Henry Ford S Invention

Ford's invention came out of its rightful place-the American garage

In 1896, Ford started experimenting in his kitchen. He placed a primitive looking gasoline engine in the kitchen sink. There were wires running from a ceiling light to the spark plug. Ford’s wife Clara controlled the gas flow while Ford spun the flywheel. The engine came to life for 30 seconds. What a noise it made! The neighbors started complaining about it except for Felix Julien.

The kitchen space was not sufficient for Ford to experiment on his large two-cylinder engine. Ford’s neighbor Julien was very supportive. He and Ford shared a common shed nearly. Julien was kind enough to clear the wood and coal from his side of the shed. He also broke the wall that separated the two halves so that Ford could get more space to spread out his tools and parts. At the end of the day Julien would stand by to encourage Ford who continued to experiment late after a day’s work as a chief engineer at Detroit’s Edison illuminating Co.

Ford had to knock down a part of the shed’s outer wall to release his horseless carriage. The bricks fumbled and out came a delicate looking vehicle which had four bicycle wheels, a horn made from a doorbell and a tiller steering wheel. This was Ford’s first automobile and it rolled out of a garage! Along with the automobile was born the garage –a place to keep the automobile safe in all weather.

Ford’s landlord William Wreford was angry to see a broken wall. However, when he saw the automobile he was thrilled at the invention. Wreford enlarged the shed’s opening at his own expense and the vehicle could pass through smoothly each time.

Henry Ford’s invention would have remained incomplete without such generous neighbors.

Ford’s invention came out of its rightful place-the American garage. Ever since the garage was discovered, it has served as a laboratory, a stage, a studio and a place where big dreams have been realized. The garage has been the birthplace of many Fortune 500 companies. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <b> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <th> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <hr> <blockquote> <quote> <caption> <strike> <param> <div> <span> <u> Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Friends, families, & forays, scenes from the life and times of Henry Ford

Dearborn Independent Magazine January 1926-May 1926

Congressional edition

A Nation of Inventors

Dearborn Independent Magazine January 1927-October 1927