the reason for the company's success.
Speaker 1: But in UH, the final of the four founders passes away,
Speaker 1: Ali who Thompson he actually passed away if you had
Speaker 1: listened to our last podcast. The other three founders had
Speaker 1: had passed away before this. So now the four guys
Speaker 1: who had built the two companies that eventually became General
Speaker 1: Electric are no more. They have shuffled off the mortal coil. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and UH we were talking about the different tabletop appliances
Speaker 1: or kitchen appliances. This is again the uh diversity of GE.
Speaker 1: We talked about a guy in the last podcast named
Speaker 1: Sanford Moss who at sixteen figured out that if you
Speaker 1: burn fuel in a compressed air environment, you could really
Speaker 1: put out some energy compared to a typical engine. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's called the supercharger. If you're familiar with these types
Speaker 1: of things, well, Howard Hughes, you know the Billy jillionaire
Speaker 1: with the boxes on his feet set a transcontinental air record.
Speaker 1: You know, if you know you're familiar with Mr Hughes,
Speaker 1: you know that he was very much into aviation. He
Speaker 1: made it across the country in seven hours, twenty eight minutes,
Speaker 1: twenty five seconds using that supercharger technology of Gees. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have so many jokes I want to tell, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to I'm going to abstain. Okay, So in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, ge invinced the fluorescent lamp. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: were kind enough to wait until Mr Edison passed before
Speaker 1: they invented the fluorescent lamp. Yeah, because of course Edison
Speaker 1: is famous for his work in the incandescent lamp, as
Speaker 1: well as other multiple inventions. How be fitting there. Anyway,
Speaker 1: it's a very tiny spaces. We have another joke that
Speaker 1: I can't tell. Anyway. The fluorescent lamp, of course, was
Speaker 1: a new development. And yeah, yeah, you would think for
Speaker 1: a company that was that was so centered around incandescent
Speaker 1: lighting for it to develop fluorescent lighting. That's that's interesting. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's not the first time, I mean sorry, it's
Speaker 1: not the last time ge will work on a completely
Speaker 1: different lighting technology. So they really weren't married to it.
Speaker 1: It was more of a joke that I made, but
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I mean that was that significant really when
Speaker 1: you think about it. They made a significant enough of
Speaker 1: provement in an incandescent light bulb that they were able
Speaker 1: to really make a business out of it, and now
Speaker 1: they are innovating by creating the fluorescent lamp well and
Speaker 1: and again it's something that sets ge apart because you've
Speaker 1: got companies that will try their hardest to ignore or
Speaker 1: or dismiss technologies that would significantly impact their business model
Speaker 1: by by changing whatever it was they were making. So
Speaker 1: if you've got a company that's making a product and
Speaker 1: a new way of making a new kind of product
Speaker 1: that competes directly with the old one and is in
Speaker 1: many ways superior to the old one, oftentimes that first
Speaker 1: company is going to resist it. In this case, we
Speaker 1: have a company that's actually innovating in that space because well,
Speaker 1: multiple reasons, one of the one of them being that
Speaker 1: I assume that the people in charge of g E
Speaker 1: knew that you can't just innovate and then rest on
Speaker 1: that you have to keep pushing in order and keep
Speaker 1: changing and keep keep growing in order to stay liable
Speaker 1: as a company. Yeah, and that's I mean, I'm assuming
Speaker 1: that I've never I haven't read any of these these
Speaker 1: men's works directly, so I can't say for sure, but
Speaker 1: based upon the way the company has grown over the years,
Speaker 1: I think it's a fairly safe assumption. Corporate body language,
Speaker 1: you might say. Uh. Catherine Burr Blodget, Yes, the first
Speaker 1: female scientist at GES Research Laboratory. Hey you said laboratory.
Speaker 1: I know I had to think about it too. Um
Speaker 1: she made this is. I love what they call it
Speaker 1: because it sounds so uh well, duh. Invisible glass. That's
Speaker 1: what Wonder Woman's jet is made. But no, we're talking
Speaker 1: about glass that doesn't reflect. It's got a coding on
Speaker 1: it that prevent prevents the glass from being reflective, and
Speaker 1: that's very useful in a number of different technologies and
Speaker 1: and basically it was the forerunner of a lot of
Speaker 1: the glasses used in different applications today. Things like cameras
Speaker 1: may be useful for a camera lens, also optical lenses
Speaker 1: in general anti reflective coatings. If you have a smartphone,
Speaker 1: you probably have a very tiny bit of that glass
Speaker 1: or something very much like it. Um and another chemistry
Speaker 1: in ninety silicone. They got into silicone, well actually invented
Speaker 1: it really, and it's used in all kinds of things, uh,
Speaker 1: insulating electronics, it's excellent for that, baking now they use
Speaker 1: it for that, now, industrial sealants, aquariums, um, lots of
Speaker 1: different applications and and and great for advertising what uh
Speaker 1: causes you believe in on your wrist if you're so inclined,
Speaker 1: although that's sort of passed out of fashion here. Yes.
