1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,759 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works in iHeart Radio and I Love all 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: Things tech. And in our last episode, I was talking 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: about General Electric and I was really focusing on the 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: origin of the company and its first two decades of 8 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: its existence. And over the next few episodes, we're going 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: to start picking up the pace a bit and exploring 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: the full history of the company and why. In recent months, 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: that is, as of August twenty nineteen, some analysts have 12 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: expressed concern for the integrity of the company. This is 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: not a new development. Actually, GE has had some struggles 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: over the last decade or so, but we haven't gotten 15 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: there yet. We're still pretty early on in its history, 16 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: and there's a lot I could talk about, including advances 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 1: in some of the basic technology that GE was built 18 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: off of. For example, in nineteen thirteen, of physicists and 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: chemist named Irving Langmuir proved that by filling lightbulbs with 20 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: an inert gas like are gone, it would not only 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: extend the useful life of the tungsten filaments inside the 22 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: light bulb. That's the part that actually lights up in 23 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: a light bulb, but it would also prevent the inside 24 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: of the light bulb from turning black as it got 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: an internal coding of what's essentially soot from the tungsten. 26 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: Langmuir would make numerous contributions to science and would ultimately 27 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in nineteen thirty two, 28 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: though that wasn't for light bulbs anyway. Another thing that 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: happened in nineteen thirteen was that Charles Coffin, who had 30 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: been president of the company, would become General Electrics first 31 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: chairman of the board of directors. Edwin Wilbur Rice, who 32 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: had studied under Allahu Thompson at Central High School in 33 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: Philadelphia and who had worked for General Electric since the 34 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: very beginning of the company, became the new president of 35 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: ge Rice had more than a hundred patents to his 36 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: name and had a strong hand in guiding how General 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: Electrics manufacturing facilities operated. He was one of the founders 38 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,959 Speaker 1: for Gees Research Laboratory. Not a bad pick for president 39 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: of the company, someone who could direct the operational aspects. 40 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: Under Rice, General Electric continued to expand its business, and 41 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: it acquired other companies as well as experiencing growth on 42 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: its own. In nineteen eighteen, for example, GE acquired the 43 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,519 Speaker 1: Pacific Electric Heating Company and the Hues Electric Heating Company, 44 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: so GE then formed a new division within the company 45 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: itself called Edison Electric Appliance Company. Around that same time, 46 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: GE also acquired the Trumbull Electric Company, which created and 47 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: supplied parts related to the electric utility industry such as switchboards. 48 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: So really still investing in that world, and to be fair, 49 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: electricity and infrastructure was still very slowly rolling out across 50 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: the United States, and g E had a very large 51 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: hand in that. In nineteen nineteen, General Electric became one 52 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: of the founding companies to create the Radio Corporation of 53 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: America or r c A. And I covered this in 54 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: the episodes I did about our CIA. So the super 55 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: short version of this is that leading up to World 56 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: War One, the United States military pretty much commondered the 57 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: radio communications industry in the US. Now, at that time, 58 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: radio stations weren't broadcasting entertainment and news and sound over 59 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: to radios. There were no consumer radios. This was really 60 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: all about sending wireless telegrams, so most transmissions were just 61 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: limited to Morse code. Now. There were a few early 62 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: radio broadcast pioneers around this time as well, but it 63 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: was very limited. Now. The problem was, at least from 64 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: the US military perspective, that many of these communications stations, 65 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: these radio transmitters were actually owned and operated by companies 66 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: that were from outside the United States, and the First 67 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: World War was driving home how important it was to 68 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: have a secure communications network within your own borders. So 69 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: the US military, namely the the U. S. Navy, ultimately 70 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: rested control of those transmission stations away from foreign companies 71 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: and then used them for wartime communications for official military communications. 72 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: But once the war was over, the government needed to 73 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: figure out what to do with all these transmission stations, 74 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: so rather than operate them as government owned entities, the 75 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: government reached out to several companies US companies including General 76 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: Electric and also Westinghouse, A, T and T, and the 77 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company. Yeah, I'll have to do an episode 78 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: about the United Fruit Company at some point. It's a 79 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: pretty interesting and controversial story. Anyway. It was this group 80 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: that would form our c A, with each group partner 81 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: in the group holding a certain percentage of the ownership 82 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: of our CI, a General Electric held the majority steak. 