Essay/Term paper: Henry ford

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography Term Papers

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 to William and

Mary Ford. He was the first of six children. He grew up in

a rich farming household in Dearborn, Michigan. He

enjoyed a typical childhood, spending his days in a

one-room schoolhouse and doing farm chores. Ever since

he was young, he showed an interest for the mechanical

aspect of things, and how they worked and functioned. He

used to take things apart and put them back together to get

an idea of the inner workings of basic mechanical tools

(Nevins, 47 – 50). In 1879, at a young age of 16, he left

his home to travel to the near by city of Detroit to work as

an apprentice for a machinist. He occasionally returned

home to work on the farm. He remained an apprentice for

three years and then returned to Dearborn. During the next

few years, Henry divided his time between operating and

repairing steam engines, finding occasional work in Detroit

factories, and working on his fathers broken down farm

equipment, as well as lending an unwilling hand with other

farm work. Henry got married to Clara Bryant in 1888

Henry supported himself and his wife by running a sawmill

(Collier, 145 – 152). In 1891, Henry became an engineer

with the Edison Illumination Company. This was an

important event in his life because it signified that he had

made a conscious career move into industrial pursuits. He

was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1893. This gave him

enough time and money to devote attention to his personal

experiments on internal combustion engines (Lacey 13 –

14). The high point of this research came with the

completion of his own self- propelled vehicle, the

Quadricycle. This bike had four wire wheels and was

steered with a tiller, like a boat. It had two forward speeds,

and no reverse. Although this was not the first

self-propelled vehicle, it set Henry Ford as one of the

major pioneers whom helped this nation become one of

motorists (Head 22 – 24). Ford decided that he wanted to

become an automobile manufacturer. After two

unsuccessful tries, Ford motor company was finally

incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as the Vice

President and Chief Engineer. When the company first

started it was only producing a few cars a day at the Ford

factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. A group of two or

three men would work on one car from components made

to order by other companies (Lewis 99 – 100) Ford

realized his dream of producing an automobile that was

reasonable priced, reliable and efficient with the

introduction of the Model T in 1908. This vehicle iniated a

new era in personal transportation. It was easy to operate,

maintain, and could handle rough roads. It was also very

reasonably priced at 850 dollars. The cars sold fast and for

the first time, the middle class could afford a car. By 1920,

about 4 million Model T"s were sold (Lewis, 103 – 105).

The model T revolutionized America in many different

ways. For example, while the Model T was in production,

the assembly line was used on a large scale. The assembly

line was a powered chain that brought the chassis of the car

to each of its parts. The parts were then attached to the

chassis of the car and moved on to the next station. It

usually took fourteen hours to build one Model T, and with

the assembly line it only took six. Henry built a huge factory

based on the assembly line. The assembly line added more

jobs and significantly lowered the cost of production

(Nevins, 65 – 67). Since the assembly line, Ford was able

to produce many more cars than usual, therefore increasing

profits. Since the profits were increased, Henry was able to

raise the workers" salaries from $2.50 an hour to $5.00 an

hour. He also cut the workday to only eight hours a day,

making the workers very happy. People from all over the

nation tried to get a job working at the Ford Motor

Company because the wages were so good. Also since the

assembly line increased profits, Henry was able to sell

Model T"s for a cheaper price. In 1915, the price of the

Model T"s went down to $490 (Lacey, 27 –29). Fords

assembly lines didn"t always manufacture cars. In early

1941 the Ford was granted government contracts whereby

he was to manufacture parts for bombers and later, the

entire airplane. He then launched the construction of a huge

plant at Willow Run, Michigan. By the end of the War, the

plant had manufactured more than 8000 planes (Collier,

160). In the period of 1937 to 1941, the Ford Company

became the only major manufacturers of automobiles in the

Detroit area that had not recognized any labor unions as the

collective bargaining representative of employees. The

company was later found guilty of repeated violation of the

national Labor Relations Act (Nevins, 69 –70). Henry

Ford was active in many other fields besides those of

automobile and airplane manufacturing. In 1915, he had

world peace on his mind. He chartered a peace ship, which

carried him and a number of like-minded individuals to

Europe, where they attempted without success to persuade

the close-minded to end WWI (Lacey, 33). While still

working at his company, Henry was also nominated for the

U.S. Senate for the state of Michigan in 1918, though he

was defeated. In 1919 Ford laid out 7.5 million of his own

money to erect the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit (Head,

27 – 28). As Ford was getting older, he retired from the

active direction of his gigantic enterprise in 1945. Two

years later, on April 7 1947, Ford died in Dearborn,

Michigan. Ford left behind a personal fortune estimated

between 500 and 700 million (Lacey, 20-21). In

conclusion, Henry Ford was a very important part of our

society. He was responsible for many inventions, including

the Model T. His biggest contribution was revolutionizing

and perfecting the assembly line.