Inventions that changed America

1913 HENRY FORD (1863-1947) In 1914, Ford raised the minimum wage to $5 a day for his employees 22 years of age and over. This rate was more than twice what most wage earners received. Ford also reduced the workday from 9 to 8 hours.

Workers flocked to Ford plants seeking jobs, and Ford could choose the hardest-working and smartest ones. To encourage productivity. Ford introduced a profit-sharing plan. Which set aside part of the company’s profits for its employees.

Over the years and now many automobile brands came under the banner of Ford Motor Company. Including Lincoln, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Studebakers, Rambler, Jeep and others.

Ford also introduced many legendary automobile models, including the Thunderbird, Falcon, Continental, Maverick, Mustang, Zephyr, Edsel, Pinto, Ford Fairlane the first V-8, Taurus and others. The Model T changed little from year to year and until 1926 it came in only one color, black.

Ford Motor Company ranks as one of the giants of American Industry. Besides automobiles, it also makes trucks, tractors (Ford-Ferguson tractors) farm machinery and industrial engines. The company also manufactures products for space, industry and military use.

Ford has 65 assembly and manufacturing plants in the United States. The largest of these plants is the Rouge complex near Detroit, Michigan. It covers 1200 acres and employs 35,000 people. The Rouge plant has its own docks for lake freighters. 

Ford also has manufacturing and assembly subsidiaries in Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa and others.

In World War I Ford got a contract to build submarine chasers and also built Liberty motors. He also built a Model T to serve as a battlefield tank.

In World War II, Ford made M4 tanks. Antiaircraft gunnery and amphibious vehicles grew out of the Jeep project. Military jeeps were used around the World. When the United States entered World War II, Ford announced that he could build a plant that could produce one B-24 Liberator bomber an hour and made those bombers until the end of the war.

It will take a hundred years to tell whether he helped us or hurt us. But he certainly didn’t leave us where he found us. – Will Rodgers