Fascinating
facts about Henry Ford
inventor of mass production in 1913. |
Henry Ford |
AT A GLANCE:
Henry Ford realized he'd
need a more efficient way to mass produce cars in
order to lower the price. He looked at other
industries and found four principles that would
further their goal: interchangeable parts,
continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing
wasted effort.
Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning
and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first
moving assembly line ever used for large-scale
manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a
record-breaking rate.
|
THE
STORY
RELATED INFO
BOOKS
VIDEOS
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WHERE TO FIND
QUOTATIONS
HOW IT WORKS
DID YOU KNOW? |
| Inventor: |
Henry Ford |
|
|
Criteria: |
Modern
prototype. First practical. Entrepreneur. |
| Birth: |
July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan |
| Death: |
April 7,
1947 in Dearborn, Michigan |
|
Nationality: |
American |
|
|
Invention: |
mass production |
|
|
Function: |
noun / moving
assembly line |
|
Definition: |
The manufacture of goods
in large quantities, often using standardized designs, assembly-line
techniques and a division of skills amongst the labor force or
specialized machines arranged in the most efficient manner possible.
The most famous mass produced automobile is the Ford Model T. |
|
Milestones:
1863 Born July 30 in Greenfield Township, now Dearborn, Michigan.
1879 Leaves family farm for Detroit to work in machine shops.
1888 Marries Clara Bryant moves to 80-acre farm in what is today
Dearborn.
1891 Secures position as engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company;
returns to Detroit.
1893 Edsel Bryant Ford, only child of Henry and Clara Ford, born.
1896 Completes his first automobile, the Quadricycle, and drives it
through the streets of Detroit.
1899 Ends employment with the Edison to devote full attention to the
manufacture of automobiles.
1899 Made chief engineer and partner in the newly formed Detroit
Automobile Company
1901 Henry Ford Company organized with Ford as engineer. Ford resigns
over dispute with bankers 1902 Henry Ford Company becomes the Cadillac
Motor Car Co.
1903 Ford Motor Company is officially incorporated. Model A
appears on the market in Detroit.
1908 Ford begins manufacturing the famous Model T.
1910 Begins operations at factory in Highland Park, Michigan.
1913 Introduces first moving automobile assembly line at Highland Park
manufacturing facility.
1914 Ford Motor Company' begins paying its workers $5.00 for an eight
hour day
1917 Begins construction of industrial facility on the Rouge River in
Dearborn, Michigan.
1918 Loses his bid for the U.S. Senate.
1919 Edsel B .Ford, son of Henry Ford, is named president of Ford Motor
Company
1921 Ford Motor Company dominates auto production with 55 percent of
industry's total output.
1927 Transfers final assembly line from Highland Park plant to the Rouge
1927 Production of the Model T ends, and the Model A is introduced.
1937 "Battle of the Overpass" occurs between Ford security staff and
United Auto Workers union
1941 Ford Motor Company signs a contract with UAW.
1943 Edsel B. Ford dies at age 49.
1947 Henry Ford dies at age 83, at Fair Lane, his Dearborn, Michigan
home
CAPS:Ford, Henry Ford, Edsel Ford, Henry Ford II, Bill Ford, Thomas
Edison, Frederick Taylor, UAW,
John Hall, George Eastman, ARY, mass production, assembly line, moving assembly line,
manufacturing, production, automobile,
SIP, history, biography, inventor, invention. |
|
STORY:
Most people credit Henry
Ford with inventing the automobile. The fact is he didn't, but
Henry Ford held many patents on automotive mechanisms. He is best
remembered, however, for helping devise the factory assembly approach to
production that revolutionized the auto industry by greatly reducing the
time required to assemble a car
The story of Henry Ford is not of a prodigy entrepreneur or an overnight
success. Ford grew up on a farm and might easily have remained in
agriculture. But something stronger pulled at Ford's imagination: mechanics,
machinery, understanding how things worked and what new possibilities lay in
store. As a young boy, he took apart everything he got his hands on. He
quickly became known around the neighborhood for fixing people's watches.
Henry Ford's parents left Ireland during the potato famine and settled in
the Detroit area in the 1840s. Ford was born in what is now Dearborn,
Michigan on July 30, 1863. His formal education was limited, but even as a youngster, he was
handy with machinery. He constructing his first steam
engine (1878) at the age of 15. He became a
machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16.