83 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: Didn't hold a fifty percent steak. It was more like 84 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: but it held more interest in our cier than any 85 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: other party did. In I saw, we saw something pretty 86 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: darn cool. Well I didn't, I wasn't born yet, but 87 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: the world in general saw something pretty cool. In E 88 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: built a supercharger for an airplane. So there was an 89 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: engineer named Sanford Moss who came up with this idea. 90 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: He had this hypothesis us that fuel would burn better 91 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: in a chamber with compressed air. It would actually produce 92 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: more energy, would be a greater energy output with compressed 93 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: air inside the chamber. And it turned out that this 94 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: hypothesis was correct, and so using that knowledge, he designed 95 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: what was called a supercharger to produce a lot more 96 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: power in an engine. Now, a plane with one of 97 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: those superchargers would set an altitude record at the time, 98 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: and it reached a new altitude of forty eight hundred 99 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: feet or about twelve thousand fours Obviously we've left that 100 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: way behind now, but at the time that was a 101 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: significant achievement. In N two G S own radio station 102 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 1: in Schenectady, New York, with the identity of w g 103 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: Y would go on the air, the station had a 104 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: fifteen hundred what transmitter Now today that station is owned 105 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: by the company I work for, my Heart Media. Fun 106 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: little fact, though. It has also changed a bit since 107 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two. For example, the transmitter today is at 108 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: fifty thousand watts, so that's a big change, and the 109 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: wattage pretty much determines how far the transmissions can go. 110 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: Gets a little more complicated than that, but that's a 111 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: general rule of thumb. Also, in nineteen twenty two, Rice 112 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: would step down as president of the company and a 113 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: guy named Gerard Swope became the new president of GE 114 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: and pushed the company to produce more consumer appliances. So 115 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: this is really the era where g E started to 116 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: seriously get into the consumer appliance manufacturing business, stuff like 117 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: refrigerators and electric stoves. So while GE had made a 118 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: few consumer products over the previous twenty years, it hadn't 119 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: really seriously dealt into that market. And then in the 120 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties that all changed. GE branded appliances became more 121 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: and more common. So who was this Swope fellow, Well, 122 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:07,679 Speaker 1: unlike Rice, he wasn't at General Electric at the very 123 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: start of the company, and technically Rice was actually in 124 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: the precursor company. He had worked for the Thompson Houston 125 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: Electric Company that preceded General Electric. But Swope wasn't like that. Nope, 126 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: Swope was a newcomer. He originally joined g E in 127 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: eight three, one whole year after the company was founded. 128 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: Johnny come lately, Okay, I'm being a bit cheeky. Swope 129 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: had joined the company as a helper while he was 130 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: still in school. It's sort of like a gopher, someone 131 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: who did whatever it was that needed doing at any 132 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: given time. His starting salary back then was an entire 133 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: dollar a day of princely sum. Presumably he was making 134 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: a bit more than that by the time he took 135 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: on the role of company president in nineteen twenty two. 136 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: And I don't mean to suggest his employment and GE 137 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: was un oaken from eighteen nine to nineteen twenty two. 138 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: That was not the case. He left GE, he was 139 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: attending m I T. He graduated from m I T 140 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: with a degree in electrical engineering, and then he took 141 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: on a job for Western Electric, which is a company 142 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: that's even older than GE. Swope had also served on 143 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: the United States War Department General Staff. During World War One, 144 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: he aided in the procurement and supply operations for the army. 145 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: Charles Coffin brought Swope back over to the fold at 146 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: g E in nineteen nineteen. Now as the president of GE, 147 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: Swope would do more than just pushed the company into 148 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: manufacturing more consumer appliances. He was also concerned about employee benefits. 149 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: Under his leadership, General Electric began to implement employee benefit 150 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: programs such as voluntary unemployment insurance, profit sharing programs, and 151 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: a cost of living wage adjustment program. Swope would serve 152 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 1: as the president of the company life in fact, and 153 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: his first run that would stretch from nineteen twenty two 154 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,559 Speaker 1: to nineteen forty, meaning that Swope also led the company 155 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: as the entire world went through the Great Depression, a 156 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: challenging time for everybody. And just to stick with this 157 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: for a second, I should explain who Swope's successor was 158 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: and why Swope would return to serve as president a 159 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: second time, because generally when you hear that someone left 160 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: as president and then had to come back as president, 161 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: it sounds like something really wrong happened in the interim. 162 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: That's not exactly the case. So in nineteen forty, Gerard 163 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: Swope retired and Charles E. Wilson, who had first started 164 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: working for GE UH specifically a g E subsidiary, when 165 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: he was twelve years old, and had been with a 166 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: company pretty much ever since. He actually completed his education 167 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: by taking night courses. Wilson was promoted to president in 168 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty and he led the company for about two 169 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: and a half years, but then a different president called 170 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: on him. That president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who wanted 171 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: Wilson to join the War Production Board as vice chairman. 172 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: The United States had entered World War Two in December 173 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty one, and there was a pressing need 174 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: to devote manufacturing capabilities towards producing equipment and weapons for 175 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: American soldiers. Wilson responded to the request and he left 176 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: General Electric. So Gerard Swope came out of retirement and 177 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: once again led the company until nineteen forty five and 178 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: World War Two's end. At that point, Wilson returned to 179 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:38,959 Speaker 1: GE and resumed his role as president of the company 180 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: for another five years. Now, the reason I decided to 181 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: follow that particular trail and kind of move away from 182 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: the timeline for a second was again to illustrate how 183 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: important General electrics business had become. It was integral to 184 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: the modernization of the United States, and gees manufacturing facilities 185 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: were formidable both for their industrial businesses and consumer appliance businesses. 