Henry Ford - Revolutionary Achievements in the Automobile Industry

lrevolutionary achievements in the automobile industry. His love for automobiles started at the age of sixteen. But before that, he was just another small-town farmer. The Ford farm was located near Dearborn, Michigan. It was here Henry Ford was born, on July 20, 1863. He went to local district schools like the rest of the children from his town.

In 1880 Henry was a rookie machinist's in Detroit, where he learned the basics. Then only two years later Ford became a certified machinist, but returned to the family farm. 1888 to 1899 he was a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison Illuminating Company. Ford married in 1891 and he and his bride, Clara Bryant, left the farm in Michigan and moved to Detroit.

His life changed in Detroit and with the birth of his daughter Edsel, in 1893, many people believed he should get a job that was easier than trying to build cars. Most believed they were simple toys and would never replace the horse carriage.

On the morning of June 4, 1896 Henry finished his first car ever, which became known as the Quadricycle. He took it for a drive around his block as many people watched from there porch. It was only big enough for him, even though his wife was excited about taking a ride in the horseless carriage. Soon she would get the experience, when he made the seat bigger and took to car out to his parent's home.

Finally having his work taken seriously, Henry formed the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Before his first year was up of owning the company the first Model appeared on the market in Detroit. The Model T.

In 1913 Ford began using the same parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant. Even though Ford did not come up with the idea or was the first to us assembly-line ideas, he was mainly responsible for their general adoption and for the following great development of American industry and the raising of the American standard of living. Around early 1914 this improvement, even though it greatly increased production, had resulted in a monthly labor earnings of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, mostly because of the unpleasant dullness of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas assigned to workers. Ford met this trouble by increasing his workers pay from what the normal manual laborer was making, $2.50, to $5. This