Henry Ford

Henry Ford developed a moving production line, which made it possible to mass-produce cars. This made cars an everyday resource for people.

Early life

The Ford family was not rich. Henry Ford was born on a farm in Michigan in 1863. He wasn’t interested in farming. He spent his time taking apart his toys to study how they worked. 

Ford moved away from home as a teenager in 1879. He began an internship as a machinist in Detroit. He got a job as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company.

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The first car

He could now spend more time developing his own wagon without a horse. In 1896, he finished his first self-propelled car which he called the quadricycle. The car used petrol to function and had a simple frame and four tires that made it look like a bicycle. It could drive 32 kilometers per hour. At that time, this was impressive.

Many investors became interested, and Ford started his own company in 1899. He produced cars, but it didn’t go very well.

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The 999 race car

Ford didn’t give up. He developed a racing car with 80 horsepower. He called it “999”. In October 1902, Barney Oldfield drove the car to victory in the Manufacturer’s Challenge Cup.

Ford Motor Company

The interest in Ford picked up, and the Ford Motor Company started in 1903. Ford wanted to make cars that were simple and at a low price. He presented the Ford Model T in 1908. This car was easy to drive and was good on bumpy roads.

Incredibly popular

The car was so popular that they couldn’t produce them fast enough. They had to find new ways of working.

The production line

The solution was a moving production line. Before, each person built an entire car. Now every person had their own task, and when this task was done, they sent it to the next person. This continued until the car was finished. 

In this way, it was a lot faster to build a car. The Ford Model T was now built in 26 minutes and 30 seconds. Before, it took 12 hours. This also made the car cheaper.

Ford also started producing cars on the other side of the Atlantic. In the early 1920s, half of the world’s cars were Ford Model T s.

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Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company

Boring job

This work was very boring, and people didn’t stay for long. Ford had to hire 53,000 people every year to have 14,000 men working at all times. It was necessary to do that. 

To solve the problem, Ford more than doubled workers’ pay. He paid the employees $5 a day, a record for an uneducated worker. The job became popular, and Ford could secure his position as the world’s leading car producer.

Ford lives on

When new cars came on the market, the sale of Ford Model T went down. When Ford was 69 years old, he presented his new invention: the cheap, lightweight V8 engine. But it wasn’t enough to win back leadership in the American market.

Ford Motor Company was the fourth largest car company in the world. Here is an example of one of Ford’s newer models, the Focus ST.

Sources:

  • Ny vitenskap: Historie (2018)
    Orage Forlag AS

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