186 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: No wonder the President looked to GE for help in 187 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:10,959 Speaker 1: manufacturing and acquisitions for wartime production. Okay, so let's get 188 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,440 Speaker 1: back to the timeline and learn what GE was doing 189 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: during all those years. One note I saw pop up 190 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: on several sites was that in nineteen twenty four GE 191 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 1: opted to exit the utilities business because of antitrust concerns 192 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: from the U. S. Government. But despite my searching, I 193 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: couldn't find any other information on that, and I just 194 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:38,319 Speaker 1: saw essentially the same timeline popping up on multiple websites, 195 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: So that suggested to me that they were all pulling 196 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: from a single common source. Now this does not mean 197 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: that the information is wrong. It might be right, and 198 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: I just wasn't able to find corroborating evidence of it. 199 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 1: But because I couldn't find any confirmation outside that list, 200 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: I got a little leery of it. So I'm including 201 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: this whole story in this podcast simply to point out 202 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: that it can be important to look for those corroborating 203 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: sources that really indicate that you're looking at true information 204 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: and you're not just looking at somebody's list that is 205 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: unsupported and other people have just copied that exact, exact 206 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,359 Speaker 1: same list and put it up on their own websites. 207 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: That does happen. It happens a lot, so you'll actually 208 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: find a lot of plagiarism out there on the Internet. 209 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: You'll be looking at a source for information, You'll be 210 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: reading up on a paragraph and you think, all right, 211 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: that's interesting, Let's see if I can find any more 212 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: data about this, and you'll do a search and a 213 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,840 Speaker 1: different website will pop up. You start reading that and 214 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: you think, well, this sounds really familiar, and if you 215 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: put them side by side, you realize this is exact 216 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 1: exactly the same language and there's no indication that, uh, 217 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: that it was done on the up and up. Now, 218 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: occasionally someone will write a piece and it will all 219 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 1: be agreed upon that that piece will be distributed it 220 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: to different outlets, but a lot of times people are 221 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: just taking whatever they think is cool or interesting or 222 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: we'll drive traffic, and they'll just put it up on 223 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: their site without asking that's not cool. Anyway, back to GE, 224 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: there were a couple of big important events that definitely 225 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: happened in nineteen four. Um. Whether GE got the utilities 226 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: business because of antitrust issues I can't speak to because 227 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: I couldn't find anything about it. But stuff that got 228 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: started or happened in nine there were some important things. 229 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: One of those was a lawsuit that would go all 230 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: the way up to the Supreme Court. Now, let me explain. 231 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: In the United States, GE held the patents for pretty 232 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: much all the basic components for the light bulb. That is, 233 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: they had a patent on the tungsten filament in the 234 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: gas filled bulb and all this other stuff. Westinghouse had 235 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: entered into a licensing agreement with GE so that Westinghouse 236 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: could produce and more importantly, sell light bulbs. In return, 237 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: GE said that Westinghouse would have to set its prices 238 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,400 Speaker 1: for light bulbs according to GES direction, and that it 239 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: would have to follow certain quotas. In other words, G 240 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: was using its power to say, you can sell light 241 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 1: bulbs based on our designs, but they have to be 242 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: at this price, and you can't make more than x 243 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: number of them because that would eat into our own profits, 244 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: and Gee said, we can change our our price at 245 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: any time for any reason. And that's really the issue 246 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: that went to court. Now, what the courts would ultimately 247 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: find and the Supreme Court decision would come down in 248 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: nine six, is that typically if you license out a patent, 249 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: if you've invented something and you've got the patent for 250 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: your invention and someone asks to license your invention, typically 251 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: you cannot dictate a price for a product made from 252 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: your patented invention. However, in this case, GE had not 253 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: just licensed out the right to manufacture light bulbs, and 254 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: it also licensed out the right to sell light bulbs, 255 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: and that meant GE could determine other things like the 256 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: selling price of the light bulb. At least, this is 257 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: what the court found. And this is one of the 258 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: more controversial business related decisions made by the Supreme Court. 259 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: It's been challenged several times and upheld a few times, 260 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: sometimes with just a split court decision like split right 261 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: down the middle. It means that you could potentially patent 262 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: and invention and then not only licensed it out to 263 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: other entities, but you can dictate at what price those 264 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: entities could sell your invention. So you could in theory, 265 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: produce your own products and sell them for a lower 266 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,480 Speaker 1: cost than your competitors could because of your demands, and 267 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: thus you are undercutting them while you're simultaneously licensing your 268 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: invention to them. It's pretty cut throat stuff. Now, there 269 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: are limitations on this. The Supreme Court essentially said patent 270 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: holders can only do this if they themselves are also 271 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: manufacturing the product. So you couldn't just come up with 272 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: a cool invention, get it patented, and then just sit 273 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,120 Speaker 1: on that patent and wait for people to life it's 274 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: your ideas, and then tell them how much they have 275 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: to sell the product