Steinmetz General Electric generator failure

Parable about consulting fees, told as setup for the John Wulff story. Steinmetz diagnoses a failed GE generator with seven drawings, a chair, and a piece of chalk; bills $1,000; itemizes "chalk, $1; knowing where to put the X, $999." Tom uses it to make the same point he made earlier in §9.p3 about his own billing rates versus competitors.

So the John Wulff story about charging fees — actually, my favorite is the story of Steinmetz. Does anyone know who Steinmetz was? Steinmetz was a great mathematician who basically learned how to use imaginary numbers to explain what AC electricity does. He worked for General Electric, but he also consulted. Brilliant man. Around 1900, Westinghouse or somebody put in this big generator at General Electric, and they hired Steinmetz as a consultant. For two days he asked for seven drawings and a chair, and he sat in front of this huge electrical generator with the drawings, trying to understand why this thing wasn't working. They had just installed it, and it wasn't working. Finally on the second day he asked for a piece of chalk. With the chalk he drew a little box and put an X in it. He said: cut the steel case open here, cut this connection in the copper windings of the generator, seal it back up, and that will fix it. They did, and it worked. General Electric was very happy, and the people of New York now had lights.