#Automile ford full

#Automile ford full

In 1919, Ford named his son Edsel as president of Ford Motor Company, but he retained full control of the company’s operations. In 1914, Ford also increased the daily wage for an eight-hour day for his workers to $5 (up from $2.34 for nine hours), setting a standard for the industry.Įven as production went up, demand for the Tin Lizzie remained high, and by 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts. Mass production significantly cut down on the time required to produce an automobile, which allowed costs to stay low. As a result, he put into practice techniques of mass production that would revolutionize American industry, including the use of large production plants standardized, interchangeable parts and the moving assembly line. The “Tin Lizzie,” as the Model T was known, was an immediate success, and Ford soon had more orders than the company could satisfy. Henry Ford: Production & Labor Innovations

Ford was dedicated to the production of an efficient and reliable automobile that would be affordable for everyone the result was the Model T, which made its debut in October 1908. At the time, only a few cars were assembled per day, and groups of two or three workers built them by hand from parts that were ordered from other companies. (After his departure, it was reorganized as the Cadillac Motor Car Company.) The following year, Ford established the Ford Motor Company.Ī month after the Ford Motor Company was established, the first Ford car-the two-cylinder, eight-horsepower Model A-was assembled at a plant on Mack Avenue in Detroit. His partners, eager to put a passenger car on the market, grew frustrated with Ford’s constant need to improve, and Ford left his namesake company in 1902. He received backing from various investors over the next seven years, some of whom formed the Detroit Automobile Company (later the Henry Ford Company) in 1899. Henry Ford: Birth of Ford Motor Company and the Model Tĭetermined to improve upon his prototype, Ford sold the Quadricycle in order to continue building other vehicles. In 1896, he completed what he called the “Quadricycle,” which consisted of a light metal frame fitted with four bicycle wheels and powered by a two-cylinder, four-horsepower gasoline engine. On call 24 hours a day for his job at Edison, Ford spent his irregular hours on his efforts to build a gasoline-powered horseless carriage, or automobile. Around the same time, Clara gave birth to the couple’s only son, Edsel Bryant Ford. Rising quickly through the ranks, he was promoted to chief engineer two years later. In 1891, he returned with Clara to Detroit, where he was hired as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company.

In the first several years of their marriage, Ford supported himself and his new wife by running a sawmill. In 1888, he married Clara Bryant, who had grown up on a nearby farm.ĭid you know? The mass production techniques Henry Ford championed eventually allowed Ford Motor Company to turn out one Model T every 24 seconds. He returned to Dearborn and work on the family farm after three years, but continued to operate and service steam engines and work occasional stints in Detroit factories. At 16, he left home for the nearby city of Detroit, where he found apprentice work as a machinist.

Henry Ford driving his Quadricycle, circa 1896.īorn in 1863, Henry Ford was the first surviving son of William and Mary Ford, who owned a prosperous farm in Dearborn, Michigan.