In 1888, Henry Ford married Clara Bryant and moves to an 80-acre farm in
what is today Dearborn. Five years later their only child Edsel Bryant Ford
is born. From 1891 to
1899 he was a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison
Illuminating Company. In 1893 he built his first
internal combustion engine, a small one-cylinder gasoline model.
In 1896, Ford invented the Quadricycle. It was the first "horseless
carriage" that he actually built. It's a far cry from today's cars and even
from what he produced a few years later, but in a way it's the starting
point of Ford's career as a businessman. Until the Quadricycle, Ford's
tinkering had been experimental, theoretical—like the gas engine he built on
his kitchen table in the 1890's, which was just an engine with nothing to
power. The Quadricycle showed enough popularity and potential that it
launched the beginning of Ford's business ventures.
In 1899 Ford left Edison to help run the newly formed Detroit Automobile Company
which produced only a few cars. Ford quit Detroit Automobile
Company and began to build his own racing cars. In 1901, the Henry Ford
Company is organized with Ford as chief engineer.
Cars were still built essentially one at a time. Ford hoped to incorporate
ideas from other industries -- standardized parts as Eli Whitney had used
with gun manufacturing and George Eastman tried in photo processing -- to
make the process more efficient. This idea struck others in his field as
nutty, so before long, Henry resigned in a dispute with his financial
backers. In 1902, the company becomes the Cadillac Motor Car Co.
His own racing cars were good enough to attract backers and even
partners, Ford Motor Company was founded on June 16, 1903. The first Ford, the Model
A, was being sold in Detroit a few months later. When founded, Ford Motor
Company was just one of 15 car manufacturers in Michigan and 88 in the US.
But as it began to turn a profit within its first few months, it became
clear that Henry Ford's vision for the automotive industry was going to
work, and work in a big way. During the first five years of Ford Motor
Company's existence, Henry Ford, as chief engineer and later as president,
directed a development and production program that started in a converted
wagon shop.
As with most great enterprises, Ford Motor Company's beginnings were modest.
The company had anxious moments in its infancy. Beginning in 1903, the
company began using the first 19 letters of the alphabet to name new cars. The earliest record of a
shipment of a Model A is July 20, 1903, approximately one month after incorporation, to a
Detroit physician. With the company's first sale came hope—a young Ford
Motor Company had taken its first steps.
Henry Ford's insistence that the company's future lay in the production of
affordable cars for a mass market caused increasing friction between him and
the other investors. As some left, Ford acquired enough stock to increase
his own holdings to 58.5 percent. Henry Ford became president in 1906,
replacing John S. Gray, a Detroit banker who had served as the company's
first president.
In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create
"a motor car for the great multitude." At that time, automobiles were
expensive, custom-made machines. Ford's engineers took the first step
towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering
no factory options -- not even a choice of color.
He still met resistance to his ideas for mass
production of a car the average worker could afford. But he stuck to his
goal and finally in 1908, began production of the Model T. The company began selling his famous Model T for $850 each. The
Model T was inexpensive for its day, and proved to be sturdy, reliable and
easy to operate. It quickly became very popular; and soon Ford found he was
unable to meet the enormous demand for his cars.
Ford's solution was to invent a moving industrial production line. By
installing a moving belt in his factory, employees would be able to build
cars one piece at a time, instead of one car at a time. This principle,
called "division of labor," allowed workers to focus on doing one thing very
well, rather than being responsible for a number of tasks.
Ford gradually adapted the production line
until in 1913, his plant incorporated the first moving assembly line. Demand
for the affordable car soared even as production went up: before Ford
stopped making the model T in 1927, 15 million had been sold, and Ford had
become the leading auto manufacturer in the country. In addition to the
moving assembly line, Ford revolutionized the auto industry by increasing
the pay and decreasing the hours of his employees, ensuring he could get
enough and the best workers. During the Model T era, Ford bought out his
shareholders so he had complete financial control of the now vast
corporation. He continued to innovate, but competitors (growing more
powerful though fewer in number) began to cut into Ford's market share.
