Keith Browning Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 I read that today is Henry Ford's birthday. How much do you know about the man? From Wikipedia: Henry Ford, c. 1919 Born July 30, 1863(1863-07-30) Greenfield Township, Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. Died April 7, 1947 (aged 83) Fair Lane, Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. Occupation Business, Engineering Net worth ▲$188.1 billion, based on information from Forbes – February 2008. Religion Protestant Episcopal Spouse(s) Clara Jane Bryant Children Edsel Ford Parents William Ford and Mary Ford ____________________________________________ Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism", that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for his workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of the world's largest fortunes without ever having his company audited under his administration. Henry Ford's intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 <<INSERT BIRTHDAY CAKE HERE>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Henry Ford admired Adolf Hitler as a politician and leader (sadly, I have to agree that the fiend WAS charismatic and could have turned Germany into a world leader if he hadn't tried world conquering) and that has earned Ford some derision. I don't think that it is any secret that Ford tried union busting.... obviously it didn't work. But I don't think that union leaders are shining examples of integrity, either. We shan't discuss my take on "onions" other than to say thatnature ensures the survival of the fittest while onions ensure survival of the mediocre. Fords only venture into airplanes was the venerable tri-motor. It was manufactured in a very few variants but it was a harbinger - laying the ground work for future all metal monoplanes. Incidentally, the real "daddy" of the trimotor was William Stout who designed and built, among eother things, the Stout Scarab... Henry hired him to build a plane... Henry was, as Kieth mentioned, paying the highest wages in the industry... his idea was that his workers should be able to afford to buy what it was they were making. In 1972, I was working at a VW/Audi/Porsche dealer and they were almost insulting in the way they "suggested" that everyone in the store should be driving a mother-corp automobile. Hmmmmm. Henry changed the face of north america... He spearheaded the movement that put cars into the as yet unbuilt driveways of common man. The flathead V8 was the first v configured motor that could be mass produced for automobiles... Not a shining example of reliability due to thermal loading (there were long exhaust passages that flowed between cylinders) - the friggin' thing has two water pumps fer cryin' out loud but it was the beginning of change. In the 30s, it was a pioneer in the use of bearing inserts rather than the more common poured in place lead/babbit bearings. And we should mention the pressure fed oil system.... Zora Arkus-Duntov (the father of the Corvette, if you will) designed and marketed the ArDun head for the flattie. If you look at early drag cars, there are many pics that make you wonder if the engine is a 10 bolt hemi (the early Chrysler Hemi is a study all of it's own) or a series 60 with ArDun heads. It don't matter one bit if you like Henry Senior or hate his blue oval guts. This man has had a profound affect on our lives. Were it not for him, we would all be doing something vastly different to earn our daily bread... Say.... Kieth.... can I have an apple pie with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 No you can't Jim...... It's my B-Day on the 31st of July. Aaron may or may not show up....That's up to him, but I do have Crown with his name on it..............Happy friggin bday to me. 21 for the 22nd year...........I have a bottle of Crown and plan to use it............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Larry.... on 03/07/2010 I celebrated my 29th B'day for the 31st time.... The tradition at work is that you will receive a birthday card. It is never kind but always funny.... and a stack of scratch and wins. Needless to say, I bombed this year. Anyway.... Crown Royal? EEEEWWWWWW!!!! At least Aaron is a cheap drunk Happy birthday ya friggin sophomore... One of these days you will get out of bed and say "Muck fe... gravity works". Upside... I get old farts discount at the liquor store on Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Upside... I get old farts discount at the liquor store on Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 A thought that I had as I arose this AM (Larry, you can read that as "discovered gravity still works" ) deals with electrical systems. Something tells me that Stupidbaker was the first 12 (actually 14) volt system... But I would like to believe that it