Speaker 1: So also in nineteen forty they created a television station
Speaker 1: called w r g B in a little town of
Speaker 1: New York called and it was the first television network,
Speaker 1: or grew into the first television network. It was kind
Speaker 1: of funny to call it that. Um, you might not
Speaker 1: necessarily think about it, but remember when we talked about
Speaker 1: uh computer networks, we said that basically a computer standing
Speaker 1: on on its own is not a network. But if
Speaker 1: you put, you know, connect another net computer to it,
Speaker 1: you've created a network. Well, yes, this was a network
Speaker 1: of two. W r g B was simultaneously broadcasting the
Speaker 1: same signal that the New York City TV station was
Speaker 1: and so in in doing that, they created their first network.
Speaker 1: Pretty cool and U r g B also I think
Speaker 1: that's kind of funny, red, green, and blue being the
Speaker 1: colors that you see on a computer screen or TV screen.
Speaker 1: Of course that's pre color TV. I know that's that's
Speaker 1: the ironic party. So in nineteen forty also, that's when
Speaker 1: Gerard Swope and Charles E. Wilson stepped down for the
Speaker 1: first time. Because this gets complicated and I'll explain why.
Speaker 1: So they stepped down in nineteen forty and UH from
Speaker 1: being president and CEO respectively, and then UH, Charles E.
Speaker 1: Wilson becomes the president. By the way, Charles E. Wilson,
Speaker 1: there are two Charles E. Wilson's that are important during
Speaker 1: this particular era. One of those, Charles E. Wilson's, is
Speaker 1: the CEO of General Motors. The other, Charles E. Wilson,
Speaker 1: became the president of of G UH. And you can
Speaker 1: change tell them apart because the one at at General
Speaker 1: Motors was known as Engine Charlie. The one of g
Speaker 1: was known as Electric Charlie. That's kind of funny. I'm
Speaker 1: not even making that up. Also, when you think about
Speaker 1: a General Motors in General Electric, they're both major generals,
Speaker 1: that's true, the very model of a modern major general. UH.
Speaker 1: And then oh, and d Young, you know, he stepped
Speaker 1: down as well, and Philip D. Reid took his place.
Speaker 1: Now that happens in nineteen forty I'm gonna go ahead
Speaker 1: and explain what happens over the next few years, because
Speaker 1: it's gonna get confusing otherwise. So nineteen forty you have
Speaker 1: this regime change. Essentially. In nineteen forty two, Uh, both UH,
Speaker 1: Charlie Wilson and Philip Read leave GE and and Owen
Speaker 1: Young and Gerard Swope stepped back into their roles as
Speaker 1: UH CEO and president respectively. Wait what Now, Here's what happened.
Speaker 1: So in nineteen forty two, there was a little event
Speaker 1: going on in nineteen forty two, and had started a
Speaker 1: few years earlier, and it was really in full swing
Speaker 1: by forty two, which is World War two. The jitterbug. Uh,
Speaker 1: world War two. We're gonna stick with that. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: world War two was in full swing. Not actuee what
Speaker 1: you're doing for there with the jitterbug. Now, in nineteen
Speaker 1: forty two, UH and both Read and Wilson left GE
Speaker 1: to go serve on the United States War Production Board.
Speaker 1: So they left, they left the company to serve with
Speaker 1: the United States government. On this board and they were
Speaker 1: there for three years. So in nineteen forty five, when
Speaker 1: the war came to an end, Swope and Young step
Speaker 1: down again and Wilson and Reid took their place again
Speaker 1: as the the CEO and president of the company or
Speaker 1: president CEO, I should say, because Wilson was the president.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's this weird little moment in GEES history
Speaker 1: where the outgoing president and CEO were replaced, then they
Speaker 1: came back in to replace the incoming president and CEO,
Speaker 1: and then they left for the incoming president and CEO,
Speaker 1: who were coming back again a few years later. But
Speaker 1: all had to do with World War two. Confused, You
Speaker 1: won't be after this episode of tech stuff. Actually, that's
Speaker 1: never true. So and so that's that. That's the whole
Speaker 1: confusing little moment in GEES executive history. Moving on though,
Speaker 1: So in ninety one, transportation strikes again. Well there's yeah,
Speaker 1: g E built the I A, which is the very
Speaker 1: first United States jet engine i A. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three ge developed something autopilot. Ah, why
Speaker 1: you skip nineteen forty two, which surprised me. Oh, well,
Speaker 1: what was the world world first turboprop? Oh? Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: by designed by Sir Frank Whittle. Yeah, I did skip that.