Perhaps Ford Motor Company's single greatest contribution to automotive
manufacturing was the moving assembly line. First implemented at the
Highland Park plant (in Michigan, US) in 1913, the new technique allowed
individual workers to stay in one place and perform the same task repeatedly
on multiple vehicles that passed by them. The line proved tremendously
efficient, helping the company far surpass the production levels of their
competitors—and making the vehicles more affordable.
By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity, had
resulted in a monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely because
of the unpleasant monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production
quotas assigned to workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage then
standard in the industry, raising it from about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased
stability in his labor force and a substantial reduction in operating costs. These
factors, coupled with the enormous increase in output made possible by new technological
methods, led to an increase in company profits from $30 million in 1914 to $60 million in
1916.
Ford found his new system produced cars quickly and efficiently; so
efficiently that it considerably lowered the cost of assembling the cars. He
decided to pass this savings along to his customers, and in 1915 dropped the
price of the Model T from $850 to $290. That year, he sold 1 million cars.
Instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit
flocked to Ford, bringing in their human capital and expertise, raising
productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford called it 'wage motive.' The
company's use of vertical integration also proved successful, as Ford built
a gigantic industrial facility on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan that
shipped in raw materials and shipped out finished automobiles.
Ford became interested in politics and as a successful and powerful business
leader, was sometimes a participant in political affairs. In 1915, he
funded a trip to Europe, where World War I was raging. He and about 170
others went -- without government support or approval -- to seek peace. The
war lasted another three years. After the war Ford ran unsuccessfully for
the Senate on the Democratic ticket. He never ran again, but was always
outspoken on political subjects.
The years between the world wars were a period of hectic expansion. In 1917,
Ford Motor Company began producing trucks and tractors. In 1919 a conflict
with stockholders over the millions to be spent building the giant Rouge
manufacturing complex in Dearborn, Michigan led to the company becoming
wholly owned by Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, who then succeeded his father
as president.
The famous Ford Model T
automobile ended production in 1927. During its production run from
1908 to 1927 over 15,000,000 Model T's were produced.. It is generally
regarded as the first affordable automobile, and the car which "put
America on wheels".
He violently opposed labor organizations and actively
worked against the United Auto Workers trying to unionize his plants. After
the "Battle of the Overpass" occurred between Ford security staff and United
Auto Workers union, Ford began serious negotiations with the UAW and a
contract was signed in 1941.
Ford suffered an initial stroke
in 1938, after which he turned over the running of his company to his son Edsel.
Edsel's 1943 death brought Henry Ford out of retirement. In ill health, he
ceded the presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II in September 1945, and
went into retirement. He died in 1947 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of
83 in Fair Lane, his Dearborn estate, and is buried in the Ford Cemetery in
Detroit.
Ford Motor Company started the last century with a single man envisioning
products that would meet the needs of people in a world on the verge of
high-gear industrialization. he company is beginning its second century
of existence with a worldwide organization that retains and expands Henry
Ford's heritage by developing products that serve the varying and
ever-changing needs of people in the global community. When Henry Ford started building
the Model T on an assembly line, he didn't just revolutionize the fledgling
automobile industry--he changed the world.
Henry Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the
modern assembly line used in mass production. His introduction of the Model
T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As sole
owner of the Ford Company he became one of the richest and best-known people
in the world. Ford and his family spent a good deal of time and money on charitable work.
They set up an historical museum in Greenfield Village, Michigan, and most
notably set up the Ford Foundation, which provides grants for research,
education, and development.
Mass Production Vision
In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create
"a motor car for the great multitude." At that time, automobiles were
expensive, custom-made machines.
Ford's engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the
Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering no factory options -- not even a
choice of color. The Model T, first produced in 1908, kept the same design
until the last one -- number 15,000,000 -- rolled off the line in 1927.
From
the start, the Model T was less expensive than most other cars, but it was
still not attainable for the "multitude." Ford realized he'd need a more
efficient way to produce the car in order to lower the price. He and his
team looked at other industries and found four principles that would further
their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and
reducing wasted effort.
Using interchangeable parts meant making the individual pieces of the car
the same every time. That way any valve would fit any engine, any steering
wheel would fit any chassis. The efficiencies to be gained were proven in
the assembly of standardized photography equipment pioneered by George
Eastman in 1892. This meant improving the machinery and cutting
tools used to make the parts. But once the machines were adjusted, a
low-skilled laborer could operate them, replacing the skilled craftsperson
who formerly made the parts by hand.