for. That's off limits. You have 276 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: to actually be actively using that patent yourself, So pat 277 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: controls would not be able to do this. But again 278 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: it shows how GEES business would end up shaping the 279 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: world around it. I've got a lot more to say 280 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: about General Electric, but before I get to that, let's 281 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: take a quick break. Earlier I alluded to the fact 282 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: that a couple of big things happened in and they 283 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: both had to do with lightbulbs. And that's ironic because 284 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: this next big thing was really shady. Executives from g 285 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: E attended a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. That meeting was 286 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: also attended by representatives of companies like Phillips and the 287 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: company de Lump and as Rum. All of these are 288 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: light bulb manufacturers, or were at the time. They signed 289 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: a document that was titled Convention for the Development and 290 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: Progress of the International Incandescent Electric Lamp Industry. But the 291 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: agreement has a more sinister nickname, the Phoebus Cartel. Now, 292 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: Phoebus is another name for Apollo, the god of the Sun, 293 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: so that's fun. But what this group was doing was 294 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: working out a global agreement about the manufacture and sale 295 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: and design of light bulbs, and that agreement divided up 296 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: the world into regions assigned to the various members of 297 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: the Cartel. Each member would have its own region to 298 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: lord over, and it would have a quota that it 299 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: was supposed to stay below in order to meet manufacturing 300 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 1: needs and to meet the needs of all the members 301 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: at the cartel. But more than that, the group actually 302 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: determined that the useful life of a light bulb should 303 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: be one thousand hours. They were collectively agreeing to limit 304 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: a lightbulb's lifespan, and this is called plan obsolescence, and 305 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: it's a pretty shifty way to ensure continued success. Essentially, 306 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,960 Speaker 1: it's when a company builds a product that is only 307 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: supposed to last a certain amount of time, and it 308 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: comes along with the expectation that the customer who buys 309 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:17,920 Speaker 1: your product is going to go out and buy a 310 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: new version of the thing that just broke. So these 311 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 1: companies could make better light bulbs. In fact, they had 312 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: already done that. The average lightbulb lifespan in was already 313 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: twenty five hundred hours, so two point five times as long. 314 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,719 Speaker 1: Now they were going to work to reduce that lifespan 315 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: in order to drum up more business. Light bulbs burn 316 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: out faster, people have to go back and buy more 317 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: light bulbs. It was making their own business by making 318 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: the products worse in a way, and because it would 319 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: be an agreement across multiple companies around the globe, there'd 320 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: be nowhere else to go. Insert maniacal laugh here. Interestingly, 321 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: though GE was crucial to forming this cartel, it was 322 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:10,719 Speaker 1: part of the meeting that created it. GE itself was 323 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: not a member of the cartel. It did, however, own 324 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 1: interests in nearly all of the companies that were members 325 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 1: of the cartel, and it did have one subsidiary, a 326 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: British subsidiary called International General Electric that was part of 327 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 1: the cartel, but the overall company was not. Companies in 328 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: the cartel had to send light bulbs to a testing 329 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,919 Speaker 1: facility in Switzerland to make certain they were manufacturing bulbs 330 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: with the right lifespan. And like I said, they were 331 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: given those strict quotas. If you sold more than your 332 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: quota allowed, you would get fined. You would also get 333 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: fined if the light bulbs you made didn't last long enough, 334 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:53,199 Speaker 1: or worse, lasted too long. This really did happen, and 335 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 1: the plan was for the agreement to last until nineteen 336 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: fifty five, so it was a thirty year agreement. The 337 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: only reason that didn't actually happen was because of a 338 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: little thing called World War two. But yeah, that's a 339 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: heck of a thing to learn about. And g E 340 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: engineers really did work on ways to decrease the useful 341 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: life of light bulbs for various products, including flashlights. They 342 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: were saying, well, you know, flashlight flash bulbs, they last 343 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: three hole changes of batteries, right now, let's reduce that. 344 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: And I got it down so that the light bulbs 345 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: would only last two whole sets of batteries and then 346 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: eventually got to a point where the light bulbs lifespan 347 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: was about the same length as the useful lifespan of 348 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 1: a set of batteries. That's the way progress works, I 349 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 1: guess anyway. Uh, it's a it's a heck of a 350 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: thing to read about, and it it does kind of stink. 351 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: But I get it from a sales perspective. I mean, 352 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 1: if Willie Wonka had actually made an everlasting gob stopper, 353 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: he'd only have to sell one to each kid, and 354 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: then he would have innovated himself out of business. He 355 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: would never sell anymore. Why would he. Everyone already has 356 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: one and it never gets smaller. That that's that's inventing 357 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,880 Speaker 1: yourself out of business. But still, there's something particularly sinister 358 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: about a company or group of companies that agree to 359 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: build into their products the intent for those products to 360 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: stop working after a certain amount of time, forcing people 361 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 1: to go and buy a new one. It's not super cool. 362 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 1: On a less conspiratorial note, in nineteen seven, g E 363 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,159 Speaker 1: was one of a few companies to demonstrate a live 364 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: TV broadcast. Now earlier in n T and T had 365 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 1: to demonstrated a long distance broadcast of its own. GEES 366 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: claim is that their demonstration was the first to broadcast 367 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: to a television in an actual home, as opposed to 368 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,719 Speaker 1: a demonstration theater or a showroom. The broadcast came from 369 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: GES radio station w g Y, and the TV was 370 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: in a home located in Schenectady, New York, and GEES headquarters. 