was our old buddy Henry (I imagine by that time it would be Edsel) that brought it to us. What you youngsters missed.... the 318 Poly motor, the slant six, the 144 Ford with the integral intake manifold.... cartridge oil filters... polarizing generators (watching the guy in the next bay try to polarize one of them new fangled alternator things).. adjusting the air gap in a voltage regulator.... the most exotic tool in my box was my dwell gauge... As an addendum to my previous post... what's with Dodge and all this Hemi bullshit. The "new" hemi has about as much to do the gen 1 or gen 2 hemis as Dennis Rodman has to do with "normal". We don't see Ford comparing the current gas engines (4.6, 5.4 and 6.8) to the 427 SOHC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 What you youngsters missed.... the 318 Poly motor, the slant six, the 144 Ford with the integral intake manifold.... cartridge oil filters... polarizing generators (watching the guy in the next bay try to polarize one of them new fangled alternator things).. adjusting the air gap in a voltage regulator.... the most exotic tool in my box was my dwell gauge... Let's see..... 318 Poly Motor, No. 225 Slant Six, Yes and really hated the POS electrical system. 144 Ford, No but did play with alot of the 170 and 200 big brothers. Cartridge oil filters, Yes and still sell them. Polarize generators, Yes first things I ever rebuilt. Air gap in Voltage regulators, Yes same as above. Dwell gauge, Yes but it was stolen in high school, never replaced it. Also note, Had numerous match books just in case my points burnt up on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 The old days were exciting.. the brave new world we live in (apologies to Aldous Huxley) is exciting. It's all exciting. At one point in time the Plymouth and the Dodge were vastly different (digression.. if you ever want to see a truly fugly car, Ford tried building a for Canada version of the falcon calling it a "Frontenac". Mercifully, it died an early death). Anyway... the "early" 318 was the polyspherical combustion chambered 318... Now... polyspherical is just another word... a $5.00 word, yes... but let's try to understand it a bit... Mostly, it is engineering jargon. The engine wasn't a hemi... but they wanted to give it the "flavour" of a hemi.,,, I'm not really sure that it "wasn't" a hemi - sorta. It had "canted" valves (much like the 351M/400) it was such a long time ago (and I am nearly sure that somebody here must know a DB kinda guy) and should be able to remind us if it was or wasn't a pentroof style combustion chamber. Along about 1967, Dodge introduced another 318.... this one based on the 273 wedge head motor... We were left to deal with two different motors called by the same name... Much like back about 1997 when we had the F250 and the uhhhhhh F250 - both completely different trucks. The important thing is to learn from our history, revel in our history for all the wonders it gave us ( Turbine engined cars... how many realize that Chrysler gave us electronic fuel injection in the late 50s) Bosch Jetronic fuel injection... Rochester fuel injection somewhere around 1956, multiple carbs off the showroom floor and even factory supercharging... Larry, you remember a lot of the neat shit... Some of the youngsters (and some of the middle aged) people I work with seem to think that the infernal (sic) combustion engine is a recent development. If we do not learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it. FWIW, I still have a pdf of Harry Ricardos book "The High Speed Internal Combustion Engine". This is the 1931 version... I believe this was the last update to the tome. Ask and ye shall receive... You can't remember the red 318? Fuck... I can remember 1967.... sorta... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Larry, you remember a lot of the neat shit... Some of the youngsters (and some of the middle aged) people I work with seem to think that the infernal (sic) combustion engine is a recent development. If we do not learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it. FWIW, I still have a pdf of Harry Ricardos book "The High Speed Internal Combustion Engine". This is the 1931 version... I believe this was the last update to the tome. Ask and ye shall receive... You can't remember the red 318? Fuck... I can remember 1967.... sorta... Jim, TSK TSK, You haven't even brought up the "EDSEL" car line. Oh and don't forget about the "Tucker". Talk about cars before their time and mistakes that have been made. I would love to read that PDF...... As for remembering the "Red 318" That I can't but I'm sure I probably worked on one way back when....... Shit I have a hard time remembering my last boner...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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