Remember the story of the engineer who asked for a payment of $10,000 and justified it as $1 to turn the screw and $9,999 to know which screw to turn?
Well, that famous engineer did exist, his name is Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923)
Once, their paths crossed with those of Henry Ford.
At Ford's River Rouge plant, there was a technical problem with a large generator, and the plant's electrical engineers couldn't figure out where the problem was.
Ford himself turned to Steinmetz for help.
When the "little giant" arrived at the factory, he refused any help and demanded a notebook, a pen, and a cot.
He spent two days and two nights in the factory, listening to the noise of the generator, while performing countless strange and complicated calculations.
Then, abruptly, he demanded that they bring him a ladder, a tape measure, and some blackboard chalk.
With considerable effort (given the hump and shoulder dysplasia he suffered from), he climbed the ladder until he reached the top of the generator.
Then, using the tape measure, he calculated a precise point on the surface of the enormous machine, where he made a mark with chalk.
He then climbed down the ladder and told the skeptical engineers surrounding him that they would have to remove the side plate, disassemble the generator coil, and remove 16 turns of wire, starting from the exact spot where he had made his chalk mark.
When the corrections were made, to the engineers' amazement, the generator was back to working perfectly.
Ford subsequently received a bill for ten thousand dollars, signed by Steinmetz of General Electric.
The famous American businessman returned it, acknowledging the excellent work done by the brilliant engineer of European origin, but respectfully asking for a more detailed invoice (ten thousand dollars was an astronomical sum at that time!).
Steinmetz complied with the request, returning the invoice, to which he added the following detail:
- Chalk mark on the generator: $1
- Know where to dial: $9,999
Total to pay: $10,000
The bill was paid. Silently, without protest, and without further delay.
The anecdote appears in a letter from Jack B. Scott to the editor of "Life" magazine, published on May 14, 1965. His father, Burt Scott, had been an employee of Henry Ford for many years.
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