371 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: The television was not an electric electronic television that had 372 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: just recently been pioneered by Philo Farnsworth that same year. 373 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: This was actually a mechanical television, meaning there were actual 374 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: moving parts inside the television. But I've talked about that 375 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: in several earlier episodes of Tech Stuff, so I'm just 376 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: gonna move along here. In nineteen twenty eight, the Radio 377 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: Corporation of America, in which I remember g E owned 378 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:34,120 Speaker 1: a large steak, created the NBC Networks. Now technically they 379 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: were two networks of affiliates, so you had two NBC networks. 380 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: There was NBC Red and NBC Blue, so you could 381 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: say ge had partial ownership of NBC at this time, 382 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: though that wouldn't last for very long for the time being. 383 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: That's because in nineteen thirty the US government began to 384 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:58,199 Speaker 1: investigate GE Westinghouse and r c A for monopolistic practices. 385 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: The antitrust investor stigation was followed by formal charges and 386 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: a long period of negotiation, and ultimately the parties agreed 387 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 1: to our CIA becoming its own incorporated company and the 388 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: various partners, including GE, would divest themselves of their shares 389 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: in our CIA. In addition, GE and Westinghouse had to 390 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: agree to stay out of the radio broadcast business for 391 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: two and a half years in order to give our 392 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: CIA a chance to stand on its own. And boy 393 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: how they did it ever, But that's covered in other 394 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: episodes I did not too long ago. We'll get back 395 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,719 Speaker 1: to both NBC and our CI a later on in 396 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: this series. For now, let's talk about plastic. Plastic was 397 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: something that had been around for a while. Synthetic plastic 398 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,439 Speaker 1: was a relatively new idea. There are natural plastics, but 399 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: those are limited because it's hard to get to them 400 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: and you have to do some processing. It's not very efficient. 401 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: So synthetic plastics was something that people really wanted to 402 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: be able to to develop because plastic is incredibly useful stuff, 403 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: but you have to have a more efficient way to 404 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: make it. That had been experimented with as early as 405 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century, but the first fully synthetic plastic 406 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: was developed in nineteen o seven. It was called bake 407 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: Light by the way, and companies since then had been 408 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: working to try and find cheaper, more efficient ways to 409 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: produce synthetic plastic because it could be put to so 410 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: many applications. GE was one of those companies, and throughout 411 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties and into the nineteen forties, g E 412 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: engineers worked on lots of different experiments to develop synthetic plastic. 413 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: It was around this time that James Wright, an engineer 414 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: for GE, who was trying to make synthetic rubber, ended 415 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,560 Speaker 1: up developing Silly putty. So you may remember that from 416 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: a recent Tech Stuff episode. Corning would end up beating 417 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: GE to the punch as far as the development of 418 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: silicone goes. The two companies were in fierce competition to 419 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,120 Speaker 1: try and develop it first, and Corning came out ahead, 420 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: but GE was able to create a more efficient manufacturing 421 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,679 Speaker 1: process and ended up being extremely successful in the market 422 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: as a result, So Corning developed it and GE figured 423 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:19,399 Speaker 1: out how to make it more efficiently. G E introduced 424 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 1: the first electric household food waste disposer called the disposal. 425 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,880 Speaker 1: This is a garbage disposal which mounts beneath the drain 426 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: on a sink, and the idea is that there's a 427 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: spinning disk or impeller plate under the drain which has 428 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: some protrusions on it, and turning on the disposal activates 429 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:41,959 Speaker 1: an electric motor that then spins the plate rapidly, and 430 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: the spinning pulverizes the food or whatever else is down 431 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,400 Speaker 1: the disposal and turns it into a slurry that can 432 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: get washed down the holes on the outer edge of 433 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: the disposal and then down into the pipe system of 434 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: your house. And it also would create an effective means 435 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: of creeping out audiences in horror movies, because we all 436 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: know what happens when a character is at a garbage disposal. 437 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: Something important, usually a ring, is gonna fall down there, 438 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,200 Speaker 1: and then they're gonna put their hand down the drain, 439 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: even as we all screamed, don't put your hand down there. Anyway, 440 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: The disposal went on sale in nineteen thirty five. I 441 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: should also mentioned that ge did not invent the garbage disposal. 442 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: That honor goes to John Ham's. Not John Hamm who's 443 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: a great actor but John Hams. He invented the device 444 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen seven and filed a patent for it, though 445 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: as far as I can tell, he wasn't able to 446 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: go to market with a device until after GE had 447 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: already introduced the disposal. Also in nineti GE provided the 448 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: lamps for the first Major League Baseball night game, which 449 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,159 Speaker 1: took place in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cincinnati Reds played the 450 00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: Philadelphia Phillies and they won two to one. Night games 451 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,480 Speaker 1: actually were really important. They helped transform the sport at baseball. 