To improve the flow of the work, it
needed to be arranged so that as one task was finished, another began, with
minimum time spent in set-up. Ford was inspired by the meat-packing houses
of Chicago and a grain mill conveyor belt he had seen. If he brought the
work to the workers, they spent less time moving about. He adopting the
Chicago meatpackers overhead trolley to auto production by installing the
first automatic conveyer belt.
Then he divided the
labor by breaking the assembly of the Model T into 84 distinct steps. Each
worker was trained to do just one of these steps.
Ford called in Frederick
Winslow Taylor, the creator of "scientific management," to do time and
motion studies to determine the exact speed at which the work should proceed
and the exact motions workers should use to accomplish their tasks. There by
reducing wasted effort.
Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning
and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first
moving assembly line ever used for large-scale manufacturing. Ford produced
cars at a record-breaking rate. That meant he could lower the price and
still make a good profit by selling more cars.
Ford had another notion,
rather original in its time: the workers were also potential consumers! In 1914, Ford workers' wages were raised to $5 a day -- an excellent wage --
and they soon proved him right by buying their own Model Ts. Ford was called
"a traitor to his class" by other industrialists and professionals, but he
held firm in believing that well-paid workers would put up with dull work,
be loyal, and buy his cars.
Ford's manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries.
The process was so revolutionary that the term "to Fordize" meant to
standardize a product and manufacture it by mass means at a price so low
that the common man could afford to buy it. Henry Ford went beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he
changed the habits of a nation, and shaped its very character. |
TO
LEARN MORE
RELATED INFORMATION:
Invention of the
Automobile
from The Great Idea Finder
Invention of the Assembly Line
from The
Great Idea Finder
Henry Ford, The Entrepreneur
from The Great Idea Finder
Henry Ford, The Philanthropist from The Great Idea Finder
Ford
Motor Company, A Century of Innovation
from The Great Idea Finder
ON THE BOOKSHELF:
My Life and Work
by Henry Ford Samuel Crowther / Paperback: 296 pages / Kessinger
Publishing (January 2003)
American Henry Ford, entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist was born in
Michigan and trained as a machinist and engineer before founding, in 1903,
the Ford Motor Company. This book written by Ford describes in his own
words, his vision, his beliefs and his passions for the American way of
life.
We'll Race You
Henry: A Story About Henry Ford
Barbara Mitchell, Kathy Haubrich / Paperback - 64 pages / Carolrhoda Books - 1988
A brief biography of Henry Ford with emphasis on how he came to develop fast, sturdy, and
reliable racing cars that eventually gave him the idea for his Model T.
Henry Ford:
Young Man With Ideas
Hazel B. Aird / Paperback 192 pages / Aladdin Paperbacks - 1986
The early life of the American automotive industrialist who founded the
Ford Motor Company and pioneered in assembly-line methods of mass
production
Today and
Tomorrow
by Henry Ford / Hardcover: 300 pages / Productivity Press, Reprint edition (December, 1989
)This autobiography by the world's most famous automaker reveals the thinking that
changed industry forever and provided the inspiration for Just-In-Time.
Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company,
and a Century of Progress (Limited Availability)
by Douglas Brinkley /
Hardcover: 858 pages / Viking Press; (April
28, 2003)
In conjunction with its 100th anniversary, the Ford Motor Company opened
its monumental archives to the unfettered research of author/historian
Douglas Brinkley. Few endeavors in history can match Ford Motor Company's
impact on human civilization.
Model
T Ford: The Car That Changed the World
by Bruce W. McCalley / Hardcover: 614 pages / Krause Publications
(April 1, 1994)
Documents the development of the assembly line and the many innovations
and adaptations Ford put to use in making his famous Model T ( The Tin
Lizzy).
The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century
by Steven Watts / Paperback: 656 pages / Vintage (October 10, 2006)
Ford embodied both the promises and pitfalls of modern American democracy:
"its devotion to opportunity, openness to new ideas, [and] lack of
pretension" as well as its anti-intellectualism and "faith in the redemptive
power of material goods."
