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The Birth of Ford Motor Company |
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Henry Ford shown here in a Company photo that was taken in 1903 or 1904. Henry, however, had no intentions of farming the land as his father would have expected. Instead, Henry spent the next two years using a steam engine to cut wood off his land and that of his neighbors. After having built a "honeymoon" cottage on their farm, it was rather shocking to Clara to find Henry, in September 1891, wanting to move to Detroit to accept a $40 a month position as night operating engineer at a substation of the Edison Illuminating Company. The position at Edison appealed to Henry because he would be learning electrical engineering. By October of 1892, Henry was called upon to take charge of maintenance of steam engines in the main downtown Edison Illuminating Power Plant at $75 per month. Ford was intrigued with gasoline engines. His first simple and crude engine was operating by December 1893, on the kitchen sink of the Ford's rented Bagley Avenue home. On Christmas Eve 1893, with Clara dripping in the fuel, Henry ran the little engine for less than a minute. Thus, Henry had now determined the principles of the gasoline engine. Henry's maintenance position at Edison now allowed him a great deal of time to experiment in building a variety of gasoline engines. With help from his friends Ford experimented with various engine designs. In considerable secrecy, his first vehicle, the "Quadricycle", was assembled in June of 1896 in the woodshed behind #58 Bagley Avenue.
The woodshed at 58 Bagley in which Henry Ford assembled the "Quadricycle" in
June of 1896, During that same summer, Henry was invited by his boss, Alexander Dow, to attend a meeting of Edison Illuminating Company executives at Manhattan Beach in New York. At the meeting Ford had an opportunity to discuss his gasoline automobile with Thomas Edison. Surprisingly, Edison, who usually advocated electric vehicles, told Ford that with his gasoline engine he was headed in the right direction. Edison's remarks were a tremendous stimulant to Ford. Dow, however, a strong advocate of electricity for motive power, wanted no hazardous gasoline on his property. While still employed by Edison and working on an improved vehicle, Ford began thinking seriously of manufacturing gasoline automobiles. A second Ford vehicle was completed in 1898. Ford found he needed considerable financial help if he were to go into the business of building automobiles. Henry's friend, [Detroit] Mayor William C. Maybury, introduced Henry to many of the notables in Detroit. In July of 1899, Ford had an opportunity to drive wealthy Detroit lumber merchant William H. Murphy on a 3-1/2 hour, 60 mile demonstration ride to Farmington, Pontiac and back to Detroit thus gaining his first strong financial backer.
The first product of the Detroit Automobile Company, a delivery wagon, was completed in January 1900, and demonstrated on the streets of Detroit with considerable success. Funded by Murphy and several of his friends, and with Henry Ford in the position of Superintendent, (receiving a salary of $150 a month) the Detroit Automobile Company was founded on August 5, 1899. The manufacturing plant was to be at 1343 Cass Avenue at Amsterdam in Detroit. On August 15, 1899, Henry Ford resigned from the Edison Illuminating Company, turning down a promised salary of $1900 a year. The first product of the Detroit Automobile Company, a delivery wagon, was completed in January 1900, and demonstrated on the streets of Detroit with considerable success. Major stockholders, however, were pushing for a variety of vehicles and were in a hurry to make profits while Henry was beset by a number of engineering problems. His experience had not included making more than one car at a time. Several cars were produced but not at the quality Ford would have liked and at a price too expensive to sell. Henry received what appears to have been his final check for $75 on October 29,1900. The Detroit Automobile Company was officially dissolved in January 1901. While Henry was with the Detroit Automobile Company, he received a letter from his friend Oliver Barthel, an attorney and draftsman, warning of the Selden patent, a legality with which Henry Ford would soon have to contend. |
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enry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, and grew up on his family's prosperous farm in Springwells Township
about seven miles due west of Detroit. He attended school through the sixth grade and in 1879 at age sixteen, without his father's consent, walked into Detroit and obtained work at the Michigan Car Company Works where streetcars were built. Henry's father then arranged for Henry to become an apprentice machinist at the James Flower & Brothers Machine Shop. In 1881,
Ford was working for the Detroit Dry Dock Company where he learned a great deal about heavy
industry. By 1882 he was back on the farm operating a small steam traction engine for a neighboring
farmer, and soon after repairing such engines built by the Westinghouse Company. While home on the farm
Henry Ford met Clara Bryant and the two were married on April 11, 1888. They set up housekeeping on an 80-acre farm given to Henry by his father.
