1.

Life of Henry Ford

Henry Ford, born July 30, 1863, was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children. He grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is today Dearborn, Michigan. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanical things and a dislike for farm work. In 1879, sixteen-year-old Ford left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, although he did occasionally return to help on the farm. He remained an apprentice for three years and then returned to Dearborn. During the next few years, Henry divided his time between operating or repairing steam engines, finding occasional work in a Detroit factory, and over-hauling his father's farm implements, as well as lending a reluctant hand with other farm work. In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. This event signified a conscious decision on Ford's part to dedicate his life to industrial pursuits. His promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893 gave him enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on internal combustion engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle-the Quadricycle. The Quadricycle had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat, and had only two forward speeds with no reverse. Although Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine, he was, however, one of several automotive pioneers who helped this country become a nation of motorists.

Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I, but also for being the publisher of anti-Semitic texts such as the book The International Jew.

2. Career and Ford Motor Company

In 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to Thomas Edison. Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation. Encouraged by Edison, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, completing it in 1898. Backed by the capital of Detroit lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from the Edison Company and founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899. However, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higher price than Ford wanted. Ultimately, the company was not successful and was dissolved in January 1901. After one more unsuccessful attempt to establish a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer. The infant company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. The Ford Motor Company manufactured its first car the model A - in 1903. By 1906, the model N was in production, but yet Ford hadnt achieved his goal of producing a simple, cheap car. Although Ford did not invent the automobile, he developed and manufactured the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. Henry Ford realized his dream of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient with the introduction of the Model T in 1908. This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate, maintain, and handle on rough roads, immediately becoming a huge success. The Model T made its debut with a purchase price of $825.00. Over ten thousand were sold in its first year, establishing a new record. Four years later the price dropped to $575.00 and sales soared. By 1914, Ford could claim a 48% share of the automobile market. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and

business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts. To meet the growing demand for the Model T, the company opened a large factory at Highland Park, Michigan, in 1910. Here, Henry Ford combined precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor, and, in 1913, a continuous moving assembly line. Instead of workers going to the car, the car came to the workers who performed the same task for assembly over and over again. Delivery of parts by conveyor belt to the workers was carefully timed to keep the assembly line moving smoothly and efficiently. With the introduction and perfection of the process, Ford was able to reduce the assembly time of the Model T from twelve and a half hours to less than six hours. Ford's production of Model T made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. In 1914, Ford began paying his employees five dollars a day, nearly doubling the wages offered by other manufacturers. He cut the workday from nine to eight hours in order to convert the factory to a three-shift workday. Ford's mass-production techniques would eventually allow for the manufacture of a Model T every 24 seconds. His innovations made him an international celebrity.

Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently. In ill health, Ford 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 age 83 in Fair Lane, his Dearborn estate. A public viewing was held at Greenfield Village where up to 5,000 people per hour filed past the casket. Funeral services were held in Detroit's Cathedral Church of St. Paul and he was buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit.

3. Did you know that Henry Ford also

Built and drove race cars early in his career to demonstrate that his engineering designs produced reliable vehicles?

 Financed a pacifist expedition to Europe during World War I? He and about 170 others went -- without government support or approval -- to seek peace.

Was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1918?

Owned a controversial newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, that published anti-Jewish articles which offended many and tarnished his image? Built Village Industries, small factories in rural Michigan, where people could work and farm during different seasons, thereby bridging the urban and rural experience?

Sought ways to use agricultural products in industrial production, including soybean-based plastic automobile components such as this experimental automobile trunk?

Was one of the nation's foremost opponents of labor unions in the 1930s and was the last automobile manufacturer to unionize his work force?

Mobilized his factories for the war effort and produced bombers, Jeeps, and tanks for WorldWarII?

Established schools in several areas of the country that provided educational experiences based on traditional one room school techniques, modern teaching methods, and "learning through doing"?

 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.

4. Bibliography

http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/btford.html http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/ford.htm http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ford.htm http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ford.html