Speaker 1: You're right because the Bell xpfte era comet used two
Speaker 1: of those engines to be the first American jet ino um,
Speaker 1: which they then put on automatic pilot and it crashed
Speaker 1: into a barn. No I'm kidding. Yeah. The autopilot, of
Speaker 1: course is setting, which allows a aircraft to continue on
Speaker 1: a set course without adjustments. So very helpful, uh feature
Speaker 1: there that g E developed. Uh. And in ninety five
Speaker 1: they demonstrated the first commercial, non military use of radar,
Speaker 1: which they used to help vessels navigate through dark conditions
Speaker 1: so that they wouldn't bump into stuff as long as
Speaker 1: it's not farther than twenty miles away. And also in
Speaker 1: forty five, that's when we now have Wilson and Read
Speaker 1: in places executive leaders for GE. They've they've actually come
Speaker 1: back from the war effort and now they are there
Speaker 1: to stay for the rest of their tenure. Uti you
Speaker 1: have the J forty seven, which became the most produced
Speaker 1: jet engine in history, uh, five thousand pound thrust um production.
Speaker 1: So you know, powerful engine there. And also that ye're
Speaker 1: a GE scientist named Vincent Schaefer developed an interesting technique
Speaker 1: for areas that are suffering from drought. Yes, cloud seeding. Yes,
Speaker 1: he was the one who figured out that by seeding clouds,
Speaker 1: by putting in tiny particles and clouds for water droplets
Speaker 1: to form around, you could make rain. Oh I thought
Speaker 1: you could grow sunflowers and clouds. No. No, you must
Speaker 1: be playing a super advanced version of plants versus zombies
Speaker 1: sky sky plants versus sky plants versus zombies. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that that was another interesting development. Forty seven uh G
Speaker 1: produces the first two door refrigerator which has a separate
Speaker 1: door for the freezer. Yes, before they had developed the
Speaker 1: first hermetically sealed refrigerator, which was a nice invention, this
Speaker 1: is an improvement on that technology. He had seven point
Speaker 1: five cubic feet. Uh, not big by today's standards, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's pretty significant at the time. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: also the fact that it had a separate door for
Speaker 1: the freezer meant that you didn't have to worry about
Speaker 1: defrosting the refrigerator all the time because it had its
Speaker 1: own separate compartment. Yes. Yeah, and it's important to note
Speaker 1: to um uh and I this just occurred to me.
Speaker 1: This is not something that I found through research. But
Speaker 1: we're talking about right after World War Two, which in
Speaker 1: America was a time of enormous prosperity. He had a
Speaker 1: whole lot of people coming back from the war that
Speaker 1: the American UH manufacturing machine was completely geared up. Um.
Speaker 1: The Americans produced UH, if you'll pardon the pun, UH
Speaker 1: really don't intend it to be boatloads and boatloads of
Speaker 1: all kinds of weaponry. Uh. There were huge advancements in technology,
Speaker 1: not just from GE, but from other corporations in the
Speaker 1: United States, and so as the UH the men came
Speaker 1: home from Europe and the Pacific theaters, UM, they found
Speaker 1: themselves in an opportunity to do to get more stuff
Speaker 1: than they had ever had before, all sorts of new things. UM.
Speaker 1: So this, these bursts in technology came at a perfect time.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure, again this is not based on my reading.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that in no small part this caused GE
Speaker 1: to grow significantly because they had invested in all these
Speaker 1: different areas, especially home appliances, small appliances. UM. I'm sure
Speaker 1: they made uh tons and tons of cash simply through
Speaker 1: being having it available at the right time, geared up
Speaker 1: in the right a. Um. So this this was a
Speaker 1: huge time for them. So in introducing U two door
Speaker 1: refrigerator freezer that was brand new and that would be
Speaker 1: something that people are gonna want in their homes. They
Speaker 1: also introduced now this was for commercial restaurants, not for homes,
Speaker 1: but they introduced an electronic oven that was it was
Speaker 1: programmable in a sense and actually made an entire industry possible,
Speaker 1: something that maybe we shouldn't thank ge for the fast
Speaker 1: food industry. Yeah, they made custom matching gear all sorts
Speaker 1: of different appliances that you would find in a fast
Speaker 1: food restaurant, uh, for different types of cooking, toasters and
Speaker 1: fryers and all sorts of other stuff. Um and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the fast food and industry really took off
Speaker 1: after the war was over as well. Um, So you
Speaker 1: could gear up your stuff and have it looked sweet,
Speaker 1: you know, have it all behind the counter where everybody
Speaker 1: could see it. It looked nice. Um. That was that
Speaker 1: you know. It added to the the atmosphere in a
Speaker 1: fast food restaurant. Yeah, in nineteen fifty Wilson, as it is,
Speaker 1: I was supposed to say, I don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of atmosphere. Most the fast food restaurants have been in
Speaker 1: in nineteen But if you you went out, you know,
Speaker 1: for a date or something like that, it would you know,
Speaker 1: I'm learning a lot about Chris on this podcast. In
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty, Charles Wilson steps a complicated guy. Charles Wilson
Speaker 1: stepped down as the president in nineteen fifty and Ralph J.
