Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on his family’s farm in Wayne County, near

Dearborn, Michigan.
A few years ago his father William Ford had arrived as an emigrant to the new continent,
coming from Ireland years before, for the fate of Henry that year of his birth came into
force the emancipation act signed by Abraham Lincoln that granted freedom to the eclavos
of the southern states.
Ford’s family was engaged in farming on a small farm. So Ford and his five brothers
grew up in a rural environment.
When Ford was 13, his father gave him a pocket watch, which the young man disarmed
and quickly reassembled. Friends and neighbors were impressed and asked to fix their
watches as well. (When Ford was 13 years old, his father gifted him a pocket watch,
which the young boy promptly took apart and reassembled. Friends and neighbors were
impressed and requested that he fix their timepieces too. )
So from his childhood Henry showed his great interest in mechanics and his father,
despite the cultural dominance of the time, did not oppose this vocation. On a joint visit
to Detroit in 1873, he had his first contact with a non-horse-drawn vehicle, a steam-
powered car.

the circumstance unleashed on Henry a passion in which he would work the following
years until he managed to build his first automobile. Having completed the few studies
in Dearborn to which he had access, he began working in Detroit as a mechanical
apprentice at the age of 16. Later as a Westinghouse mechanic he repaired steam-
powered tractors and threshers and also began studying accounting shortly after
he returned home. At this stage he acquired a great experience as a mechanic that
would be fundamental in the future.

Knowing closely the physical effort that was required for the work of the field and the
advantages that these machines brought, his first intention was to build one of them. He
then changed his mind by understanding the need for transportation in his country to
cover his vast distances.

In 1888 Henry married Clara Bryant, daughter of a farmer who lived next door to his
family, and by customs of the time, Clara’s dowry consisted of 16 hectares of forest.
This brought young Ford back into the country environment by departing from his
plans. She was his lifelong companion because with her he had his only son Edsel
(born in Detroit in 1893).

Henry wasn’t cut out for the country so he decided to go back to town. In 1890 Ford was
hired as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company and in 1893, his natural talent
earned him a promotion to chief engineer.

Meanwhile, Ford in his spare time developed his plans for a horse-less carriage. In 1892,
Ford built his first gasoline buggy, which had a two-cylinder engine and four horsepower.
In 1896, he built his first automobile model, the
Ford Quadricycle. This model did not bring any mechanical novelty compared to those
manufactured in Europe by Daimler or Benz.

In the same year, he attended a meeting with Edison executives and found himself
presenting his car plans to Thomas Edison . The lighting genius encouraged Ford to build
a better second model.

In 1898, Ford received its first patent for a carburetor. In 1899, with money raised from
investors following the development of a third model car, Ford left Edison Illuminating
Company to pursue its full-time car manufacturing business.

After some tests in the construction of automobiles and companies, Ford established Ford
Motor Company in 1903.He and his partners, mainly brothers John and Horace Dodge,
engine manufacturers, began to reap the first successes, and with them came differences of
opinion. The Dodges favoured a high-priced luxury model, while Ford advocated the exact
opposite, that is, a very simple and popular car, and above all cheap. The differences end
up being so serious that Ford chooses to buy half the shares, leaving the Dodges in the
minority. Now not only does he know what he wants but from different attempts, Ford
introduced the Model T , the first car affordable to most Americans, in October 1908 and
continued its construction until 1927. Also known as "Tin Lizzie", the car was known for
its durability and versatility, which quickly made it a great vehicle. It was a commercial
success and the invention with which Ford excelled in the automotive era. Just five years
later, Henry Ford was already able to put 25,000 units a year on the street at a price of
$500, with profits in excess of $11 million.

Otherwise the reason why Henry managed to be so successful from a strictly business point
of view, Henry Ford’s real secret was to have known how to combine three factors that not
only revolutionized the automobile industry but American society as a whole. The first of
these factors was the standardization and mass production of each and every part that
makes up an automobile, in a
whereas, since they converged neatly on the assembly line, a hundred or so units per day
could be assembled; without being its inventor, its automobile factories thus became the
reference model for large-scale serial manufacturing, a production method that continues to
this day and which was one of the great innovations of the second stage of the Industrial
Revolution.

The second factor was the granting of high wages («exorbitant», according to their rivals)
to the workers in their factories, who, finding themselves with sufficient financial
resources, immediately became the main consumers of Ford T itself. Finally, Ford
established a dense network of dealers at the national level who maintained a close
relationship with the plant, since in many cases even the rudimentary foundations of what
are now the parallel financial companies that encourage the sale of instalments were
founded. In his forties, Henry Ford was not only the world’s leading car manufacturer, but
one of the richest men in the country.

By 1928, Ford and his son Edsel introduced another successful car, the Model A,
and the Ford V8 also went on sale. Ford Motor Company became an industrial
giant.

Henry Ford also made important contributions to the aviation industry. The "Ford Airport"
in Dearborn was one of the best in the world when it opened in 1925, and the nearby
"Dearborn Inn" was one of the first airport hotels in the country.

Some of Ford’s advances in radio navigation made flying safer for everyone today;
although none of its aviation companies were profitable and all of them ceased to exist in
1932. The Great Depression of 1929 forced him to focus on his automotive business, and
aeronautical technology was changing too fast for his assembly line techniques.

Before his death in 1947, Ford continued his experiments, accumulating more than
160 patents with his signature. He was also actively involved in
different political campaigns, as business success made him one of the country’s
great personalities.

All this was accompanied by the creation of the Ford Foundation. It was this entity
that received the enormous fortune it had accumulated throughout its life with the task
of ensuring the welfare of the people through different campaigns that gave access to
small portions of the company to many workers.

Even so, Henry’s goal was to keep the Ford Motor Company under his family’s control.
And it did, because even today, when the company is one of the largest multinationals, it
still has a Ford in its direction.
Ford dies on April 7, 1947 at age 83 inFair
Lane, Dearborn, Michigan, United States because of a brain hemorrhage.

ANNEX:( SUMMARY OF WHO HENRY FORD IS)

Who was Henry Ford?

Henry Ford was an American automaker who created the Model T in 1908 and went on to
develop the assembly line production mode, which revolutionized the automotive industry.

As a result, Ford sold millions of cars and became a world-renowned business leader.
Subsequently, the company lost its dominance of the market, but had a lasting impact on
other technological developments, on labour issues and on US infrastructure. Today, Ford
is credited with helping build America’s economy during the nation’s first vulnerable years
and is considered one of America’s leading entrepreneurs.

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