And the There is a famous Rockefeller story that comes out of the 1870s, which were the years

soon after Rockefeller gave birth to standard oil, which was of course the company that would ultimately enrich Rockefeller

and provide him with all his money. This story puts on display the thrift and

economy that would make Rockefeller legendary and which helped standard oil grow into the beast of a corporation that would one day become.

In those very early years of standard oil, Rockefeller used to tore the oil refining facilities himself to ensure they ran smoothly and efficiently.

One day, Rockefeller, who was in his early 30s at this time, was touring one of the standard oil plants in New York City, when he noticed something that piqued his interest.

He was watching a man fill a five-gallon tin can with kerosene, which was later

to be shipped for export. Now this man filled can after can with kerosene, and then he sealed each one shut by soldering the lid to the can.

After watching the process for a few minutes, Rockefeller interrupted.

He asked the man, quote, how many drops of solder are used to seal each can?

Forty, the man replied.

Rockefeller then asked the man if he had ever tried to seal the cans with 38 drops instead of 40.

The man replied that he hadn't.

So Rockefeller asked him to try 38 drops and just see what happened.

The man sealed a can as Rockefeller had requested.

But when it was tested, the can with the 38 drops of solder leaked.

But when Rockefeller as a result said to try 39 drops, the can didn't

leak at all. Thus 39 drops became the new standard amount of solder to use on all tin cans being

sealed. Rockefeller recalled this lesson in efficiency as an old man stating

quote that one drop of solder saved $2,500 the first year. But the

export business kept on increasing and after that it doubled, then quadrupled, and

it became immensely greater than it was then.

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