Henry Ford History page1
Henry Ford was born in 1863 , on a farm , near Dearborn Michigan . He was the eldest of five children of William Ford and wife Mary who were very successful as a farming family . As a youngster Henry enjoyed working on machinery and mechanical devices . He would even repair watches and clocks , for friends . Farm work was not Henry‘s thing . In 1879 Henry left the farm , moved to Detroit , were he served an apprenticeship as a machinist for three years . Henry then returned to the farm in Dearborn , in 1882 , were he spent some years , repairing Westinghouse Steam Engines as well as farm equipment , for the local farmers . Henry married Clara Bryant in 1888 .He did some farming and even ran a saw mill for a time to support his wife . In 1891 Henry moved back to Detroit , were he became an engineer for Thomas Edison at the Edison Illumination Company . Henrys only child (Edsel Bryant Ford) was born in 1893 . Henry became Chief Engineer of the Edison Illumination Company in 1893 . The pay increase gave him enough money to experiment with and develop his internal combustion engine . ______________________
In 1896 Henry completed his first “perfected” automobile , the Quadricycle . Henry test drove it in June .
Thomas Edison was impressed by Henry’s machine , which encouraged Henry to continue his with his experiments . Henry did extensive test driving to find ways to build a better auto and in 1898 Henry completed his second automobile .
In 1899 Henry left his friend Thomas Edison’s company to started the first of three automobile manufacturing companies that he would begin , the Detroit Automobile Company were he assumed the position of manager of production . Henry designed and built and then tested to insure that his automobiles were durable, dependable , reliable , and perfected the high standards that he insisted on . Henry’s insistance on perfection lead , the investors of the company became impatient with Henry , as he would not put a vehicle into production until it was perfected to his satisfaction .
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The investors greed and push to make profits to quickly led to the Detroit Automobile Company’s demise and the company was dissolved in 1901 .
Henry took over the company and restructured it to become the Henry Ford Motor Company . Henry designed and built a 26 hp , racer in 1901 . He was very successful , racing this vehicle which was a great asset to raising the money he needed to finance and operate his new company which opened in November of 1901 .
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Due to problems with his financial partners Henry decided to leave the Henry Ford Motor Company in 1902 . He received some $800.00 for his share of the Henry Ford Motor Company and took the rights to his name . The Henry Ford Motor Company was re-named The Cadillac Motor Company . The first Cadillac car was built , under the direction of Henry Leland , from designs that Henry Ford left with his old company .
Henry Ford designed and built the famous 80 horse power + “999” racer in 1902 , which he raced with very great success in October of 1902 . Henry set a new land speed record at that time . The popularity and notoriety of his racing helped him to raise the capital needed to begin the Ford & Malcomson Limited automobile manufacturing company . Henry drove the 999 over A 1.5 mile course (1.6 km) on the frozen ice of Lake St Clair , at a speed somewhere over 91 miles per hour . The car was taken coast to coast by Barney Oldfield to further permote the Ford name . _________________
Henry now designed and build automobiles that was less expensive , so that the working man of the time could afford to buy and drive them . The Dodge Brothers Machine Shop was hired by Henry to build parts for Henry’s automobiles as their reputation for quality fit in well with Henrys insistence on perfection . In June of 1903 Ford Malcomson Ltd , became The Ford Motor Company .
Henry hired the Dodge Brothers Machine Shop to Build parts for his automobiles as the had a reputation for the highest quality workmanship , which fit in well with Henry Ford’s insistance on Perfection in his automobiles .
John and Horace Dodge agreed to take a 10% partnership in Henry’s new company to built parts for the Ford Motor Company for about 10 years . They received 1 million dollars a year from Henry , and in 1914 Henry bought their 10% back for 25 million dollars .
Henry Ford also joined forces with Harvey Firestone in 1904 , to design and manufacture automobile (rubber) tires . The result was that , the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company , was the first company in the world to make rubber tires for automobiles .
Henry Ford designed and introduced the assembly line to manufacture his automobiles more quickly while maintaining and eventually improving on the high quality production that Henry Ford , was well known for .
Continued on Henry Ford History page 2
