The Beginning, the Progression and Future New Technology

The Origins of Air Conditioning

The 3 Goldberg Brothers, Norman, Hiram and Maxwell invented and developed the first automobile Air Conditioner. On 17th July 1946 the temperature in Detroit was 97°; the three brothers walked into Henry Fords office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that three Gentleman were there with the most exciting innovation in the automobile Industry since the self-starter.

Henry was curious and invited them in to his office, but they declined and instead asked him to come into the parking lot and to their car. They persuaded him to get into the car, which was by then around 130°. They turned on the Air Conditioner and the Temperature immediately dropped to a much more comfortable level.

The old man got very excited and invited them back into his office, where he offered them $3 Million Dollars for the Patent... The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 Million but wanted the recognition by having a label 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner' on the dashboard of each car it was installed in. There was no way that old man Ford was going to put the Goldberg name on 2-million Ford cars. They haggled back and forth for a couple of hours and finally agreed on $4 Million and that just their names would be displayed...

And so, even today all Ford Air-Conditioners display on their controls, the names...

"Norm, Hi and Max"

The First Production car with Air Conditioning was a 1946 Packard operating with an R12-CFC Air Conditioner installed in the trunk.

R12 CFC Refrigerant was used on all Automobileês from 1946 until 1993.

R134A HFC Refrigerant was introduced on all production vehicles from 1993 to date.

Co2 (R774) is being developed by Visteon, Denso, Sanden, and Mitsubishi as an alternative to R134A Refrigerant from 2010 onwards...

Co2 is being considered as a suitable replacement and a contribution towards reduction on Global Green House reductions.

Obrist Engineering GmbH see CO2 as the refrigerant of the future in the automotive sector and dedicate their activities to develop the necessary components.