Speaker 1: Cordner became the new president of ge UH and in
Speaker 1: fifty one they developed the company developed the J seven
Speaker 1: nine military jet engine and very popular military jetting. I
Speaker 1: like the story that that was on the g S
Speaker 1: website about how when the engineers were testing the engine,
Speaker 1: they thought that their instruments must have been broken because
Speaker 1: the efficiency levels were way higher than they expected them
Speaker 1: to be. Like, that's not gonna work this this this
Speaker 1: meter is broken. Go give me a new one. Uh.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty two, I think the gate is broken. Yeah, sir, sir,
Speaker 1: you've switched off your targeting COMPU or nineteen fifty two,
Speaker 1: they built an appliance park facility in Kentucky, which is
Speaker 1: great if you need to park your appliances. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: this is this was a company or a part of
Speaker 1: the company that was specifically dedicated to designing and producing
Speaker 1: appliances for the home, and my notes are way off today.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty three, they developed the Lexan polycarbonate resin
Speaker 1: oh Man Daniel W. Fox trying to come up with
Speaker 1: a better how how many times have we mentioned this scenario?
Speaker 1: Trying to come up with a better wire enamel comes
Speaker 1: up with alexan, which, if you know what alexan is,
Speaker 1: is a very hard, transparent plastic um which can be
Speaker 1: used in all sorts of things. This is another area
Speaker 1: that GE capitalizes on later. But yeah, um, very very
Speaker 1: useful plastic. Uh. Nineteen fifty four they developed the first
Speaker 1: automatic portable dishwasher called the Mobile Maid. Yes, so um, yeah,
Speaker 1: portable dishwasher. Uh. I'm not gonna make any jokes on
Speaker 1: that either. Nineteen five they developed the first micro miniature
Speaker 1: relay and this was for for aircraft and spacecraft. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they're still in use. This This is another technology
Speaker 1: G developed that still finds its way into today's aircraft
Speaker 1: and spacecraft. They also developed a method for creating artificial diamonds,
Speaker 1: which are used in industrial applications like drilling. You know
Speaker 1: they have diamond drill bits and stuff. Well, this was
Speaker 1: when they actually developed a technique to create them artificially. Yes,
Speaker 1: diamonds in this case or a grinder's best friend. Um,
Speaker 1: they used these, and we're talking about someone who's actually
Speaker 1: grinding stuff down, not a not a not a sandwich.
Speaker 1: Yes that is correct. Yeah, you don't want industrial diamonds
Speaker 1: in your sandwich. But they are great for grinding stuff down.
Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, this is not the
Speaker 1: only application of very very hard stuff that they innovate
Speaker 1: in their chemical labs, but we'll come to that later. Yeah,
Speaker 1: diamonds also very useful if you're going to create a
Speaker 1: doomsday device, because they almost all have to have some
Speaker 1: sort of diamond right there in the center to focus
Speaker 1: the energy. You know what I'm talking about, Yes, I
Speaker 1: know exactly what you're talking about. Or some sort of
Speaker 1: a chip that goes along with the diamonds, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: but my my, this this is the next thing that
Speaker 1: I want to talk about in a technology that will
Speaker 1: change the world. For this is the t is not
Speaker 1: as I first imagined, a very early terminator, or maybe
Speaker 1: it is and I just don't know about it. Well
Speaker 1: not not. You know, it's not talking about heart failure.
Speaker 1: Possibly again, I am not a very complex guy. And
Speaker 1: the invention of the first toast our oven, the toaster oven,
Speaker 1: which finds its way on many countertops and is a
Speaker 1: prized possession in my home. I have mine up on
Speaker 1: a little pedestal with a light shining down bold by
Speaker 1: the way that shines right down on a little a little,
Speaker 1: a little angelic choir sings the three notes from NBC
Speaker 1: on there. But no, I it's a useful appliance. You know,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get an argument out of a I
Speaker 1: don't own a toaster oven, but I have known the
Speaker 1: joys of a toaster oven. It's it's useful, and it
Speaker 1: helps you cook your tad r tots um. Good grief.