452 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: It meant that folks who worked during the day could 453 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: still have the opportunity to watch a game live in 454 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,879 Speaker 1: the evening, and it boosted crowd attendance and gave a 455 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,920 Speaker 1: healthy dose of umph to the sport. And of course 456 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: other sports would follow suit. Throughout the nineteen thirties, the 457 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: company continued to work on multiple industries. G E introduced 458 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,200 Speaker 1: more consumer products for the average joe, and the company 459 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: also worked on high tech components for airplane and car 460 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: engines for a more let's say, elite clientele. Howard Hughes 461 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: himself used a g E supercharger in nineteen thirty seven 462 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: to set a transcontinental air record he flew across the 463 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: United States in seven hours, twenty eight minutes, and twenty 464 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: five seconds. In nineteen thirty eight, the labs at GE 465 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: managed to reinvent the company wheel, by which I mean 466 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: the light bulb. The invention was a fluorescent lamp, which 467 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: works a different way from condescent lamps. And incandescent lamp 468 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: creates light by using electricity to heat up a filament 469 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: until it gives off light when it incandesses, and that's 470 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: the basic premise behind all incandescent lights, but a fluorescent 471 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: lamp is different. The idea for fluorescent lamps was actually 472 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,479 Speaker 1: a few decades old, but the challenge was to create 473 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: one that was practical from both a use case scenario, 474 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: as in, this is giving off enough light for me 475 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: to do stuff, and also from a manufacturing standpoint. Dozens 476 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 1: of people worked on solving these problems, and a lot 477 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: of people made various contributions, so there's not one single 478 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: person I can point to as being the inventor of 479 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: the fluorescent lamp, which is a bit of a relief 480 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: since it means I don't have to explain that so 481 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: and so invented this and then walk it back and say, okay, well, 482 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: actually it's way more complicated than that. I'll explain how 483 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamps work when we come back from this short Okay, 484 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: so fluorescent lamps. There's actually a few different types of 485 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamps, but I'm going to focus on hot cathode 486 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: lamps because that was sort of the earliest ones that 487 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: were able to be manufactured for the mass market. And 488 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: typically the lamp is a long glass tube, and inside 489 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: of this long glass tube there is a coating of 490 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: fluorescent powder on the inside surface of the tube, and 491 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: also inside the tube is low pressure are gone gas, 492 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: and there's also a little bit of liquid mercury in there. Um. 493 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: This is why handling fluorescent lamps is a bit dangerous. Well, 494 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons. Another is that their tubes 495 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: made of glass, so breaking one not only releases a 496 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 1: small amount of toxic chemical to the environment and also 497 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: can cut you up pretty badly. Now, a hot cathode 498 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamp has two electrodes on either end of the tube, 499 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: so you have one on one end one on the 500 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: other end. Both of these electrodes are cathodes, meaning they 501 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: both contribute electrons into the tube. Though they do this 502 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: one at a time. It's another example of thermionic emission, 503 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: like with the vacuum tube where you heat up a 504 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,959 Speaker 1: filament and it starts to give off electrons. A pulse 505 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: of voltage creates an arc between the cathodes, starting from 506 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: one cathode and traveling to the other, and alternating current 507 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: makes the arc go one way, then it goes the 508 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: opposite way many times a second. A C works better 509 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: for fluorescent lamps than DC direct current because it means 510 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 1: one electrode will act as a cathode and then the 511 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: other electrode will act as the cathode, and they'll switch 512 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: back and forth, and that creates a more even lighting 513 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: within the lamp. If there was one side that was 514 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: just always the cathode, that side would be much brighter 515 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: than the other side. That's what you would get with 516 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: direct current. So that's why fluorescent lamps work best with 517 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: a C electricity rather than d C. Now, getting the 518 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: arc started can be a bit of a challenge, especially 519 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: with those early bulbs. That requires a spike of high voltage, 520 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: and you can think of voltage kind of like pressure. 521 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: So in a hydraulic system and a water based system 522 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: like pipes, it's the more pressure you put behind the water, 523 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: forcing water through the pipe system faster. With a fluorescent lamp, 524 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: the higher voltage forces a current to flow from the 525 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: cathote across to the other electrode, but the gas inside 526 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: the tube actually resists this, and the colder the gas is, 527 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: the more it resists the current. So it might take 528 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 1: a few false starts to get that that arc actually going, 529 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: And there are a couple of different ways of doing that, 530 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: including like preheating the gas. These are all things that 531 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: would be built into the lamps themselves. It's not something 532 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: that you would have to do in addition to that, 533 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: But that whole discussion deserves its own podcast. So the 534 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: arc will vaporize the mercury that's inside the tube, turning 535 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,560 Speaker 1: that liquid mercury into a gas, and as the arc 536 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: passes through this vaporized mercury, it gives off ultra violet light. 537 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: But hey, I hear you say, ultra violet light is 538 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: outside the visible spectrum for we puny humans. Ha ha ha, 539 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: puny humans. I say that is true, And that's where 540 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: the fluorescent powder coating the inside of the tube comes 541 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: into play. Stuff like phosphor will give off light or fluoresce, 542 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: or if you really want to make it easy to understand, 543 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: you could just say glow when exposed to certain types 544 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: of energy, such as ultra violet light. So the light 545 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: given off by the vaporized mercury is invisible to we 546 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,480 Speaker 1: puny humans, but the light given off by the fluorescing 547 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: phosphor isn't. And that's how fluorescent lamps generate light. G 548 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: E engineers figured out how to make the fluorescent light 549 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,360 Speaker 1: bulb in a way that was efficient and suitable for 550 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: actual applications as opposed to interesting lab experiments. And the 551 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: fluorescent lamp had some distinct advantages and a few disadvantages 552 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:26,400 Speaker 1: compared to incandescent lamps. For one, it was more energy efficient. 