How the Invention of the Automobile Affected Us
When Karl Benz developed the Automobile in 1885, people thought that it would be a passing fad; no one at the time could have even imagined that this "motor car" would bring about a technological and economical evolution. The potential of this invention was realised during the 1890's when they became more common. People were using motorcars to travel to their destinations quicker and transport goods. During the early 1900's there were over 250 carmakers alone, more inventors emerged, tires were invented, factories opened and most importantly jobs were created.
In the 1900's cars were becoming more expensive and the average family could not afford such an invention. The invention of the production line was the answer to the problem. Developed by Ransome.E.Olds in 1901 and improved by Henry Ford, the production line was used to build large quantities of identical cars so that people could afford them. The production line was a group of people who assembled cars. Each person had a different job and as the car passed down the conveyor belts they would do the job they were required to do. The production line created jobs for many people and also helped businesses grow. Today it is an accepted fact that the automobile industry represents a huge part of the economy providing jobs for nearly 1 in six people in the U.S. This is a large amount of people employed considering the population of the U.S.A (274 million). Cars need fuel to run and as the demand of fuel became higher gas stations opened in 1910.
Many people think that Ford invented the production line but it was actually Ransome.E.Olds. Ford only improved Old's idea by installing conveyor belts. In 1908 Fords' Model T was the first car built in large quantities to a specification rather than order and the time needed to make one car went down from 12 hours to 90 minutes. Originally introduced at $850, by 1921 production was so efficient that the price dropped to $290. That year, the model T accounted for 55% of all new cars sold. For centuries a large house and fine animals were signs of wealth. In the 1900's the motorcar began to be seen as a status symbol. In 1911 cars were fitted with electric starters, which made cars more popular with the ladies. It showed that cars were becoming simpler to drive and that anyone could operate one, even women!
The impact of the automobile between 1900 through 1945 was immense. It paved the way for a future dependency on the automobile. To paint a better picture, imagine life without an automobile. Everyday life would be dull, cumbersome, and tedious. An individual's mobility would be very limited. Basically, the life without an automobile could not be fathomed. The importance of the automobile is often taken for granite. Society may not know what appreciate the impact of the automobile and effects it has created. The impact of the automobile had both positive and negative effects on America between 1900 through 1945. Automobile provided an outlet for individuals and spread the freedom of travel among all classes of people. It also helped to introduce rural dwellers to the aspects of urban life and vice versa. One of the negative effects was that automobiles helped to put of big decline in the use of railroads. Over the course of the paper, I will try to expose the huge impact of the automobile an early twentieth century life.
Ford was able to make a reliable and inexpensive automobile primarily because of his introduction of the innovative moving assembly line into the process of industrial manufacturing. The assembly line is a system for carrying an item that is being manufactured past a series of stationary workers who each assemble a particular portion of the finished product.
After the Ford Motor Company was founded, they began assembling cars in July 1903 at a plant on Mack Avenue, Detriot. It was not until five years later, in 1908, when the famed Model T was introduced. The constant growth in demand for this vehicle was the reason that Ford developed a mass-production method in order to create what we now know as economies of scale, where in producing
This radical idea of the automobile permeated throughout America with most, if not all credit renowned to Henry Ford. Observed as a technological mastermind, Ford commenced experiments involving machinery from the time he was adolescent to launching his career working at the Edison Illuminating Company. He examined internal combustion engines and gasoline buggy ideas eventually resulting in removing himself from Edison’s company and his introduction in the emerging automobile industry. Following in 1903, he established the Ford Motor Company, which expeditiously became a leader in the automotive industry and would gain extensive wealth within only a few decades. While other manufacturers strove to produce automobiles to be extravagant and luxurious predominantly for the wealthy, he immensely focused on efficient mass production of durable, affordable vehicles for the expanding middle-class market.
The automobile had changed America in many ways since it has been created in the early 1900’s. When the automobile was first invented it was a thing only the rich could afford. After the invention of the mass production line more and more people were able to buy automobiles because they were being produce and sold for cheaper. A historian once said that Henry ford is the reason why common people have no limitations of their geography.
The automobile industry was the reason behind the mass production of materials needed to construct a vehicle and new roads, by using the assembly line method brought about by Henry Ford. After seeing how successful the automobile industry was doing, it lead to an increase in motor related occupations like insurance, agents, and gas stations. Then, as the concept of sub-urbanizing occurred to many, the development of schools, commercial constructions, hospitals and other attractions grew enormously (Faue). As the automobile sales prompted many new industries for the need of common goods, the life of an American was changing quickly and even more jobs opened up. This domino effect that arose from automobiles was innovating America and brought more choices to the common person since he or she is opened to such vast markets. Ultimately, the automobile started a chain reaction that resulted in numerous new companies opening for business, which fueled the US economy. Ergo, the concept of consumerism grew where people decided what they want to buy, and that economic shift is what lead to the bloom of the US economy in the
Henry Ford, the man who revolutionized the car industry forever, founded his company under the beliefs that a car wasn’t a high-speed toy for the rich but instead a sturdy vehicle for everyday family needs, like driving to work, getting groceries or driving to church. However, Henry ford did much more than just this feat. He also tried to make peace in WWI before America had joined the war. In addition, Ford made the radical new five dollars a day payment. However, Ford also had his lows. At an early age, his mother died. His first two companies had also been failures. Against many of his closest friends protests, he published an anti-semitic (Jewish) newspaper. Ford had a very interesting and unique life and he changed the automotive industry forever.