ON THE SCREEN:
Assembly Line
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / History Channel / Less than $25.00
When Henry Ford started building the Model T on an assembly line, he
didn't just revolutionize the fledgling automobile industry--he changed
the world.
Henry Ford: Tin Lizzy Tycoon
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / Biography Channel / Less than $25.00
Henry Ford was one of the great innovators of our time. When the car he
invented became so popular he couldn't build them fast enough, he came
up with the modern assembly plant to meet demand. The rest is history.
Mansions, Monuments & Masterpieces
DVD / 1 Volume Set / 50 Minutes / A&E / 74281 / Less than $25.00
One illuminated America. The other put the nation on the road. Thomas
Edison and Henry Ford transformed the world with their inventions. They
shared a friendship that spanned decades. And the fortunes they made allowed
them to create remarkable homes and estates
ON THE WEB:
Ford Biography
Henry enjoyed a childhood typical of the rural nineteenth century, spending days in a
one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age, he showed an interest in
mechanical things and a dislike for farm work.Henry ford Museum presents a year by year
history of the Ford Motor Company.
(URL: www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp)
The Man, The Machine and The Company
When founded, Ford Motor Company was just one of
15 car manufacturers in Michigan and 88 in the US. But as it began to turn a
profit within its first few months, it became clear that Henry Ford's vision
for the automotive industry was going to work, and work in a big way.
(URL: www.ford.com/en/heritage/history/default.htm )
People
and Discovies - PBS Series
He still met resistance to his ideas for mass production of a car the average worker could
afford.
But he stuck to his goal and finally in 1908, began production of the Model T. Ford
gradually
adapted the production line until in 1913, his plant incorporated the first moving
assembly line.
(URL: www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/btford.html )
"Father of the Automobile"
Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the
creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that
in only a few decades permanently changed the economic and social
character of the United States
(URL: www.willamette.edu/~fthompso/MgmtCon/Henry_Ford.html)
The
Engines of Our Ingenuity
A radio program, heard nationally on Public Radio, that tells the story of
how our culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by John
Lienhard, the M.D. Anderson Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and
History at the University of Houston.
(URL: www.uh.edu/engines/epi961.htm)
Invention
Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Celebrates inventor/innovator role models through outreach activities and annual
awards to inspire a new generation of American scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ford.html)
National
Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame™ honors
the women and men responsible for the great technological advances that make
human, social and economic progress possible..
(URL:www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/60.html)
Ford Motor Company
The official site of Ford Motor Company nad its family of brands
(URL: www.ford.com/en/default.htm)
Henry Ford Estate (Fair Lane)
The Henry Ford Estate - Fair Lane, a National Historic Landmark on the
campus of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is the former home of
automaker Henry Ford and his wife Clara. The Fords lived at Fair Lane from
1915 until their deaths in 1947 and 1950. The estate includes the
powerhouse, home furnishings, and grounds landscaped with Clara's advice.
Come join us for an insightful look into the
(URL: www.henryfordestate.org/)
The Henry Ford
Indoor/outdoor museum founded by Henry Ford includes among its millions of
objects Ford's own birthplace, a reconstruction of the Bagley Avenue shed
where Ford built his first automobile, many early Ford automobiles,
including the Quadricycle and several Model Ts.
(URL: www.TheHenryFord.org)
Ford Foundation
Founded in 1936, the foundation operated as a local philanthropy in the
state of Michigan until 1950, when it expanded to become a national and
international foundation. Since its inception it has been an
independent, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization. It has provided
more than $12 billion for grants, projects and loans.
(URL: www.fordfound.org/) .
The
Quadricycle
It was called the Quadeicycle because it ran on four bicycle tires. The success of
the little vehicle fueled Ford's automobile ambitions, leading ultimately to the founding
of Ford Motor Company in 1903.
(URL: www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/showroom/1896/quad.html)
Greatest Business Stories
The Ford Motor Company was one of only forty-four U.S. automakers left in
1929, out of the hundreds that had entered the fray since the beginning of
the century. That year, Ford, General Motors, and the newly formed Chrysler
Corporation -- known then and now as the Big Three -- accounted for 80
percent of the market.
(URL: www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/business/forbes/ford.html)
You can
paint it any color, so long as it's black.
From 1908-1927, the Model T would endure with little change in its design. Henry Ford had
succeeded in his quest to build a car for the masses.
