Henry Ford Research Paper

Henry Ford

Henry Ford is most famous for founding the car manufacturer known as the Ford Motor Company. He is also known for sponsoring a new mode of production called the assembly line of mass production, In order to tell the story of his legacy, I need to start at the beginning and work up to his death, Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan on the family farm. Ford’s parents were William and Mary Ford, both were children of immigrants. Henry was the oldest of five children. He had two sisters and two brothers. When Henry was thirteen his father gifted him a pocket watch. At the age of fifteen Henry enjoyed dismantling and reassembling the timepieces of friends and neighbors as many times he could.

His father was disappointed in his decision because his father expected him to eventually take over the family farm. In 1879 at the age of sixteen he left home to become an apprentice machinist in Detroit. He first worked for James F. Flower & Brothers and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Company. In 1882 he eventually returned to Dearborn to work for his father on the farm. He became a master at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine. Since he became so good at operating portable steam engines, he later was hired by Westinghouse to fix their steam engines. During this time Ford went to school and studied bookkeeping. On April 11,1888 Ford married Clara Jane Bryant. Their only child Edsel Ford was born in 1893. To support his new family, Ford went back to farming and running a sawmill. In 1891, Ford became an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. He eventually became chief engineer. With this promotion Ford had enough money and time to explore his own personal experiments with gasoline engines. These experiments ended in 1896 with the completion of a self-propelled vehicle. Ford Called his invention the “Ford Quadricycle.” After many test drives, Ford continued to brainstorm on what was to improve the

Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants. The belts were able to greatly increase their production. Ford is credited for this idea but sources say that the concept and development of the moving belts came from some of his employees inside the plant. Ford continued production of the Model T until 1927, the final total production of cars was 15,007,034. This record number of cars produced was achieved in nineteen years and that record was held for fortyfive years. In 1918 Ford was asked by President Wilson to run as the Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate race in Michigan. Ford lost the election to the Republican candidate. Ford eventually turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel Ford. Henry kept the rite on all final decision making and sometimes overrode his son’s decisions. Henry started another company called Henry Ford and Son. In order to give the family sole ownership of the company. Ford tricked the shareholders in the old company to sell their stocks to keep sole ownership and decision