553 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: It required less energy to generate an equivalent amount of light. 554 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,080 Speaker 1: So we measure the amount of light given off by 555 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: stuff in units called lumens, and we measure electricity, And 556 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: what's the typical incandescent lightbulb produces sixteen lumens per what 557 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: of electricity? A fluorescent lightbulb might produce between fifty two 558 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,200 Speaker 1: one hundred lumens per what. So, in other words, you 559 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: don't have to use nearly as much electricity to get 560 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,800 Speaker 1: an equivalent amount of light out of a fluorescent lamp. 561 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,879 Speaker 1: That's oversimplifying, but it gets the point across, which means 562 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,160 Speaker 1: you save money in the long run by using these 563 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:10,440 Speaker 1: fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent ones. Fluorescent bulbs also last longer, 564 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 1: usually ten to twenty times longer than incandescent bulbs. Granted, 565 00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: I also just talked about how companies were actively working 566 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: to limit the useful life of light bulbs, so part 567 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: of the fluorescent bulb advantage was really because companies were 568 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:30,760 Speaker 1: purposefully planning out the obsolescence of the incandescent bulbs, so yikes. 569 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 1: Fluorescent lamps also generate less heat than incandescent lamps do, 570 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: so that was another area where they were superior, and 571 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 1: they diffuse light very well, but they also had disadvantages. 572 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: One was the environmental hazard I talked about. There's stuff 573 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: in fluorescent bulbs, namely the mercury that you don't want 574 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: getting out into the general environment. They are also more 575 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:59,399 Speaker 1: expensive than incandescent bulbs, and they can't, without special adjustments, 576 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 1: be used with any sort of dimmer switch. They also 577 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: flicker slightly, usually too fast for most of us to 578 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: pick up, but it can drive some people a little bonkers, 579 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: like if it's slowing down a bit, Because as bulbs 580 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: get closer to the end of their lives, they can 581 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: flicker more noticeably. It can cause discomfort for people who 582 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:24,919 Speaker 1: have epilepsy can it can trigger epileptic episodes. So there 583 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: are some other dangers with this stuff. And maybe you 584 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:33,680 Speaker 1: end up being affected psychologically by the way these lights 585 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: give off light. You could end up like Joe and 586 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,960 Speaker 1: Joe versus the volcano, and you might believe that you've 587 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:43,000 Speaker 1: got a brain cloud. But seriously, there are folks who 588 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: just swear by the fact that fluorescent lights generate a 589 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,759 Speaker 1: light that is unpleasant to them, and they much prefer 590 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 1: the warmer light from an incandescent bulb. In ninety nine, 591 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: a remarkable woman named Katherine Burr joined the ge Research Laboratory. 592 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,480 Speaker 1: She was the first woman to be part of the 593 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: g E Research leavel, and she developed a non reflective glass. 594 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: It was nicknamed Invisible glass. The glass would become the 595 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,600 Speaker 1: basis for all sorts of applications, such as for camera 596 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:17,759 Speaker 1: lenses and for telescopes, you know, stuff where you want 597 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,839 Speaker 1: to minimize or eliminate reflection as much as you possibly can. 598 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 1: So hats off to you, miss Burr. That was pretty incredible. 599 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,160 Speaker 1: In ninety g E began to relay TV broadcasts from 600 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: New York City to its television station w r g B, 601 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 1: which was in Schenectady, New York, and this would set 602 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: the path for the development of television networks TV stations 603 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: that would end up carrying the broadcast of neighboring stations, 604 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: and this would follow the path that was pioneered by 605 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: radio networks like NBC. Now, by this time, much of 606 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,400 Speaker 1: the world was already involved in World War Two, and 607 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,200 Speaker 1: as it became more apparent that the US would likely 608 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:03,120 Speaker 1: become of it as well, the government and particularly the 609 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,759 Speaker 1: military began to seek out innovation from American companies to 610 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:11,800 Speaker 1: augment the military capabilities of the United States. GE would 611 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: work on many of those projects, including the design and 612 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,040 Speaker 1: production of the first jet engine in the United States, 613 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: called the I A. Now I should stress that this 614 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 1: was not the first jet engine in the world. Other 615 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,880 Speaker 1: countries had already produced jet engines, but it would be 616 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,280 Speaker 1: the first one designed and produced in the United States. 617 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,320 Speaker 1: It was largely based off the design of a British 618 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,840 Speaker 1: jet engine called the Power Jets W DOT two B 619 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:45,840 Speaker 1: The I A was essentially a prototype jet engine, the 620 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 1: result of about a year of r and D and production. 621 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,720 Speaker 1: It would lead to a production model called the General 622 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,280 Speaker 1: Electric J thirty one. This would become the first mass 623 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,680 Speaker 1: manufactured jet engine in the United States, and it would 624 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,680 Speaker 1: be used in aircraft like the Ryan F R Fireball 625 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:05,759 Speaker 1: and the Bell P fifty nine era comment. The US 626 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:10,840 Speaker 1: officially joined the jet age in nineteen forty three. General 627 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:14,720 Speaker 1: Electric also introduced an early form of autopilot, a system 628 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,399 Speaker 1: designed to keep an aircraft on a specific course. I've 629 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,080 Speaker 1: done a few episodes mentioning how these systems work. I 630 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: might need to do an update on that, but in 631 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,360 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three it was a pretty rudimentary system designed 632 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,760 Speaker 1: to hold a steady course and make minor adjustments. Also 633 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three, General Electric formed another division within 634 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 1: the company called g E Capital, which is a financial 635 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 1: services company within General Electric. It was sort of evolved 636 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: from an earlier division called the General Electric Contracts Corporation. 