Daniel Rodriguez
English 10
Mrs. Toman
March 29, 2011
Research Paper: Henry Ford
Imagine how life would be if our society did not have cars. Today, our society is dependent on cars for our daily routines. From transporting our food, clothes, and technology to just going to the store across the street, cars are a very important part of our society. In the 19th century, only the wealthy and upper middle class had access to automobiles, and they only used cars for fancy transportation and to show off their money. This was due to the extreme prices of cars in the 19th century. With these high prices not many people could afford them, especially not the working class. Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry in the
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He had his workers work less, with more breaks, and he also payed them almost twice as much as other jobs. As Eric Foner states, “Ford paid the assembly line workers $5 a day when prevailing wages were about $2.50...he also reduced working hours to 8.” With this, workers were more likely to work harder and better, which led to more productivity. The productivity was not done alone, the infrastructure of the assembly line is very critical to the production process. This was done by, as Robert Sobel states,” ...conveyor belts in the assembly line that brought parts to the workers to perform their specific task.” All this improved the production rate and it satisfied the workers. Many may say the assembly line removed individuality, however it brought faster, better, and cheaper production to the Ford Motor Company.
With the success of the assembly line, Ford was very please however he had a bigger goal set. Ford wanted to produce cheap cars for the common people to use. Ford made many different types of cars and experimented with each of them. They were all good but not good enough. After many different models, Ford achieved his goal with his invention of the Ford Model T. The Model T was a fully functional compact automobile with a good transmission and torque as well as comfort and size. Apart from that, the most important aspect of the Model T was that is was extremely cheap. As Sobel states,”...the model T was only worth $290 in 1924.” This was a huge
The Model T Ford was known in every household as the “affordable auto” and Henry Ford set out on a dream to make the Model T a item in every driveway across America and be able to sell them by the multitude (Goss, 2014). However, this dream was not an easy feat for those who wanted the Model T. Henry Ford had to figure out a way to get the automobile to a more affordable and reasonable price that all Americans could handle. With the cost of a Model T in the early 1900’s being $850, approximately $21,000 in today’s market, Henry Ford had to figure out more ways to make the delectable vehicle even more cheaper (Goss, 2014). When Ford first made the Model T in 1908, he had the concept of a cheap car that was attainable to everyone with a very basic, sturdy structure with no additional options from the factory or even the choice of color (Science Odyssey, 1998). After still not being able to fit the cheaper bill that was needed, even after stripping the model to its basic bones, Henry Ford knew that he must find other ways to cut the cost of the Model T to make it more
Other manufacturers were content to target the wealthy American could buy, not even considering the middle or lower class. Ford developed a design and a method of making the cars that steadily and continuously reduced the cost of the car, the car being the Model T. Instead of pocketing the money from the cars Ford used it to make better and more efficient ways to build a car. As a result, Ford Motor Company sold more cars and steadily increased its earnings. Henry Ford somehow managed to change people from the looking at an automobile as a luxury, and more like a convenience
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was the 38th President of the United States. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ford went from being a son of divorcees to the leader of a nation.
The automobile industry put American citizens into action. Mass production was a big component in the success of automobiles. Although successful, it became very repetitive. Skilled workers who were once worshipped, were no longer needed. Henry Ford was described as racist, bitter, but he brought success to citizens in the 1920s. Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with the help of a limited amount of workers in a shed. It was not until 1914 where custom-made cars turned into many cars, such as the Model T, moving down an assembly line. The Model T was a very popular car that benefitted cheap labor and easy mobility for its owners. Ford became a billionaire from the help of the federal government’s actions. At this point, the government decided that funds should be spent more on roads. Automobiles introduced
Ford’s dream was to produce a moderate priced, reliable, and efficient automobile, which came with the Model T in 1908.3 A company that started out small, now had over half of the car owners in America driving the Model T.1 It was easy to operate and maintain, it also handled good on rough roads. It was the most popular automobile in history, and over fifteen million were sold. With the Model T, Ford achieved his goal to make reasonable priced cars for the average person. 2
In this year Henry Ford created the first affordable, combustion engine car called the Model-T. The creation of the Model-T changed the lives of every American. Vehicles were looked at as a way of freedom and excitement. Soon after, every household in America had a car. The demand for vehicles sparked a whole new industry, creating jobs, more revenues and improving the American economy in every way. With so many vehicles on the roads, roads needed to
The document “The Social Influence of the Automobile” was written in June of 1922 by Allen D. Albert. In this article Albert is saying that since the creation of automobiles the life has shifted for the better. “…almost without a pause in our thinking have we adjusted our lives to these factors new since yesterday”1 while automobiles brought a drastic change in life as it was, people adjusted to it quickly. In 1920’s cars were available to the general public at an affordable price, therefor offering the public a better, faster way of getting from place to place. Most importantly according to the document cars brought a change in the social aspects of life. With the help of a car travel times were decreased. Cities were now in reaching distance.
