Henry Ford

FORD

When someone thinks of the name Ford they automatically think about automobiles. That is how well known the Ford Motor Company has become. Henry Ford started a revolution in the auto industry. He strived for affordability and reliability. Cost was one of his main focuses. The car had to be solid, yet affordable enough for the lower class to purchase one because that was his main customer. Henry Ford was an amazing intelligent individual with a large history; he created the assembly line and mass production, and who also did political and charitable work.

Ford's life began in 1863 on a rural farm in Springwells Township, or modern day Dearborn, Michigan. All of his family members were farmers. He was one of six children, though not the eldest, nor the youngest. Ford grew up doing simple farm chores for his father such as feeding the livestock and cleaning up the chicken pens. Soon he found that it wasn't the life for him. In the summer of 1873, Henry saw his first self=propelled machine. It was a Nichols, Shephard and company used for threshing and for powering a saw mill. Fred Reden, the operator, taught Ford, though only ten years old, how to fire and run the engine. He was fascinated with the engine. Ford later said, it was this experience "That showed me that I was by instinct an engineer"("Henry Ford").

At the age of fifteen, his father gave him a pocket watch. Being as mechanically oriented as he was, he took it apart and examined all of the parts. He became an informal watch repair man who fixed his friends and neighbors' watches quite often. In 1879, at the age of sixteen, he left home to pursue an engineer career. He became an apprentice machinist for James E. Flowers and Bros. And later the Detroit Dry Rock Co. After three years he returned to the farm to help with the work. The farm had a steam engine called the "Westinghouse portable