Henry and Ford !

Henry Ford was born in 1863 , the son of a very successful farming family in Dearborn Michigan . In 1879 Henry moved to Detroit , were he served an apprenticeship as a machinist , for three years . Henry returned to Dearborn and spent some years repairing Westinghouse steam engines and farm equipment and even ran a sawmill for a time .

It 1891 Henry became an engineer for Thomas Edison , at Edison Illumination Company , in Detroit . Henry became Chief Engineer of the company in 1893 . The pay increase gave him the money he needed to experiment and develop his internal combustion engine . In 1896 Henry completed his first perfected automobile , which he named the Quadricycle .

The first Ford 1896 Ford Quadricycle

In August of 1899 the Detroit Automobile Company began . The investors got impatient with production manager Henry Ford , as he would not put vehicles into production until they were perfected to his satisfaction . The investors push for profits led to the Detroit Automobile Company being dissolved in January of 1901. The company went under a restructuring by Henry and became The Henry Ford Motor Company .

The first vehicle produced at the Detroit Automobile Company , was a delivery truck in 1900 .

A cost comparison between this truck and a horse and wagon claimed that the truck was about $800.00 lower cost for a five year period ?

1900 Detroit Motor Company delivery truck .

Henry designed and built a 26 horse power automobile , which he had great success racing in October of 1901 .

1901 Ford Racer

This success aided him to finance the Henry Ford Motor Company which he began in November of 1901 . In 1902 Henry left , The Henry Ford Motor Company in 1902 , and it than became the Cadillac Motor Company . In 1902 Henry also designed and built a 80+ horse power race car called ‘999”, which was driven very successfully in October of 1902 . This helped lead to the start of “Ford &Malcomson Ltd automobile manufacturing . Henry now designed an automobile that was less expensive and was affordable to the working man . The Dodge Brothers machine shop was hired to build many of the parts Henry designed for his cars . (John and Horace Dodge were known for excellent quality and workmanship in their machine shop) .

The Dodge brothers took a 10 % share in the company as partial payment for the parts the supplied . This share eventually gave the Dodge Brother about one million dollars a year of income , which helped them to start of Dodge Brothers Motor Company in 1914 . When Henry Ford bought out all the share holders in 1914 the Dodge Brothers received another 25 million dollars .

Ford & Malcomson Ltd became The Ford Motor Company in June of 1903 .

1903 Model A Ford

In the car that was later named the “999” Henry drove a “one mile” course (1.6 km) on the ice of Lake St Claire , and set a land speed record at over 91 miles per hour (147kmh) and in 39.4 seconds . This made the Ford name very well known through out North America . The same car was then taken on a tour from coast to coast by race driver Barney Oldfield to further permote the Ford name .

Henry introduced the assembly line to manufacture automobiles to increase production while maintaining the quality and dependability that Ford was known for . In 1908 the Model T was introduced . It was the first to have a steering wheel on the Left , which all cars in North America and some other parts of the world have now . It had a completely enclosed engine and transmission and a solid cast 4 cylinder engine block . This car was built very simple and very well . It was very reliable , easy and inexpensive to maintain and easy to drive too . In 1910 Henry built a very large plant (which became part of the worlds largest manufacturing complex ) to meet the sales demand for the Model T . Precision in manufacturing , and interchangeable standard parts were introduced .

1909 Ford T touring

In 1913 the steadily moving assembly line and timed , parts supply to the workers by conveyer belts were introduced which made the assembling of the Model T , a very smooth accurate operation .

In 1914 Henry shocked the World when he increased the wages of his workers to $5.00 per day . This was more than double the average for that time . This ment that his workers could now afford to buy the automobiles they made . Sales of Ford T s reached 250,000 in 1914 and by 1916 reached over 470,000 Model T s .

1914 Model T Touring .

The increase in wages ment that the best trades people in the land were lined up at the door looking for jobs . Workers did not want to leave the jobs , so well trained workers stayed long term , which helped keep production quality very high and keep training cost low .

By 1918 half of all the automobiles on the road in North America were Model T Fords . The production of the Model T Ford spanned from 1908 to 1927 during which time well over 15 million Model Ts were sold .

Henry made his son Edsel , President of Ford Motor Company in December of 1918 , but Henry was still in control of the company any made the final decision on all maters .

In 1922 Henry reduced the work week for his workers from 6 - 8 hour days per week (48 hours) , to 5 - 8 hour days per week (40 hours)

1927 Model A Ford

In 1927 the Model A Ford was introduced and was continued until 1931, during which time 4 million were sold .

Henry Ford re assumed the president position in 1943 after the passing of his son Edsel . Henry passed the position on to his grandson , Henry Ford II in 1945 when he (Henry senior) retired .

Henry Ford passed away in 1947 .

Henry Ford aquired over 160 patents of his own to his credit for engineering and designs he produced over the years . His company , The Ford Motor Company is still the largest Family controlled company in the world . Ford also sells automobiles in over 130 countries in the world .

From 1925 until 1933 Ford also built the Tri-motor “Airplane” . This was the first successful passenger carrying air craft in USA and carried 12 passengers . 199 units were sold to the US Army Air Corps , the US Navy , the Royal Canadian Air Force , and was also used by over 100 airlines .

Ford Tri-motor

Henry Ford contributed greatly to the war effort of WWII . The aviation industry could only produce one B-24 bomber a day . Henry showed the world how to produce these airplanes much quicker . In 1943 Henry began to produce B24s in his new Willow Run complex at a rate of one per hour out the door were the pilots camped to fly the planes away . The B24 was the most used airplane of WWII . It changed the coarse of the war in favor of the allied Forces and helped greatly to eventually win the war .

B 24 Bomber

Ford Willow Run plant . Building B24 Bombers .

The Jeep that was designed by American Bantam automobile company , was chosen by the US Army as a WWII transportation vehicle . Ford Motor Company and Willys were awarded the contracts to build these Jeeps .

US Army jeep designed by American Bantam and built by Ford

And Willys .

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