Jun 15, 2013
RAY: Now, my brother suggested this puzzler because I guess he didn't like last week's puzzler.
TOM: No. I thought last week's puzzler was awesome.
Here’s goes... Everyone has heard of companies that go out of business because they were trying to make buggy whips, which is a euphemism for 'the technology surpassed them.' And all the companies --
RAY: Left in the dust so to speak.
TOM: That in fact did make buggy whips, of course, all went out of business. Not all, but 99.9% percent of them went out of business when cars came along because you didn't need buggy whips anymore. But there was a company that you wouldn't think would have gone out of business.
RAY: Really? Do tell.
TOM: I saw an ad. I was looking through a book the other day, and I saw an ad for the Scott Muffler Company which was a thriving company in 1919. The Scott Muffler Company.
RAY: And that was just about the time that cars were coming into their own.
TOM: Cars were. You would think that that company would flourish during the next decade. And yet, the Scott Muffler Company fell victim to the buggy whip syndrome and went out of business in the following decade.
RAY: No kidding.
TOM: And the question becomes how come is that?
TOM: The reason that The Scott Muffler Company went out of business is they didn't make mufflers that go underneath the car.
RAY: No?
TOM: Because in 1919 cars didn’t have heaters. The Scott Muffler company was selling scarves.
RAY: Oh, those kinds of mufflers.
TOM: Put on your gloves and your muffler so you wouldn't freeze your tushy while you were driving in your 1919 Ford Model T. All right, do we have a winner?
RAY: Do we have a winner? Our winner this week is William DeBuvitz from Mendon, NJ. Congratulations, William!