Speaker 1: All right. So they also that year created the convert Skylark,
Speaker 1: which I must admit does not truly compete with the
Speaker 1: toastar oven for innovation. All it was was a commercial
Speaker 1: jet engine that was based off the J seven nine
Speaker 1: military engine they had developed a few years earlier. Okay,
Speaker 1: so so in the corporate in the corporate world, here
Speaker 1: you've got your very successful line of toast ars that
Speaker 1: they put in homes. They're very popular with pirates as well.
Speaker 1: Put it in the toastar Um, Jonathan's taking a drink,
Speaker 1: I was hoping to make him spit tea um. But
Speaker 1: you also have this very very business e line of
Speaker 1: very expensive stuff that you're selling jet engines to the
Speaker 1: military and to commercial aspects, so they are they are
Speaker 1: extremely successful both of these. You could say that g
Speaker 1: E at this point has a diversified offering extremely appliances
Speaker 1: for the home and jet engines for the military, and
Speaker 1: they're selling stuff to corporations to that rely on plastics
Speaker 1: and chemicals like the neural resin developed in n s
Speaker 1: by Allen S. Hay of the Research Laboratory, and it
Speaker 1: was this was an important development because this was a
Speaker 1: kind of plastic that still stay stays strong even at
Speaker 1: high temperatures, which made it ideal for industrial use. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know you wanted. That was one of the problems
Speaker 1: with plastics is that, you know, as the temperatures increase,
Speaker 1: the plastic would become brittle or it would start to melt.
Speaker 1: It would it would just it would not be useful anymore.
Speaker 1: So there were some lots of industries actually that just
Speaker 1: could not really use that much plastic in what they
Speaker 1: did because it just wasn't stable. This helped fix that
Speaker 1: problem in that there was. You know, for for certain applications,
Speaker 1: this plastic could maintain its its integrity even at those
Speaker 1: high temperatures. Yes, no, no matter bribing will cause it
Speaker 1: to melt. Um very high integrity. Seven, you've got the
Speaker 1: J ninety three, the successor to the the other military
Speaker 1: jet engine that we talked about just a moment ago.
Speaker 1: Supersonic jets used the J ninety three. They could go
Speaker 1: three times the speed of sound um and they did
Speaker 1: put that on the experimental XP seventy bomber um. So
Speaker 1: that year they also opened the world's first licensed nuclear
Speaker 1: power plant. Uh. They unlicensed nuclear power plants where, of
Speaker 1: course all over the place at that point. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: every little kid would instead of operating a lemonade stand,
Speaker 1: would be like, Mom, I'm going to go out and
Speaker 1: harvest some uranium and create a fission reactor in the
Speaker 1: backyard and have an unlicensed nuclear power plant. And they'd say,
Speaker 1: just be home before supper I made. Oh. In seven,
Speaker 1: my brother was born and Robert h. When Tworf Junior
Speaker 1: came up with borazon, Yes, cubic born nitrite apparently was
Speaker 1: not right. I should say, yes, not born. Um, that's
Speaker 1: the character. And Lord of the rings actually Boramir's little
Speaker 1: cousin born. He was not a very I thought I
Speaker 1: was loopy. Um. No, this is the chemical I was
Speaker 1: talking about, or the substance I was talking about a
Speaker 1: few moments ago. Um. It is an artificial substance. But
Speaker 1: it's second in hardness only two diamonds. And it can
Speaker 1: and it can operate at temperatures higher than diamonds can. Yes,
Speaker 1: diamonds will burn at a certain point, believe it or not. Um,
Speaker 1: And I imagine that has to be really hot, pretty
Speaker 1: darn hot, I think is the technical term. Yes, but
Speaker 1: borison will will substitu will continue to exist at at
Speaker 1: those temperatures and temperature. U should I go into the
Speaker 1: next exciting home appliance? Well, before we do, there's something
Speaker 1: else that happens. You mean, yes, something else happens too
Speaker 1: that I should mention before we go into the appliance.
Speaker 1: So in nine, Philip D. Reid steps down as chairman.
Speaker 1: So Cordiner, who was the president, now becomes the chairman
Speaker 1: and CEO. Right, So he transitions into the chairman and
Speaker 1: CEO role, and Gerald L. Philippe comes in as president.
