) was the
founder of the
revolutionizedtransportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161U.S.
. As owner of the Ford Company he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "
", that is, the mass productionof large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with highwages for his workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace.Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of the world's largest fortuneswithout ever having his company
under his administration. Henry Ford'sintense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and businessinnovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in NorthAmerica, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the
but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
Early years
Ford was born July 30,1863, on a farm next to a rural town west of
Detroit, Michigan(this area is now part of Dearborn, Michigan).
Hisfather,William Ford(1826-1905), was born inCounty Cork,Ireland. His
mother, Mary Litogot Ford (1839-1876), was born in Michigan; she was
the youngest child of Belgianimmigrants; her parents died when Marywas a child and she was adopted by neighbours, the O'Herns. HenryFord's siblings include Margaret Ford (1867-1868); Jane Ford (c.1868-
1945); William Ford (1871-1917) and Robert Ford (1873-1934). Henry
took his passion for mechanics into his home. His father had given hima pocket watch in Henry's early teens. At 15, he had a reputation as awatch repairman, having dismantled and reassembled timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times. Ford's mother died in 1876,which came as a devastating blow to young Henry. His father expectedhim to eventually take over the family farm, but Henry despised farmwork. With his mother dead, little remained to keep him on the farm.He later told his father, "I never had any particular love for the farm—itwas the mother on the farm I loved.” In1879, he left home for thenearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm and becameadept at operating the Westinghouse portablesteam engine. He waslater hired byWestinghousecompany to service their steam engines.Ford married Clara Ala Bryant (c.1865-1950) in1888and supported
himself by farming and running a sawmill. They had a single child:Edsel Bryant Ford(1893-1943).
In1891, Ford became an engineer with theEdison Illuminating
Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in1893, he had
enough time and money to devote attention to his personalexperiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in1896with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named theFord Quadricycle, which he test-drove on June 4. After various test-
drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle. Also in1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he wasintroduced to Thomas Edisonhimself. Edison approved of Ford'sautomobile experimentation; encouraged by Edison's approval, Forddesigned and built a second vehicle, which was completed in1898.
Backed by the capital of Detroitlumber baronWilliam H. Murphy, Fordresigned from Edison and founded theDetroit Automobile CompanyonAugust 5,1899.
However, the automobiles produced were of a lowerquality and higher price than Ford would have liked. Ultimately, thecompany was not successful and was dissolved in January1901. Fordwent to work building a racer. With the help of C. Harold Wills, hedesigned, built, and successfully raced a 26HP automobile in October1901. With that success, Murphy and other stockholders in the DetroitAutomobile Company formed theHenry Ford Companyon November30, 1901, with Ford as chief engineer. However, Murphy brought inHenry M. Lelandas a consultant. As a result, Ford left the companybearing his name in1902. With Ford gone, Murphy renamed thecompany theCadillac Automobile Company.
Ford once again focusedon building a racecar, producing the 80+HP "999" racer , and gettingBarney Oldfieldto drive it to victory in October 1902. Ford alsoreceived the backing of an old acquaintance,Alexander Y. Malcomson,a Detroit-area coal dealer.
They formed a partnership, "Ford &Malcomson, Ltd." to manufacture automobiles. Ford went to workdesigning an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory andcontracted with a machine shop owned by John F. DodgeandHorace E.
Dodgeto supply over $160,000 in parts.
Sales were slow, and acrisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment for their firstshipment.
Ford Motor Company
In response, Malcomson brought in another group of investors and convinced the DodgeBrothers to accept a portion of the new company.
On June 16,
Ford &Malcomson was reincorporated as the
, with $28,000 capital.The original investors included Ford and Malcomson, the Dodge brothers, Malcomson'suncle John S. Gray,
, driving 1 mile (1.6 km) in 39.4seconds, setting a new
, who named this new Ford
model "999" in honor of a racing locomotive of the day, took the car around the country,making the Ford brand known throughout the United States. Ford also was one of theearly backers of the
by offeringa $5 per day wage, which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the bestmechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing in their human capital and expertise,raising productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford called it "wage motive." Thecompany's use of
also proved successful when Ford built agigantic factory that shipped in raw materials and shipped out finished automobiles.
Model T
TheModel Twas introduced onOctober 1,1908. It had many
important innovations—such as the steering wheel on the left, whichevery other company soon copied. The entire engine and transmissionwere enclosed; the four cylinders were cast in a solid block; thesuspension used two semi-elliptic springs. The car was very simple todrive, and—more importantly—easy and cheap to repair. It was socheap at $825 in 1908 (the price fell every year) that by the 1920s amajority of American drivers learned to drive on the Model T. Fordcreated a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure everynewspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford'snetwork of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every cityin North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich andpublicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; localmotor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore thecountryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked onthe vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Salesskyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous year.Always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs, in1913Fordintroduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabledan enormous increase in production. Although Henry Ford is oftencredited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the conceptand its development came from employees Clarence Avery,Peter E.Martin,Charles E. Sorensen, and C.H. Wills. By1918, half of all cars in
America were Model T's. However, it was a monolithic block; as Fordwrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted anycolour that he wants so long as it is black".
Until the development of the assembly line, which mandated black because of its quicker dryingtime, Model T's were available in other colors including red. The designwas fervently promoted and defended by Ford, and productioncontinued as late as1927; the final total production was 15,007,034. This record stood for the next 45 years. In 1918, PresidentWoodrowWilsonpersonally asked Ford to run for theUnited States Senatefrom
Michigan as aDemocrat. Although the nation was at war, Ford ran as a
of 00
Henry Ford
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