'We have only started on the development of our country--we have not as yet, with all our talk of wonderful progress, done more than scratch the surface.'

- Henry Ford (Quotations Books).

A Natural Born Inventor

    As Chief Engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company, Ford began to experiment with internal combustion engines (Oak). This led him to working on a moving vehicle. His work culminated with the invention of the Quadricycle. Henry Ford built his first car, the Quadricycle in 1896 (Bailey). The Quadricycle had four wheels that resembled those on bicycles, steered with a tiller like that of a boat, and only had two forward speeds, and no reverse (Brinkley). The Quadricycle was only one of the many vehicles and inventions to come to light under the great mind of Henry Ford.
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  In 1899, Ford left the Edison Illuminating Company to work for the Detroit Automobile Company, a newly formed automobile company underwrote by investors who were inspired by Ford's Quadricycle (Brinkley). This move would eventually lead to the creation of his own company. Ford wanted to incorporate ideas from other industries, such as standardized parts as Eli Whitney had done and the assembly line method that was tried by George Eastman (Watts). He was willing to take the best ideas of many and turn it into one massive, good idea ('Henry Ford 1863-1957'). When the company heard Ford's ideas, they did not take them seriously, for his idea's were unheard of. This forced Ford to leave the Detroit Automobile Company. Now unemployed and with more free time on his hands, Ford began to experiment with building his own race cars (Watts). Photobucket

    Ford was successful at building race cars, and even decided to begin racing his cars in order to show off what he could do. With himself behind the wheel of a self-made car, Henry Ford was able to beat out the competition and win an automobile race that would forever alter his life (Brinkley). The victory not only brought Henry Ford pride, it also attracted investors such as the Malcomson Group, who thought that Ford really knew what he was doing and decided to give him a chance at doing what he loved to do (Ford Timeline). They eventually formed a company with Henry Ford called the Ford Company. Ford started off his company in 1903 with only $28,000, eleven men, and himself as Vice President and Chief Engineer (Brinkley). Although the road looked bumpy, Henry Ford was willing to make it to the finish line, or crash and burn in the process.

(Source of Image 1: Downloaded from: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-ghi/Henry-Ford-with-V8-Engine.jpg)

(Source of Image 2: Downloaded from http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/IDX/IDX034/henry-ford-sitting_~368549.jpg).

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