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Henry Ford |
Henry Ford was a magnate in the automobile industry. He was an
American industrialist and well known for founding the Ford Motor Company,
which is currently one of the leading companies in the automobile industry. Ford began life
in his father’s farm and gradually progressed to be an illustrious and a
successful industrialist. In his farming life he realised that plowing was
the hardest of all farming work, so he decided to make a movable object that
could move these plows in the farm instead of human and horse efforts. This
was the beginning of the success story.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 on his father’s farm in Greenfield
Township, near Detroit, Michigan-USA. He was born to Mary and William Ford who
lived their lives as farmers. Henry grew up helping his parents in the farm. As
a child he showed much interest in machines. At an Early age he demonstrated
mechanical ability by fixing his watch and also organizing other kids to build rudimentary water wheels. He gained more mechanical
skills through learning by trial-and-error. As at age 15 he was known in his neighborhood
as a watch repairer.
His father wanted him to be a farmer
but young Henry chose another route. His interest defined his career path. In
1879, he stopped schooling and left home for Detroit to work as an apprentice
in the machine shop of the Drydock Engine Works.
Before his apprenticeship he had the
idea of creating a horseless light steam car which he believed could serve as a
tractor to pull plows on the farm. The initial idea was to build a steam
engine that was light enough to move plows. In his book “My Life and Work” he
stated that plowing was the most hardest of all the farm works so he thought
of a solution to ease it. Though steam engine had already been invented, Ford
had another use for this engine.
Upon the completion of his
apprenticeship he returned to Dearborn In 1882, to work on the family farm and also
worked on part time to pursue his interest. According to Henry, he returned to
the farm not because he had interest in farming but to have more time to
experiment and develop his idea. At Dearborn he worked in Westinghouse Company
of Schenectady as an expert in the servicing of their steam engines. At this
time he started experimenting with steam engines to build a machine that could run. With his
effort to build a steam wagon (tractor) for his farm, he got another idea; it
could also be use for road too. He later realised that people were even more
interested in something that would ease their traveling on the road than in
what would do the farm work.
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Ford's Assembly Line |
Ford built a steam engine car but it
was dangerous due to the pressure it released. He then realised that steam was
not suitable for light cars so he resigned from the Westinghouse Company just
after a year of working with them. To him he had nothing to learn again with
steam engines because he did not want to waste time on something that would
lead nowhere. It was at this time that he remembered an English publication, World
of Science, he read when he was an apprentice. The publication talked about
"silent gas engine" which was being created in England. In 1885, he
had the chance to repair one of such engine at the Eagle Iron Works in Detroit.
He studied how the engine worked and could develop one in 1887.
On April 11, 1888 he got married to a
22 year old girl, Clara Ala Bryant, who was brought up in
a nearby farm. Upon his marriage, he cut and sold timber from his father’s land to support the family financially and could also build a cottage.
In 1891, he returned with Clara to Detroit, where he became an engineer with the
Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, he was promoted to the position of
chief engineer due to his unique skills. At this time Henry was eager to create
a gasoline powered carriage. So he started researching and experimenting on
gasoline engines with the intention of creating a lighter one that could move.
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The Quadricycle |
Ford resigned from the Edison Company
and with the help of some investors incorporated the Detroit Automobile Company
on August 5, 1899. The mission of the company was to make and sell horseless
carriages. The company could not survive and was dissolved in January, 1901.
Ford did not give up the fight for his vision. He was able to persuade an
investor, C. Harold Wills, who financed him to design and build a 26-horsepower
automobile in October 1901.
On October 10, 1901 Ford raced and beat Alexander
Winton with this high speed automobile. This unique performance attracted the
attention of some investors and in partnership with Ford they established the
Henry Ford Corporation on November 30, 1901. Ford was made the chief engineer
of the company but later resigned from the company in 1902 due to a disagreement
among the partners over the architecture of a car to be built. The company was
renamed Cadillac Motor Car Company upon the resignation of Ford.
Ford again received support from a
friend, Alexander Y. Malcomson, who was
a Detroit-area coal dealer. The two friends formed a partnership they named
"Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." They manufactured automobiles but sales
were slow. In response, Malcomson brought in another investors and the
company’s name was changed to Ford Motor Company. On June 16, 1903 the Ford
Motor Company was incorporated with an initial capital of $28,000. The first
investors were: Ford and Alexander Malcomson, the Dodge brothers, Malcolmson's
secretary James Couzens, John S. Gray and two lawyers, Horace Rackham and John
W. Anderson.
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Model T |
The first car released by Ford Motor Company
was called the Model A and soon after, the Model N was released. The company
released the Model T Ford on October 1, 1908. This model captured the market
because it was easy to drive and maintain. The company received a very huge
demand from Americans which helped the company sell all they produced. In order
to meet the increasing demand, the company moved into a very large new plant in
Highland Park, Michigan. Their aim was to enjoy economy of scale, so Ford
introduced the assembly line that could produce the cars faster at a cheaper
price. On May 31, 1921 the Company produced Car No. 5,000,000.
As at 1927, over
15,000,000 were sold in the United States alone. On may 26, 1927 the last model
T car was made and the company shifted its attention to a new model. The
alphabetical order needed to be start all over again. So the new model was
named Model A. This model was introduced in December 1927.
On January 5 1914, he announced that
he would share part of the company’s profit with the
workers. The workers' pay were
increased from $2.34 to $5 for an eight hour a day.
In December 1918, Ford named his son,
Edsel as the president of Ford Motor Company.
Political Life
On November 5, 1918 he lost an
election for the U.S Senate from Michigan on the ticket of the Democrat.
The Death of Henry And His Only Child.
Edsel ford died from stomach cancer in
1943 at age 49. On April 7, 1947 his father, Henry Ford, also died from stroke
at age 83.
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