Henry+Ford


 * Born July 30, 1863.
 * He grew up on a family farm which is now Dearborn, Michigan.
 * As a kid he showed a enjoyment for mechanical items and a dislike for farm equipment.
 * At the age of 16 ford left home and went to the near by city Detroit to work as a apprentice machinist.
 * He was married in 1888 to Clara Bryant and he supported his family by running a saw mill.
 * In 1896 he created a self propelled Quadricycle.
 * The quadricycle was steered with a tiller like a boat.
 * It had only two forward speeds and no reverse.
 * After two failed tries to start a automobile company Henry ford introduced the ford motor company in 1903.
 * He was the vice president and the chief engineer.
 * At first the factory only produced a few cars a day.
 * He produced a car that was reliable well priced and the car was the Model T in 1908.
 * In 1918 over half of the cars in the U.S.A were model T's.
 * To meet the high demand the company opened a large factory in highland, Michigan.
 * Workers remained in placed while adding one component to each automobile while moving across the line.
 * The production of model T's made fords company the largest manufacture of automobiles in the world.
 * Built the largest industrial complex in the world along the banks of the rouge river in Dearborn, Michigan.
 * The complex included a steel mill, glass factory, and a automobile assemble line.
 * In the rouge river factory there were 81,000 men working at the factory
 * His promotion in 1893 to chief engineer gave him that time to work on his own engine
 * He was one of the many that built the automotive industry

Bellies, Mary. "Henry Ford biography." 30 Jan 2009 <[]>.
 * Worked for the Westinghouse engine company.
 * He sold his first Quadricycle to better improve his invention.
 * When ford started the ford motor company he said "I will build a car for the great multitude."
 * The Model T was first offered at a price of $950.
 * In the 19 year production that price dipped as low as of $280.
 * About 15,500,000 Model T's were sold in the U.S alone.
 * With the improvement of the assembly line the ford motor company could produce an entire chassis in about 93 min.
 * The earlier production rate was 728 minutes
 * In 1914 ford started paying his employees $5 an hour double then what other manufactures paid.
 * He cut the hours to 9 to 8 hours so they could have 3 day work shifts.
 * Fords manufacturing ideas helped produce a Model T every 24 seconds.
 * In 1932 ford introduced the V-8 engine.
 * The model T ended production in may of .1927
 * In 1942 ford patented a plastic bodied automobile which is 30 percent lighter then metal cars.
 * On Jan. 12, 1900 he made his first commercial vehicle a delivery wagon

"Henry ford." 1 Feb 2009 <[]>.
 * when he went to Detroit as a kid he repaired clocks and watches for extra money
 * Ford went home because his father gave him 40 acres to start farming him self
 * He hated farming sand spent most of his time trying to built a farm locomotive would then go back to Detroit and when he wasn’t working he tried to build a combustion engine so could make a motorized vehicle
 * He read about the idea of the engine in a article about a German engineer that had made a internal combustion engine
 * The first car he made had no brakes and driven by a 2 cylinder, 4 cycle motor
 * his first group of investors with drew because ford spent $86,000 with out making a car that could run
 * Between 1908 and 1916 the price of a model T went fro wm a $1000 to $t360
 * In 1925 ford was producing 10,000 cars everyday
 * This was 60npercent of Americas automobiles
 * in 1903 he began the production of the model A car
 * The car sold well and flourished in 1907
 * But ford decided to stop making the model A and decide to make one car and that car would be the model T
 * He built his first car in a little brick shed in his garden
 * He drove out his 20 millionth car in 1931
 * fords decision not to make a new car made sales drop and GM motors was the top seller

"Henry Ford." 3 Feb 2009 <[]>.``1
 * When ford went to the city only 2 out of 8 Americans lived in the city
 * When ford died at the age of 83 that was now 5 out of 8 Americans lived in cities
 * He lived in a town 8 miles west outside of Detroit
 * He worked part time at the Westinghouse engine company
 * The two company’s that backed out on ford were the Detroit automobile company and the Henry ford company
 * He built several racing cars including the "999" driven by Barney Oldfield
 * Also set new speed records
 * The ford motor company was almost put out of business because ford was not a licensed motor vehicle engineer
 * He was denied a license because of a patent
 * The parent applied to all gasoline vehicles
 * Ford thought the patent was preposterous because he thought it didnt matter because the vehicles had evolved
 * They went to court and ford lost the first one in 1909 but won in 1911
 * The model T sold 1,000,000 cars in Canada and about 250,000 in Great Britain
 * Before the Model T only the rich could travel around freely now everybody could
 * The Model T is one of the most dramatically life changing things that has happened to people
 * This lead up to the finest highway building in the world
 * Farmers were not limited on there farms and horses start to disappear fast
 * The creation of the assembly line has made production today fast so people can get what they need
 * In the first five years of the company the ford motor company made five cars but ford wanted that to change
 * The dodges sued Ford because he plan to open the new factory in rouge river
 * Slow moving suppliers slowed ford down they suggested to make his own parts
 * Ford bought a railroad for production
 * also 16 coal mines,700,000 acres of timberland
 * Sense ford decided not to change and innovate his ideas by 1936 he was 3rd in sales
 * In the 1920's ford acquired the Lincoln motor company
 * even after Gm and Chrysler had signed agreement with the UAW he said that he would shut down before signing an agreement
 * When ford came out with the V-8 still sales didn’t` get better
 * He built a farm locomotive from a steam engine and the body from a old mower
 * Sales went up with other companies because they offered different colors 6 and 8 cylinder engines and hydraulic brakes