Revolutionised Industry

Northern Advocate, 9 April 1947, Page 5

Revolutionised Industry

Henry Ford was born in Greenfield, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, the son of William and Mary (Litogot) Ford. His father, a native of Cork, Ireland, settled in America in 1847.

Henry showed marked mechanical ability at an early age. being intensely interested in engine design. He fitted up a small machine shop on his father’s farm and spent all his spare time in it.

By the time Ford was 15 he had constructed a steam engine that ran suc- „ cessfully. He was. an expert watch repairer ' and had in mind the manufacturing of inexpensive watches on a large scale. His interest in self-propelling vehicles dr,ew his mind from the project, however.

For a year or two he was employed at Detroit by the Westinghouse Company. His job was to set up and repair steam engines. In 1887 he built a small vehicle driven by a one-cylinder steam engine. It was not a success and he abandoned it.

■ In 1890 Ford was employed by the Detroit Edison Company at £ll a week. He won rapid promotion and became chief engineer. He continued to work in his own workshop and in 1892 he completed a small car, mounted on four bicycle wheels and driven by a two-cylinder engine. In April, 1893, he gave it a public trial, developing a speed of 25 miles an hour.

Ford organised the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. He was interested in producing a low-priced car, but his associates did not agree and he severed his connection with this concern. It was later known as the Cadillac Company. Racing cars then drew Ford’s attention and he built two. With one of them he defeated Alexander Winton in a famous race, covering a mile in 39 l-ssec. This was ( seven seconds faster than the world's record at the time.

In 1903 he organised the Ford Motor Company. He owned 25 per cent, of the stock and was vice-president, genera manager and mechanical superintend ent. In 1913 he introduced the moving assembly belt, speeding up production.

As time went on he purchased the holdings of his associates for large sums. By 1919 Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, were the sole owners.

During the first year 1708 cars were prodeed. and at the peak of production in 1924 more than 2,000,000 cars, trucks and tractors were turned out. The 15,000,000 th Model T was completed on May 26, 1927. Some time after the Model A was brought out. In 1932 an improved fourcylinder model was introduced and also a V-8.

The company also turned to aviation, producing great, tri-motored, allmetal planes bearing the Ford name. The Ford Company owns coal and iron mines, railways and steamships. A vast rubber plantation was developed in Brazil. There are also factories abroad.

In 1914 Ford shocked the industrial world by his adoption of a minimum wage of five dollars a day. His employees share in the profits. The plants are models of efficiency. Ford’s one bid ror pubiic office was in 1918, when he ran for the United States Senate against Newberry. He was one of the few, if not the only, American multi-millionaires whose success has not been charged with profiteering, questionable financial methods or crushing of weaker competitors.

On April 11, 1888, Henry Ford married Clara Bryant, of Wayne, Michigan. Their only child, Edsel, was the official head of Ford enterprises until his death in 1943. His son, Henry Ford 11.. is now president. Mr Ford frequently clashed with organised labour, mainly because of his opposition to the “closed shop,” and also with fellow-manufacturers, who disliked his profit-sharing and highwage policies. A pacifist, he opposed America's entry into both wars, but after Pearl Harbour bent all his energies 4.0 production for the Government, and until ,1945 resumed the presidency of the company, which he had relinquished 25 years before.