Speaker 1: Now this is important because it starts to show a
Speaker 1: transition from the way their corporate structure was in the
Speaker 1: earlier days. Eventually, we're going to get to a point
Speaker 1: where you have one person as chairman and CEO and
Speaker 1: you don't have a president anymore. So we're coming up
Speaker 1: to that point. We're not there yet, but that's why
Speaker 1: we've You know, we've now got a guy who's transitioned
Speaker 1: out of president to become chairman and CEO, and a
Speaker 1: new fellow has come in as president. And now what
Speaker 1: was the amazing invention that G introduced in nineteen fifty eight. Yes,
Speaker 1: dogs and cats everywhere learned to come scampering into your
Speaker 1: kitchen whenever this device is activated, which is funny for
Speaker 1: two reasons. One, um, my cats do that, and the
Speaker 1: cat food we have doesn't come in that kind of
Speaker 1: a can. Uh. The other thing is G makes that
Speaker 1: joke on its own website. Does it really Yes? On
Speaker 1: the timeline I actually went to Uh, it says and
Speaker 1: dogs and cats everywhere learn a new sound, and and
Speaker 1: I thought I was being funny and original. It turns
Speaker 1: out that I was making a reference to something I
Speaker 1: hadn't even read. Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's not
Speaker 1: funny and we are. We are teasing ge sort of
Speaker 1: about the toaster oven and the can opener and these appliances,
Speaker 1: but uh, they really were fulfilling their goal of trying
Speaker 1: to make life easier for people through electrical stuff. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you compare it to something like the second hardest
Speaker 1: material known demand um, or you know, something something that
Speaker 1: that's only outstripped by diamonds, that sort of stuff, it
Speaker 1: seems it seems, you know, tiny and silly in comparison,
Speaker 1: but jet engines or jet engines or or all the
Speaker 1: medical equipment that makes But the truth is is that
Speaker 1: these things did make life easier. And hey, I got
Speaker 1: an electric can opener. I have an electric can opener too,
Speaker 1: and I use it. And well I'm a left hander. Okay,
Speaker 1: so a left hander trying to use a can opener
Speaker 1: at a good point. All right, guys, if you, if
Speaker 1: you want to know an exercise and frustration, find a
Speaker 1: left hander and ask them about using a manual can opener,
Speaker 1: even left handed can openers. But I digress. Anyway, they
Speaker 1: were making stuff that really did make life easier, and
Speaker 1: we take it for granted. Now, I mean, you think about, like,
Speaker 1: think about how long it takes you to heat something
Speaker 1: up using a microwave, for example, and then think about
Speaker 1: how long it would take you if you were to
Speaker 1: use a conventional oven arrange top for that's a lot
Speaker 1: more energy as well. That's also true. But yeah, look
Speaker 1: at any directions, like if you ever buy any frozen
Speaker 1: food that has directions for either using the oven versus
Speaker 1: a microwave, look at the amount of time between those two. A. Well,
Speaker 1: here you go. You got ge pioneering refrigeration which makes
Speaker 1: frozen food possible or or practical. Let's say, um, you
Speaker 1: can go to the Antarctic if you want to, um
Speaker 1: where food. Well, they you know, used to bring in
Speaker 1: ice from other from other climates or or you know,
Speaker 1: they'd have to make it at these uh complicated refrigeration
Speaker 1: places and sawdust and then move it across as fast
Speaker 1: as they could. So so you know this there there
Speaker 1: the technologies that they're working on make frozen food possible.
Speaker 1: And then when you get it home you can store it,
Speaker 1: uh and then you uh you know, open it up
Speaker 1: and stick it in an oven, which they helped uh pioneer,
Speaker 1: and then the magnetrons for microwave ovens. So either way, uh,
Speaker 1: this is something frozen food in your home is really
Speaker 1: made practical by you know, people like gee, so yeah, no,
Speaker 1: and don't mean to to make fun. We're teasing because
Speaker 1: it's such a compared to the other compared to the
Speaker 1: others of it seems so so menacing. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: big deal in a way. And they also did something
Speaker 1: another lighting innovation in fifty nine with the the halogen light. Yes,
Speaker 1: the halogen lamps, so again another way to light areas.
