The beginning of the 20th century witnessed the Progressive Era. Innovations and new technologies changed the life of the whole population. Many entrepreneurs profited at this prolific period. Although, many companies could be listed as the one who bolstered the US economy in the 1900s, the name of Henry Ford, a person who made a vehicle affordable for everyone, should definitely be in the first place.
The First Steps
At the age of 16 in a few years after Ford mother’s death, a young boy decided to leave his house and started to work in The Flower Brother’s shop. It was a store with three old owners. They produced a variety of things, such as gate valves, valves for water pipes, gongs and so on. In nine months, he decided that he had already taken everything from that place and got a job in the Dry Dock Company. Ford found a shelter for some time. In 1880, this very company was the core for the machinery life in Detroit. If a new mechanic strived for new knowledge, he would go there, so did the young boy. Soon an avid learner came back home to help on the family farm and at the same time to practice self-studying. When Henry was 19, he constructed his first engine: there was almost no light in the houses of Detroit, so the boy made a miniature turbine, which was able to operate city’s water and produce energy, enough for a tiny lathe. In 1882, Ford was acquainted with the Michigan agent of Westinghouse and their portable steam engines. The next years a young fellow spent traveling across Southern Michigan in the role of maintenance engineer on behalf of the company.
A new stage of life began when Edison Illuminating Company recruited Ford. After some time of working there, a young man gained attention and money to his gasoline engines trials. The experiments were fruitful, and in 1896, the world saw the appearance of Quadricycle. Later on, he was introduced to Thomas Edison (Olson 26). Consolidating all his forces, in 1899 Henry organized the Detroit Automobile Company with some affiliates. Soon after that, a settler turned to the construction of racing cars, as some disagreements between the associates broke out and Ford quitted. A new career branch went against mechanic’s initial ideas and strivings: to make a car affordable for the common consumer. However, this turnaround soon made Ford popular and attracted many people to his motor inventions. In 1901, Barney Oldfield broke all the existing records in racing and brought glory to the engineer.
Ford Motors Company
In 1903, Henry Ford overthought the idea of motor transportation and suggested the vehicle that would considerably cut the expenditures of its owners. At that time, he believed that the most precious things could cost “just five cents” (Doctorow 227). Initially, the public played jokes on the early models made by Ford Motors, as it was thought that they were intended only for the low- income consumer. However, year by year the models were modernized and the scope of the poor gradually increased (Olson 32). The opening of the company would be impossible without basic capital, so Ford was bound to give his permission to the partnership. His first investor was Alex Malcomson, a coal dealer from Detroit. Soon the executive attracted other depositors, such as Charles Woodall and James Couzens, the lawyer John Anderson and the banker John Gray. Ford and Malcomson divided 51 percent of the shares between them. After some time Ford’s income amounted about 28 000 dollars (Gorman 245).
The first vehicle produced was called Fordmobile or Model A. The assembly line was in prospect, and almost 20 people constructed a single car. Its initial cost was 800 dollars, plus the additional 100 dollars for the detachable tonneau. In a while, Ford decided that Model A did not meet the expectations of an American consumer any longer, so he decided to dive into work again. 1908 witnessed the birth of Model K with the six-cylinder engine and soon Model N with the four-cylinder engine. However, none of them satisfied Henry Ford. On the one hand, the first one was too expensive to be claimed affordable. Regardless of Malcomson who thought that this car was the path to the luxurious cars for the rich and lobbied its mass production, Ford discontinued the line. Model N was cheaper and encompassed wider audience regarding its price (the car could be competitive with 600 dollars automobiles, though its cost was only 450 dollars) nonetheless, it did not meet engineer’s basic demands: lightness, simplicity, and strength.
On October 1, 1908, the Model T saw the light. The design of the car was peculiar and differed from the other cars that were on the market: the interior was enclosed, four cylinders formulated one block, and the constructor installed a steering wheel on the driver’s place. The new automobile seemed to meet all Ford’s requirements from the simplicity of driving to the small weight of the car. The reaction of the public was triumphant. In a very short time, the sales outreached all possible maximums made by prior automobiles. In 18 years, Ford Motors Company sold about 15 million vehicles of this Model (Batchelor 21).
The Assembly Line
The rise of the production volume asked for the change in the approach to the assembly line and mass production. With an opening of a huge factory in Highland Park, the Company had been keeping on modifying the process of production until it reached perfection for five years. The key target was to structure it. One worker passed his or her finished fragment of work to another until the vehicle was made. Even though the companies settled before had already implemented these features on the rudimentary level, The Ford was the first who perfected it.
The production intensified as soon as the flywheel magneto was regarded as the subassembly. While in the previous year it took twenty minutes for one individual to assemble the magneto, Ford’s innovations let the whole procedure get less by 4 minutes. He separated this process into twenty-nine stages, and after it was finished, the tool was moved on a conveyor belt. The scheme worked quite fruitfully, so the owner decided to go further and modernize the whole process of the car construction. After all, there were maintained forty-five sub-operations. The automobile construction time decreased to ninety-three minutes.
One of the problems that occurred during the construction were the cumbersome parts, which had to be handled somehow. The assembly supervisors also tried to solve it by taking light materials into the separate building. Such heavy parts as engines and axles stayed in a bigger premise. Then the board organized a special department, which would sort all the details according to its characteristics. Therefore, all the bulky pieces did not interfere with the work and prevented the production area from being cluttered up.
The struggles to intensify the massive production had not ended though. They considered that the assembly would get faster if the setting up would begin with the frame, wheels, and axles; then moving the whole chassis to the storage room and do not arrange the process vice versa. When the workers got used to the offered fashion of work, the company intended to put it on a streamline. With the use of skids, the workers put a frame and acquired wheels and axles. At the same time, the rest of the team worked on the subassembly details: put the steering gear, finished radiator and installed it properly (“Henry Ford Changes the World, 1908“). Finally, all these slight modifications put the vehicle assembly on a brand new level regarding speed and quality. Last but not least, the lowering of the time consumed by the one car, Ford succeeded to lessen the price, thus, making his brand even more irreproachable for the rivals.
Conclusion
Finally, Henry Ford managed to create the biggest automobile manufacturing in the USA. The constant strive for the perfection made it possible to turn the industrial history of the country upside down. A brand new vision of the future converted the role of the vehicle for the population so that it terminated to be an object of luxury and turned into a tool of comfort and accessibility.
Works Cited
Batchelor, Ray. Henry Ford, Mass Production, Modernism, and Design. Vol. 1, Manchester University Press, 1994.
Doctorow, Edgar L. Ragtime. Penguin, 2006.
Gorman, Robert F., editor. Great Lives from History: The Twentieth Century. Salem Press, 2008.
“Henry Ford Changes the World, 1908.” EyeWitness to History, 2005. Web.
Olson, Sidney. Young Henry Ford: Aba Picture History of the First Forty Years. Wayne State University Press, 2015.