637 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:51,919 Speaker 1: That one formed in nineteen thirty two as a way 638 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:56,240 Speaker 1: to help customers purchase GE products through various finance plans. 639 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,680 Speaker 1: Because that was around the time of the Great Depression, 640 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: so people who wanted appliances couldn't really afford to buy 641 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,840 Speaker 1: them outright, so ge formed this as a way to 642 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: help customers pay for stuff and still be able to 643 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: sell consumer goods to people. Ge Capital pretty much picked 644 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,640 Speaker 1: up where the Contracts company had left off, but it 645 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 1: would become a truly enormous company in its own right 646 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,239 Speaker 1: later on, when I get to more recent years, we'll 647 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,280 Speaker 1: talk about how it was one of the major bits 648 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:32,240 Speaker 1: of the company spun off when ge encountered major financial difficulties, 649 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,399 Speaker 1: but just as a sneak peak. At its height, this 650 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:40,439 Speaker 1: company by itself, the the g E Capital Company had 651 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 1: assets exceeding six hundred thirty seven billion dollars, So yeah, 652 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:52,319 Speaker 1: big business in general. Electric demonstrated the first commercial use 653 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: of radar, a technology that had been developed in Europe 654 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: and which was of considerable importance in wartime. G E 655 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:02,160 Speaker 1: used radar to show how it could help vehicles, even 656 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,960 Speaker 1: non military ones, navigate through darkness, and in nineteen forty six, 657 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,600 Speaker 1: the company would design and produce the world's most popular 658 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,480 Speaker 1: jet engine. It was called the J forty seven, capable 659 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: of providing up to five thousand pounds of thrust per engine. 660 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,960 Speaker 1: The company and others licensed to produce the J forty 661 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: seven would build more than thirty thousand of the things 662 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,319 Speaker 1: over the following decades, and this engine was used in 663 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,880 Speaker 1: lots of different aircraft, including the Boeing B forty seven 664 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,759 Speaker 1: strato Jet, the Martin x B fifty one, the Conveyor 665 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:40,319 Speaker 1: B thirty six peacemaker, and the Republic XF ninety one 666 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: thunder Scepter, in addition to many others. And if I 667 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 1: ever get fired from tech stuff, I want to get 668 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: a job naming jets, because that seems like it's a 669 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: pretty cool gig. In nineteen forty nine, the U. S. 670 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: Courts ruled on a case that had been working its 671 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,360 Speaker 1: way through the system for the better part of a decade, 672 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,040 Speaker 1: and it all had to do patents about light bulbs 673 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:06,400 Speaker 1: and lamps. The argument was essentially that through the control 674 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:12,279 Speaker 1: of patents, GE was restricting competition and practicing monopolistic company policies, 675 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: which was a big no no and in violation of 676 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,160 Speaker 1: the Sherman Antitrust Act. The court decision stated that g 677 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:24,359 Speaker 1: E had made numerous undeniable contributions to the advancements of 678 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 1: technology in general and the light bulb in particular, but 679 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: it had also used its leverage to quote insulate itself 680 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:37,480 Speaker 1: from competition end quote. The finding cited numerous smaller companies 681 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: that had been in the lamp manufacturing business but had 682 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: either gone out of business or were entirely beholden to 683 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,440 Speaker 1: General Electric as licensees of the company's patents, and the 684 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 1: ruling essentially stated that all those patents on lamp and 685 00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:56,280 Speaker 1: lamp parts should be quote dedicated to the public end quote, 686 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:01,240 Speaker 1: and so General Electric was compelled to lease its patents 687 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: on those particular technologies. Um the company certainly had performed 688 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,920 Speaker 1: in ways that gave it all the advantages, which again, 689 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 1: from the perspective of a company, seems like a no brainer. 690 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: You want to give yourself every chance of success. But 691 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,640 Speaker 1: from an external perspective that it looked like GE was 692 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,280 Speaker 1: a big bully, and so that was how this decision 693 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: came down. In our next episode, we'll look at how 694 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,399 Speaker 1: General Electric played a big part in the space race, 695 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:35,040 Speaker 1: and we'll try and skip over a whole bunch of 696 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,960 Speaker 1: other stuff, because obviously this is going at a pretty 697 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:40,520 Speaker 1: slow pace, and for a company that's more than a 698 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: hundred thirty years old, it's gonna take us a while. 699 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:47,080 Speaker 1: I finally take it in twenty year chunks. But in 700 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,720 Speaker 1: the meantime, if you guys have suggestions for other topics 701 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: I should cover. Whether it's a company, a technology product, 702 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,840 Speaker 1: maybe a trend in tech, or just a general concept 703 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:58,600 Speaker 1: in tech and you want to know more about it, 704 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:01,879 Speaker 1: send me an email the addresses tech Stuff at how 705 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:04,680 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Pop on over to our website 706 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:08,320 Speaker 1: that's text stuff podcast dot com. You'll find an archive 707 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,040 Speaker 1: of all of our past episodes. There. You also find 708 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,200 Speaker 1: links to where we are on social media, and you'll 709 00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 1: find a link to our online store, where every purchase 710 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:20,160 Speaker 1: you make goes to help the show. We greatly appreciate it, 711 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:28,120 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 712 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,520 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 713 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 714 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,840 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 715 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:37,800 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.