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Henry Ford, Modern Hero

A hundred years ago in 1896 crowds gathered on the streets of the American city of Detroit to watch a 'horseless carriage' go by. Horses ran away from it in terror, and police tried to force the driver, Henry Ford, to take the machine off the streets. No one had any idea then that the young inventor would become a twentieth century hero and a (1 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently of success.

He was born into a poor family and he had to work hard to help his father on the farm. But whenever he could, he went around to other farms looking for work repairing clocks and watches -- anything that would give him a chance to work with machines. At the age of 16, he walked to Detroit and got a job as a mechanic's assistant. For his work he was paid the enormous (2 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently of $2.50 a week! But his room cost $3.50, so to keep from (3 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently , he had to find another job. Repairing watches at night earned him an additional $2 a week. (4 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently , he worked in an engine shop and helped design steam engines for farm machinery.

Soon after this he became interested in a new kind of (5 MCQ #5 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently , the petrol engine. In his free time he built his first car in a little shed behind his home. It had a four-horsepower engine, only one seat and a stick instead of a steering wheel.

Ford is a famous inventor but he is even more famous for his ideas about the manufacturing process. He introduced several new (6 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently . Instead of having one worker build a car from start to finish, Ford had the worker do only one task repeatedly until he became really good at it. Parts were brought to the workers on moving belts, so they did not have to waste time walking around the factory. This made it possible to produce large numbers of high quality cars (7 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently . As a result, cars became cheaper to buy and Americans bought the new Ford cars like crazy. Ford became rich beyond his wildest dreams.

But that was later. Initially, in 1903, when Ford was first trying to organize his automobile company, he managed to find only 11 other stockholders. One friend invested $1000 and gave him some land for a factory. Later this investor was able to sell his share in the Ford Motor Company for over $5 million and the factory (8 technology site techniques simultaneously starving sum symbol Subsequently was valued at $30 million. Obviously, it pays to invest in a good idea!

--from Compton's Encyclopedia, 1984