The automobile industry began with Henry Ford’s production of the Model T in the early 1900’s. With the creation of the assembly line, cars became cheaper and quicker to produce, thus making them affordable for many people. There were originally 500 auto manufacturers. By 1908, there were only 200; and in 1917 only 23 remained. This vast reduction was due to large amounts of consolidation within the industry.
At first, the Model T was hand assembled and took roughly 12.5 hours. When Henry Ford started to build his famous Model T in 1909, his company sold each automobile for $825. Through Ford’s genius perspective, he wanted to reduce the cost per car and the time to build the T. After observing a butcher shop, he engineered a line. This line consisted of a range of workers at each station. At each station, a designated worker puts a piece of the car on; whether from installing the engine or bolting the wheels together or buckling the seats in. These stations add up and produce one final Model T automobile. Thus, the assembly line is able to reduce the overall cost, increase quality, and reduced the time to build the Model T. By the year of 1925, the overall cost was reduced to $260 and took about 93 minutes to construct one. As Henry Ford said, “There is one rule for industrialists and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, pay the highest wages possible.” Ford followed this rule, stuck by this rule, and lived by this rule. Therefore, the assembly line reduced the fuel cost minimization by cutting the time required to build, lowered the overall cost, and manufactured mass quantities of the Model
The 1920s exploded with fast paced and lively creativity and culture that influence the world, yet no invention affected American everyday life in the 20th century more than the automobile. The rapidly growing automobile industry led by Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Increased wages and lower cost vehicles made possible through mass production meant that cars became increasingly affordable, although 3 out of 4 cars were bought on installment plans. Company produced new and better models every year to supply the insatiable public demand( http://www.1920-30.com). With, automobiles it made it easier for people to go place to place, it also was affordable for the people to buy. The automobiles were easy to make because of the assembly line in that
In this year Henry Ford created the first affordable, combustion engine car called the Model-T. The creation of the Model-T changed the lives of every American. Vehicles were looked at as a way of freedom and excitement. Soon after, every household in America had a car. The demand for vehicles sparked a whole new industry, creating jobs, more revenues and improving the American economy in every way. With so many vehicles on the roads, roads needed to become bigger and better which spawned a nation wide road construction. This also created more jobs and strengthened the economy even further. (Inventions: Car)
Before the 1920's Americans use to walk and ride their horses for transportation. But when Henry Ford came along, he invented the first car that would drastically change American lives. This car was so popular that 4 out 5 of Americans owned a car. Many Americans also bought it because it was affordable to the rich and poor. It was named car of the century by critics. The Model T improved peoples lives because it united families, improved working conditions, improved social lives between couples, and it was used in many different ways.
The First production of the Model T came out on October 1, 1908 at the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. (www.hfmgv.org) At the time the Model T was going for a price around $850 and by the Twenties a newer model could be bought for at a price of $275.(Gordon) Although having a Model T, was a sign of wealth, it was awfully cheaper than other cars being manufactured by the other manufactures. The Model T was different from all other cars being made at the time because Ford found a way to make his car affordable. The Low Price of the Model T sent a boom around the nation. "Over the next 19 years, Ford would build 15,000,000 automobiles with the Model "T" engine, the longest run of any single model apart from the Volkswagen Beetle." (www.hfmgv.org) "In 1900 America produced 4,100 automobiles; in 1908, the year of the Model T's advent, the number had risen to 63,500; in 1909 it had nearly doubled, to 123,900. In 1916 it stood at 1,525,500." (Gordon)
The United States was also in the process of industrialization. Industries were built and electricity was the new form of power. Electric lights became available and the first movies were made. "By 1916, 21,000 movie houses were testimony of a new industry" (Hacker and Zahler 99). Automobiles became prevalent and that caused the need for roads to be built: "The early growth of the automobile industry wakened a new and much stronger demand for surfaced roads" (Hacker and Zahler 101). Henry Ford was a major contributor in propelling the automobile industry. He improved the assembly line and mass production of parts. "By 1914, the automobile industry had developed such characteristic features as standardization of parts, minute subdivision and mechanization of labor, and even the assembly line in manufacturing" (Hacker and Zahler 100). The United States experienced great social and industrial change on a national scale as well as international scale.
329) There was not one specific person who "invented the automobile," but, there were many people who contributed to the invention of the automobile.(Ingrassia, 5) (Boyne, 31) These people include Isaac Newton, who developed a power carriage in the fourteen twenties, and Joseph Cugnot, who built the first steam powered automobile in seventeen sixty nine. The first American to develop an automobile was Nathan Redd.(Brown, 329) The use of the automobile in the United States became common due to the convenience and reliability of a quick, easy to operate source of transportation. The American people began to build their homes further from their jobs, and further from civilization because they could commute back and forth much more quickly.(Simanaitis, 337) The convenience, reliability, and easy commute were only a few positive effects of the development of the automobile in the United States. The invention of the automobile also directly stimulated the economical growth and success of the United States.