(URL: www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/showroom/1908/model.t.html)
WHERE TO FIND:
Ford
Rouge Factory Tour
There’s more to experience than ever before! Motivate your dreamers.
Encourage your inventors. Inspire your radical thinkers. Spark the
imaginations of your students by utilizing the incredible array of
opportunities available through The Henry Ford. Advance reservations are
recommended
WORDS OF WISDOM
"The only history worth a thinker's damn is the history we
make today." - Henry Ford
"It will take a hundred years to tell whether he
helped us or hurt us, but he certainly didn't leave us where he found us." -
Will Rogers, speaking about Henry Ford
DID YOU KNOW?
- In 1908 the Ford
company initiated production of the celebrated Model T. Until 1927,
when the Model T was discontinued in favor of a more up-to-date model,
the company produced and sold about 15 million cars.
- On January 5, 1914 Henry Ford
established a minimum wage of $5.00 per day in his automobile factories
for an eight hour work day.
- In the period from 1937 to 1941, the Ford
company became the only major manufacturer of automobiles in the Detroit area that had not
recognized any labor union as the collective bargaining representative of employees.Ford was constrained to negotiate a standard labor contract
after a successful strike by the workers at his main plant at River Rouge, Michigan, in
April 1941
- Early in 1941 Ford was granted government contracts whereby he was, at first, to
manufacture parts for bombers and, later, the entire airplane. By the end of World War II (1945) this plant
had manufactured more than 8000 planes.
-
Ford was active in
several other fields besides those of automobile and airplane
manufacturing. In 1915 he chartered a peace ship, which carried him and
a number of like-minded individuals to Europe, where they attempted
without success to persuade the belligerent governments to end World War
I
-
Advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction of his gigantic
enterprises in 1945. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn. Ford left a personal fortune
estimated at $500 to $700 million, bequeathing the largest share of his holdings in the
Ford Motor Company to the Ford Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
-
Henry Ford long had an
interest in plastics developed from agricultural products,
especially soybeans. He cultivated a relationship with George
Washington Carver for this purpose. Soybean-based plastics were used
in Ford automobiles throughout the 1930s in plastic parts such as
car horns, in paint, etc. This project culminated in 1942, when Ford
patented an automobile made almost entirely of plastic, attached to
a tubular welded frame. It weighed 30% less than a steel car, and
was said to be able to withstand blows ten times greater than could
steel. Furthermore, it ran on grain alcohol (ethanol) instead of
gasoline. The design never caught on.
-
Ford was instrumental in developing charcoal briquets, under the
brand name "Ford Charcoal". Along with his brother in law, E.G.
Kingsford they used wood scraps from the Ford factory to make the
briquets, The company name was later changed to "Kingsford".
-
Ford maintained a vacation residence (known as the "Ford
Plantation") in Richmond Hill, Georgia. He contributed substantially
to the community, building a chapel and schoolhouse and employing a
large number of local residents.
-
Ford had an interest in "Americana". In the 1920s, Ford began work
to turn Sudbury, Massachusetts into a themed historical village. He
moved the schoolhouse (supposedly) referred to in the nursery rhyme,
Mary had a little lamb from Sterling, Massachusetts and purchased
the historical Wayside Inn. This plan never saw fruition, but Ford
repeated it with the creation of Greenfield Village in Dearborn,
Michigan. It may have inspired the creation of Old Sturbridge
Village as well. About the same time, he began collecting materials
for his museum, which had a theme of practical technology. It was
opened in 1929 as the Edison Institute and, although greatly
modernized, remains open today.
-
By
1921, Ford Motor Co.dominates auto production with 55 percent of
industry's total output.
-
The Ford Motor Company was one of
only forty-four U.S. automakers left in 1929, out of the hundreds that
had entered the fray since the beginning of the century. That year,
Ford, General Motors, and the newly formed Chrysler Corporation -- known
then and now as the Big Three -- accounted for 80 percent of the market.
-
Ford was the winner of the award of Car Entrepreneur of the Century
in 1999.
-
Patent # 747,909 issued December 22,
1903 for motor-vehicle
|
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Designated
trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. |
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Reference Sources in BOLD Type. |
This page revised May 21, 2007. |
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