Speaker 1: They were able to create very small bulbs that could
Speaker 1: put out quite a bit of light. And so a
Speaker 1: lot of death lamps use halogen bulbs. Yes, less common
Speaker 1: than they used to be, the stand lamps, the torch
Speaker 1: lamps that they used to have in the nineties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's there's some more now that ayre coming out
Speaker 1: with things like led bulbs. But hey, you know what,
Speaker 1: you just got their finger in that pie too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll get into that. Oh yeah. And in nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: Discovery thirteen, which is it turns out or not several
Speaker 1: of our parent companies employees, no, Discovery thirteen is well,
Speaker 1: it's technically it's a satellite, yes, And it was the
Speaker 1: the it ended up being the first the reentry vehicle
Speaker 1: for the thirteen ended up being the first one retrieved
Speaker 1: after it was in orbit. First man made object in
Speaker 1: orbit that was successfully retrieved. Yes, not like a Sputnik,
Speaker 1: which is still out there somewhere. I think, actually I
Speaker 1: think Sputnik did it crash. I think I think it crashed.
Speaker 1: I think it burnt up and crashed. I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't have it right in front of me.
Speaker 1: But they didn't retrieve it, right, No, that one was
Speaker 1: not retrieved, nor was it necessary to retrieve it, because
Speaker 1: the Sputnik really didn't do anything other than bap exactly. So. Uh.
Speaker 1: But this this satellite orbited the Earth seventeen times within
Speaker 1: about twenty seven hours and took lots of color photos
Speaker 1: of the Earth from space. Yes, um, And it was
Speaker 1: from up to seven hundred miles so not especially far
Speaker 1: out space. Nuts um. Nineteen sixty one. Automatic toothbrush made
Speaker 1: possible by smaller motors. And we're chargeable batteries. Yes, we're
Speaker 1: chargeable batteries. Very important. Uh, automatic toothbrush is nothing to
Speaker 1: sneeze at. I love my automatic toothbrush. Yes. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two. They opened a space center in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Yes,
Speaker 1: because in sixty two, you know, we're talking about the
Speaker 1: space race now, so we're talking about the that time
Speaker 1: in the United States history where they were we were
Speaker 1: really geared up against the Soviet Union to try and
Speaker 1: land men on the Moon and and be out in
Speaker 1: space before them. And you know, some races, the Russians
Speaker 1: one and some races the Americans one and uh G
Speaker 1: played a big part in that. They actually produced a
Speaker 1: lot of the electrical systems and censors that would be
Speaker 1: used on during the space race. Yeah. Um. And this
Speaker 1: also produced the uh, the famous quote, uh, Houston, we
Speaker 1: have a problem. No, I'm sorry, this is Valley Forge
Speaker 1: you want and they you know, never mind um. And
Speaker 1: they also in six all of our jokes are are
Speaker 1: are surefire hits. No, No, I changed it in mid air,
Speaker 1: which I shouldn't. The Luca Locks lamp um, which you
Speaker 1: probably haven't heard of. They used it in factories in
Speaker 1: an outdoor environments. But they again this is another chemical
Speaker 1: uh breakthrough for them because they used translucent ceramics to
Speaker 1: make this light possible, uh, you know, long lived light
Speaker 1: that they could put in these environments and leave there
Speaker 1: for a while. And the ceramics were really important that
Speaker 1: they also kept in the heat generated by the lamp,
Speaker 1: because otherwise running these lamps would just make the whole
Speaker 1: area really hot. So the ceramics were there really to
Speaker 1: kind of keep the heat in. But they had to be,
Speaker 1: you know, transparent. They had to be at least translucent
Speaker 1: to let through because otherwise you just have really hot
Speaker 1: ceramic cup in a glass jar, which wouldn't really be
Speaker 1: terribly useful. Do not want the In nineteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: they also ge also had another UH invention come out.
Speaker 1: A g engineer by the name of Robert Hall invented
Speaker 1: a semiconductor injection laser, also known as a solid state laser.
Speaker 1: I am so impressed that you said it twice the
Speaker 1: normal way. So what's the laser instead lasers? See, if
Speaker 1: you hadn't pointed it out, you might have gotten away
Speaker 1: with a whole episode help me doing that. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: that you didn't talk about the super conducting magnet that
Speaker 1: they came up to. Well, they also there's also that
Speaker 1: as well. I mine, because I pulled my notes from
Speaker 1: so many different sources, mine are in a slightly different
Speaker 1: order than yours, UH than Uh, you know, you you
Speaker 1: grabbed your sources. I grabbed mine. So the next one
Speaker 1: I had was this, uh, this laser which, by the way,
Speaker 1: a solid state laser, yes, which which is important. It's
Speaker 1: what forms the basis of technology like CD ROM drives
Speaker 1: and t D ROM drives, where you have this solid
Speaker 1: state laser as part of the system. It reduced the
Speaker 1: size that you would need to create a laser. Perhaps
Speaker 1: if you had one of those diamonds we talked about
Speaker 1: earlier than you could have your doomsday device. Yes, you
Speaker 1: could take over the entire Try state area. So you
Speaker 1: want to talk about some I'm not gonna do dooven sharts.
