Wirt Atmar wrote:
>
> Bob writes:
>
> > The engineer reluctantly took the challenge. He spent a
> > day studying the huge machine. ...
> >
> This seems to be my day for heaping trivia on top of trivia.
>
> Actually, the story is true (but a little inflated). The
> engineer was Charles P. Steinmetz, a mathematical genius
> and electrical engineer. He had just signed on with the
> General Electric company in Schnectady, NY, where GE was
> installing its newest, largest alternating-current dynamos.

Well, you are close, Wirt. ...

From what I remember of the story, it was Steinmetz, but the
company was Ford, not GE.  Henry Ford had hired Steinmetz to
wire his plant.  Steinmetz, being a DC enthusiast, designed
the dynamos as well as the wiring.  When the system broke,
Ford found that none of his engineers could fix it.  He called
Steinmetz in on a consult, and after listening to the staff
describe the problem, he worked for half an hour and fixed it.
He submitted a bill for $10,000.  Ford rejected a bill that
high for "half and hour of tinkering", and asked Steinmetz to
itemize the bill and resubmit it.  Steinmetz itemized it as:

        Half an hour of tinkering           $50.00
        Knowing where to tinker          $9,950.00
                                        ----------
        Total                           $10,000.00

This time Ford paid.

--

Buz          (8

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