Henry Ford Biography (Essay Sample)

Shortly after Henry turned thirteen, his mother died. Henry became very discontent with living on the farm but he stayed for another three years. When he was sixteen he finished his studies at the district school. Against his father's will, Henry moved to Detroit, ten miles away. In Detroit, Henry worked eleven hours a day at James Flower & Brothers' Machine Shop for only $2.50 a week. As this was not enough to pay for board and room, Henry got an evening job at Magill's Jewelry Shop for $2 each week, at first only cleaning and winding the shop's large stock of clocks. Soon though, he was repairing them also. After three years in Detroit, and ceaseless persuasion from his father, Henry moved back to the farm at the age of nineteen. Farm work was no more appealing than before. Henry did enjoy the birds and the wildlife in the country, and he liked operating and repairing a steam threshing machine so he stayed. At a dance on New Year's Eve in 1885, Henry met a dark-haired young woman, Clara Bryant, who lived only a few miles away. In 1888 Henry and Clara were married. As a gift, Mr. Ford gave Henry and his bride forty acres of wooded land. Henry built a small cottage and they lived off the land. Henry's father thought Henry was content and had settled down for life, but this was not to be so. All of Henry's spare time was still spent on engines. Three years after their marriage, Henry saw an internal-combustion gas engine in Detroit. He decided that this is the engine that he would have to use on his car. He had to move back to Detroit. For two years Henry worked nights as a steam engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. He worked every night from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M. and earned $45 a month. After working hours he experimented on his gas engine. His wages barely paid for living expenses and for tools and materials for his tinkering. But his wife was cooperative and did not complain but rather, encouraged him. In November, 1983, a son was born to Henry and Clara, they named him Edsel. A few weeks later, just before Christmas, Henry had completed his engine. A successful testing of the engine excited Henry and he decided to build one with two cylinders. Slightly over two and a half years later, Henry had built his first horseless carriage with four bicycle wheels and seat. His contraption would not fit out of the workshop so he simply knocked out a portion of the wall. The car tested successfully, but was very impractical as someone on a bicycle had to ride ahead to warn the people with horses as the car startled them. Henry quit his very promising job at the Edison Illuminating Company on August 15, 1989. He was to head the new Detroit Automobile Company. Instead of producing any cars though, Henry spent the money on improving his design. The experimental models that he produced cost a great deal of money and a little more than a year later, the Detroit Automobile Company had failed. To gain supporters, Henry built a racing car. If he could win a race, he could get backers and form his own company. Henry did successfully win a race in October, 1901 and acquiring backers became no longer a problem. On November, 1901, the Henry Ford Company was formed. This company fared no better than the previous. Ford still wanted to build a low-priced car that ordinary people could afford to buy and drive. Ford would not sacrifice his standards for the profit. (Much unlike his portrayal in Brave New World). Finally in June, 1903, a third company, the Ford Motor Company, was incorporated. Ford continued working on his "cheap" design. It was ready shortly after the new company's formation and orders came in faster than they could be filled. Ford, Charles Sorensen and a small group of dedicated engineers began working on a "universal car." By October, 1908, the Model-T had been constructed. Again orders began coming in faster than they could be filled. This presented Ford with his next challenge, to increase the production rate of the automobiles. Sorensen and Ford finally came up with the assembly line idea. Rather than having the men go to the work, the work would come to the man, brought along on pulleys and chains overhead. One problem bothered Ford increasingly, however. Assembly- line work was monotonous and uninteresting. The Ford factory had a great turnover of employees, and too much time was wasted in training new men. The men were currently only being paid the minimum wage of $2 a day. Ford decided (much to his colleagues' displeasure and protest) that the men would be paid $5 and that the work day would be shortened to that of an eight-hour day. Some people praised him as a great humanitarian. Others denounced Ford as a madman, a crackpot, and a villain. One may have considered Ford unjust in making his men work on the assembly line, this is not so. Ford had more than doubled the wages of his men, shortened their work day, and thereby tried to give the employees a share of the profits. Ford eventually resigned as president of his company and gav