Speaker 1: You're gonna talk about some some magnets, yes, well one
Speaker 1: in particular, they came up with a super conducting magnet
Speaker 1: that which is amazing to me to think about a
Speaker 1: hundred thousand gauss that's a pretty big magnet um. Which
Speaker 1: is funny that I say that, uh to me at least,
Speaker 1: because that's only the beginning the reason you might be
Speaker 1: interested in this. We haven't talked about gees medical stuff
Speaker 1: much um on this particular podcast, and the last one
Speaker 1: we we talked about how they were on the forefront
Speaker 1: of X rays. Right as UH mr or Mr Runton,
Speaker 1: I have such a trouble with his name. UH came
Speaker 1: up with or realized that X rays existed and what
Speaker 1: they could do. UH. GE almost immediately, UH within the
Speaker 1: next year came up with a machine that could produce
Speaker 1: X rays and was used for medical imaging, and UH
Speaker 1: it started making improvements on this. This giant, huge, enormous
Speaker 1: magnet that they came up with, superconducting magnet, UH is
Speaker 1: going to play a huge part in gees medical technology
Speaker 1: going for word, because it is this type of magnet
Speaker 1: that they're going to use in their magnetic resonance UH
Speaker 1: devices of different types later. So not yet. I've got
Speaker 1: two other things to round out of going up to
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven. Ones In nineteen sixty three, which is
Speaker 1: when Fred J. Borch became the president and CEO and
Speaker 1: he and he replaced cordon Er and UH that's the
Speaker 1: same year that GE developed the self cleaning oven P. Seven.
Speaker 1: I had a UM I actually just replaced in my
Speaker 1: father's house. A subsequent oven that followed that with the
Speaker 1: self cleaning stuff, which is a purolytics system, which basically
Speaker 1: means that you locked down the darn thing and heat
Speaker 1: it up until it just burns the stuff off, which
Speaker 1: really smells terrible. UM. However, the engineers involved were granted
Speaker 1: around hundred patents for the technologies that they used in
Speaker 1: creating that oven. So that's a big deal. And in
Speaker 1: sixty seven Fred J. Borch becomes the chairman and CEO,
Speaker 1: so transitions from president CEO to chairman and CEO. And
Speaker 1: that that brings me to the end of this era.
Speaker 1: Do you have something else you want to add before
Speaker 1: we wrap up? Jacob G. Roboton our robot in uh
Speaker 1: came up with a high efficiency X ray phosphor um
Speaker 1: and and this is not uh exciting exciting, However, it
Speaker 1: did improve the efficiency of X ray machines that they created.
Speaker 1: UM that would reduce you know, you guys listening, I'll
Speaker 1: probably know that X rays. It's not a good idea
Speaker 1: to be exposed to X rays UM at high levels
Speaker 1: you want to be you want the picture to be taken,
Speaker 1: and then that's it just exposed to film and let's
Speaker 1: get it over with because it can be dangerous. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's ionizing radiation. UM. This technology, UH that I just
Speaker 1: spoke of a moment ago reduces patient exposure to a
Speaker 1: quarter of what they were being exposed to before. So
Speaker 1: that's significant that that's much safer for the patient. Uh.
Speaker 1: And definite improvement in technology, but not you know, particularly
Speaker 1: exciting for the man on the street. Yeah, unless that
Speaker 1: man on the street has just broken a leg. Yes,
Speaker 1: which get that man off the street. Not glamorous, but
Speaker 1: very very important. Yes. So this wraps up episode two
Speaker 1: of the g E story. We will finish with episode three,
Speaker 1: so stay tuned for our next episode where we will
Speaker 1: conclude and talk about all sorts of stuff, starting with
Speaker 1: a short visit to the moon. And if you guys
Speaker 1: have any suggestions for topics we should cover. You had it.
Speaker 1: You held it together so well until like three seconds
Speaker 1: before I did that. Now, if you guys have any
Speaker 1: suggestions for a topic that we should cover here on
Speaker 1: tech Stuff, please let us know. You can write an email.
Speaker 1: That address is tech stuff at Discovery dot com or
Speaker 1: send us a message on Twitter or Facebook. You can
Speaker 1: find us there. We are, in fact there, we use
Speaker 1: the handle text stuff hs W track us down, follow us,
Speaker 1: befriend us, become one of our bosom buddies, and let
Speaker 1: us know what you would like us to talk about
Speaker 1: in future episodes, and Chris and I will talk to
Speaker 1: you again really soon. Be sure to check out our
Speaker 1: new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join How Stuff
Speaker 1: Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing
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