The Breakfast Club - IDKMYDE: The GodFather of Cool

Episode Date: February 18, 2024

On this episode of #IDKMYDE, we're diving into the fascinating story of Frederick McKinley Jones, the unsung hero who literally invented cool. Yes, air conditioning and refrigeration? That's all thanks to this incredible innovator. So join us as we uncover the remarkable life of Frederick McKinley Jones and celebrate the man who made staying cool look oh-so-cool. IG: @_idkmyde_ | @BdahtTV | @blackeffectSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help! That's Escape from Z-A- Stan on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now I always knew that black folks was cool in the words of the late great Stuart Scott, as cool as the other side of the pillow.

But what I didn't know, and maybe you didn't either is that black folk literally invented cool. Frederick McKinley Jones. He got over 60 patents, including ticket dispensing machines, a snowmobile, a soundtrack synchronizer that he sold to RCA. But those inventions pale in comparison to 40 patents for air conditioning and refrigeration. Oh, absolutely. Frederick McKinley Jones is the godfather of cool. You know, the Thermo King Company? He co-founded that. In 1949, it was a $3 million business.

Had the equivalent of $40 million today. Keep up. See, the portable cooling units that he designed were very important during World War II. It preserved blood, medicine, food, for the army to use at the hospitals and on the battlefields. See, the refrigeration units were solely made for the military until after the war, and then they became available for commercial use.

Frederick McKinley Jones was born to an Irish dad and a black mom, May 17th, 1893. And not much is known about his mother. It was said that she left his life, and you can't see my air quotes but left his life when he was a child i mean could her black self been ran out of that covington kentucky town after reproducing with an irishman who knows if so that would have been ice cold because he was the godfather of ac never mind keep up what we do know is that his father had difficulties raising him on his own. He was a railroad worker, wasn't making much bread, so by the time Frederick was eight, he was sent to a rectory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was raised by a Catholic priest, Father Ryan, and two years later his dad died. The next year when Fred was in the sixth grade, he dropped out. He began working odd jobs,

but by the time he was 14, he was a self-taught mechanic. By the time he was 19, he had built several cars and Frederick was known as that dude in the Great Lakes Bay region for racing cars. 1913, by the time he was 20 years old, he'd earned his engineering license in Minnesota and 25 years later,

he'd be inventing refrigeration and air conditioning that would literally be one of the coolest inventions ever. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I didn't know. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own?

I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.