HENRY FORD 116 Early career Henry Ford was a farmer born in Michigan and was very proud of his origins as a country man. He moved to Detroit to work as an engineer but his passion and interest in mechanics brought him to develop the first prototype of a car. In his workshop at home, at night, he worked on a project, using a carriage, a very simple petrol motor, and two pistons. He put the components together and created the so called Ford Quadricycle , which was, in short, a carriage run on a basic engine. From the quadricycle, he kept on developing the passion for vehicles and in 1901 he invented the first racing car ever made, Model 999, which could reach the incredible speed of about 100km/h. Model T and the assembly line Ford made the manufacturing of cars his profession and started working on a real car, Model T, but he realised that it took him too long to make it, so one day, in his plant, he used a moving belt to pass the body of the car along to workers, instead of making workers move along it. This saved 2 Henry Ford s assembly line turns 100 posted by CBS Mornings time and effort and was the basis of the moving assembly line, which he invented in 1913. The invention was a blast, because it allowed for the development of massproduction, which was then extended to many other fields, including the war industry. This had a huge impact on the First World War, because it enabled industries to produce weapons, artillery, tanks, and planes in great quantity and in a short time. The assembly line thus became a milestone in history, and Model T was the first car to be produced this way. Social changes The spreading of cars into cities brought about an incredible change in society, too. People could move from one place to another faster, making time more valuable and changing their habits: people could, for the first time, move easily between the city and the countryside. As a farmer, Ford wanted to make cars suitable for the countryside, too, so as to help farmers and make their work easier. This brought about a massive infrastructural operation whereby country roads were modified in order to accommodate cars. Watch the video and complete the sentences. 1. 100 years ago, Henry Ford introduced one of history s great inventions, 2. The assembly line has always been an impressive mix of 3. Ford visited the meatpacking business in Illinois, and there he saw that the 4. The assembly line gave mobility to the average American and helped create the 5. Allison Stevens can approximate an assembly line in her office, testing parts and designs without the need to build 6. With 3D animation, you can see every fastener, every hole, every bend in blast: esplosione carriage: carrozza 5.2 HUMANITIES & BUSINESS 267