With the introductions of the Model T, the assembly line and the method of mass production created many new jobs. The Model T 's low price allowed everyone that was making a good salary to buy a car. It helped out society by giving people jobs especially at around this time when there was a lot of immigration in the United States and people needed jobs. "This vast production stimulated many other businesses: The steel, rubber, and glass industries flourished. Construction companies boomed as highways and garages were built. Oil companies, rapidly losing their kerosene business to the spread of electricity, more than made up for it with increased gasoline sales."(Gordon) As a whole it changed the economy at the time but in the long run it changed what society is today. It created mass production which is now our way of production and it changed all of working America with the numerous amounts of jobs it created. "As more Americans owned cars, urbanization patterns changed. The United States saw the growth of suburbia, the creation of a national highway system, and a population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blford.htm)
This essay is about a man named Henry ford who joined the car industries that got a company named after him and got built the first car the ford modal a. before he made the ford modal a though he make other cars the model t and the model tt. They also built a motorized carriage when they first started the company.Also after that they built some famous cars like the mustang and the maverick. There were lots of other things that were built by him and his childhood will be found in this essay.
The model T was the first affordable car for all people in America. It was a huge step in the advancements of Americans and allowed people to get things done a lot faster than the old ways of
On a breezy spring day in 1868 in Childersburg, Alabama, James Ford sat in on the steps of the New Baptist Church meditating on how he is going to support his wife, Mabel, and his daughter, Dixie. He wasn’t sure how to survive in this place since his rights as a citizen were being withheld from him, even though he was no longer a slave after the 13th amendment abolished it. He was a freed man after that piece of legislation passed. Although in the eyes of the white southern men, he was still viewed the same whether he was in shackles or not. As James pondered about the various ways to become treated like a real citizen, the people of the Freedmen’s Bureau begin to ascend the steps carrying crates full
Karl Benz invented the first automobile in 1866; it has changed the world in how we commute every day. From riding in carriages to now cutting our time travel whether it is riding a bus or our on car. It has become more of a necessity in today's world to have a car because its something that we choose to have in our daily life that it is a choice that is high on the priority list to own. As to wealthier people the type of car you drive puts in a different class. Where some get the choice of car that they want others have a certain budget on what to look for. The way an automobile symbolizes today, changed in society, and how a car has become a collection.
In 1913, Henry Ford launched the first moving assembly for the mass of a production of the automobile. This new technique decreased the amount of time it took to build a car from 12 hours to two and a half, which in turn lowered the cost of the Model T from $850 in 1908 to $310 by 1926 for a much-improved model. In 1914, Ford introduced the $5 wages for an eight-hour workday $110 in 2011, more than double what workers were previously making on average, as a conclusion of keeping the good workers loyal to his company. More than for his profits, Ford became renowned for his best vision the manufacture of a poor automobile made by skilled workers who earn steady wages.
Henry Ford created the Model T with the goal of producing a car that could be marketed to the middle class. Up until this point the average car produced cost around $2,000, which exceeded the price range of most Americans. Ford saw the middle class as an economic opportunity, a chance to create more costumers while still manufacturing the same product. His decision was not based exclusively on the lucrative market of the middle class though, but also on his humanitarian belief that citizens deserved the opportunity to purchase a car, as it would allow them to “enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." Not surprisingly, when Ford created the Model T the working class flooded factories with
Founded in 1903, Henry Ford managed to get investor support to open the first manufacturing automobile company in Detroit, Michigan. Ford Motor Company has been known for its mass production of vehicles using a perfected assembly line method and its innovations in the automobile industry. Ford’s famous Model-T was developed as an innovative automobile that could be produced quickly, while keeping the cost to a minimum. This allowed people with a lower income the opportunity to afford an automobile. One of the biggest changes in the automobile industry occurred in 1913 with the introduction of a perfected assembly line method. This assembly line method was the one of the main reasons Ford Motor Company was able to keep the cost of vehicles and the production time to a minimum. Ford also took the first step to increase wages of their employees above the industry standard. Although it was still a very low value, Ford offered $5 per day which was a huge improvement from the $2.34 per day that most companies offered.