Henry Ford - A Great Innovator

Background Note Contd...

Later the same year, Ford got a job at the Michigan Car Company, but was sacked six days later for indicating a flaw in his foreman's work (Refer Exhibit I for important events in Ford's life). As a boy, Ford developed his interest in mechanics by taking watches apart to look at how they worked. He would take the watch apart and then make it work again by joining the components together. Describing Ford's nature, Brinkley said, "Like the automobile itself, Ford's mind was never stationary. He was antsy to the point of near insanity and always willing to roll the dice, taking calculated risks and dreaming of a better tomorrow."⁸ While still a school boy, Ford developed a steam turbine engine with a high number of revolutions per minute, which unfortunately burst and destroyed the school walls. Ford had a tool kit at home, which included a screwdriver, designed from a knitting needle and a pair of pincers, shaped from a watch spring.

He loved to 'tinker' with things and was nicknamed the 'Grand Tinkerer.' Ford dropped out of school at the age of 15. He had a strong aptitude for mechanics and engineering. He was keenly interested in learning how different things worked. Elucidating Ford's unique personality, James said, "Ford was a gregarious, well-liked youth, but not overly studious. He was a hands-on learner, always tinkering."⁹ In 1879, when Ford was 16, he ran away from home. He went to Detroit where he worked as a trainee in a machine shop called James Flower & Brothers (JF&B) to learn how machines were made. Here, Ford acquired new skills such as to read blueprints and also studied the working of the internal combustion engine.¹⁰ Ford worked six days a week at JF&B and was paid $2.50 a week for ten hours work per day.

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8] As quoted in the article, "Ford at 100: A Century of Audacious Tinkering," by Douglas Brinkley, Detroit Free Press, June 12, 2003.

9] As quoted in the article, "Henry Had the Dream," by Sheryl James, Detroit Free Press, March 27, 2003.

10] Gasoline engines are also known as internal combustion engines and are divided into two general classes, namely two-cycle and four-cycle engines. An internal-combustion engine is any engine that operates by burning its fuel inside the engine. Generally, the term 'internal combustion engine' is used only to refer to engines in which fuel is burned intermittently, thus excluding jet engines and gas engines which burn fuel continuously.

Case Details

Case Code : LDEN025
Themes: Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship
Case Length : 13 Pages
Period : 1903
Organization : Ford Motor Corporation
Pub Date : 2003
Teaching Note : Not Available
Countries : USA
Industry : Automobile

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