Did Henry Ford use computers?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Did Henry Ford use computers?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Don Buelke on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:05 pm:

I believe I have come across some very strong evidence that he had at least some rudimentary form of a computer, the likes of which we didn’t think existed until late in the 20th Century.

We've probably all wondered at one time how this 19th Century farm boy from Dearborn, who liked to tinker with mechanical devices and repair watches, could create a massive automobile industry in just a few short decades and a company which today remains the only private US automaker from that pioneering era. He was reportedly unfocused in his youth and might be diagnosed as having ADHD today. How could someone like this, with virtually no formal education and random experience become the icon of 20th Century industrialization? True, he had the gift to gab and some biographers reported he was a topnotch “BS-er”; a promoter so focused on his ideas that he allowed nothing to get in his way, including the facts or the truth at times. He could convince the right people to support him and, as the scion of a family that had some resources, he wasn’t patently dismissed by financiers.

Nonetheless, he created a production revolution that had no previous foundations, no stepping stones for him to tread to greater horizons. Ideas were constantly evolving in his mind that he developed and put into production. Yet, think of the complexity of even one of our simple “T’s,” then envision how this all evolved from scratch, almost overnight. Designing the coils, the carburetors, casting the blocks, creating those planetary transmissions; how could this all spring up in only two decades to where dozens of factories with thousands of employees were coordinated with payrolls, marketing, and advertising worldwide, with a production that rolled out over two million Model T’s a year by the mid-twenties?

It’s obvious: He had to have some kind of computer. If we picture only the finance department with an endless row of Bob Cratchits sitting at desks with pencils and antique adding machines to keep track of only the accounting, it defies comprehension. Then multiply that by all the other departments, suppliers, and facilities, you realize the impossibility of managing all these operations by hand. This always baffled me until I was restoring my ‘26 Coupe and I came across some evidence unexpectedly. As I was removing the old upholstery, I found this nearly century old artifact that I suspect some test engineer had left or lost in the folds of the seat fabric. It wasn’t much, and I’m no industrial archeologist, but I am absolutely positive this is a component of one of Ford’s computers, even though it is only a skeletal framework. The incontrovertible evidence I found linking Ford to computers was a mouse. And he was apparently a wireless version, too!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Miller, Mostly in Dearborn on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:31 pm:

Friden electro mechanical calculators were available as early as 1932 and they were still at Ford in the seventies. Prior to that, I am guessing the mechanical adding machines were used.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:47 pm:

Well I think over time a lot of us have found those bits of technologically advanced pieces of equipment in a lot of different Model T's.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:51 pm:

Good one, Don. . :-)

Yes, you can only wonder at how such a large organization was managed back then. Did Henry bring in experienced managers from other companies, or was most promotion from within?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 09:53 pm:


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Garrison on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 10:07 pm:

I think you figured it out Ralph.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Luke Dahlinger on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 10:08 pm:

Henry Ford had the knack of having the right "idea people" around him. I'm sure he picked up a few pointers on production from not only his tenure at Flower Brothers, Detroit Dry Dock as a youngster but he was often seen rooting around at Ransom Olds' shop about the time the Curved Dash Olds was coming into production. Olds is reported to have said, "Oh that's just Henry Ford. Let him look around. He's no harm."

I wouldn't say he was without education. While he didn't have a complete formal education, he was certainly educated/experienced enough to become Chief Engineer at Detroit Edison as well as teach Machine Shop courses by night at the YMCA.

While Ford often got the credit for things, it was his subordinates who more often than not did the actual work.

I disagree with Ford having the gift of gab. While he was at ease around his friends, he was a poor public speaker and was known to climb out of windows or sneak away under the cover of a truck to avoid speaking to people he didn't want to talk to.

In addition to Arnold & Faurote's "Ford Methods & Shops" I also recommend picking up Ford Bryan's "Rouge - Pictured in it's prime". It shows quite a bit of Ford operations, office and factory.

Ralph-
From what I understand most promotion was from within the company or in the case of William Knudsen he was part of the package when Keim Mills was bought out. More people left Ford for other companies than Ford brought in from competitors.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Gregush Portland Oregon on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 10:24 pm:

Don that is a good one. Now everyone that didn't catch on, go back and reread the WHOLE thing! :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Enos Wiseman on Friday, November 30, 2012 - 10:35 pm:

I agree. I just bought mine in Sept and I found evidence of one under the drivers seat. Could it have been left by the assembly line?I think it was wireless as well...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 05:18 am:

I think Don needs another T because he has too much free time. As for the wireless mouse - if you look closely you'll find a small wire coming from the end opposite the nose. You need to be careful because that end also produces small pellets that can make a mess of projects.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 10:28 am:

Impossible! At least he didn't use them for the touring model, because as we all know, although it has a windSHIELD, it has no WINDOWS!

schuh


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry VanOoteghem on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 10:49 am:

Don,

"It’s obvious: He had to have some kind of computer."

It's only "obvious" to those of us who grew up with computers. I'm sure he didn't have anything more than adding machines and slide rules. What he did have, was legions of people who were taught to think, and not to lean on computers to think for them. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because this was all done very long ago, with limited technology, that it was an impossible task.

It seems like the Egyptians should have had laser surveying equipment as well. They didn't, yet they built the pyramids.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Moorehead on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 11:07 am:

Maybe the same aliens that assisted in building the pyramids were still around for Henry to use as a his secret weapon against the other producers.
I do agree with Jerry in that todays young folks rely on the fore fathers knowledge as a basis for their developing of modern marvels. With the addition of the computer, it seems no big ideas are being developed at the rate of what they once were. I don't think many of todays engineers think of ways to develop ideas outside of the realm of what has been learned or experienced before. They believe such things as individual coil packs are new concept. This is just an example of what we know is not new. Or maybe they say new when they are actually using the old guys ideas and just re-brand them.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry VanOoteghem on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 11:19 am:

Tom,

You're spot on with what you say. I see it at work every day.

Also, wondered how long it would take see the suggestion of alien help. Not long I guess!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Moorehead on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 11:44 am:

What I find amazing is that todays younger engineers have no clue as to what it may take to do a temporary fix to an obvious problem. Many times I see someone waiting for the "part" that is needed to get back up and operating. There is no jury rigging done anymore to get in the swing of things. I realize that many of the hi tech electronics can't be jury rigged, but I would have to try and do some type of a repair. Maybe that is why we don't see all of the young smart folks driving model T's! They would not know how to get a broken down car home to do a permanent fix if it broke down while driving it. I guess the old guys are pretty smart after all!!!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susanne on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 11:54 am:

From what I have heard, through various and classified sections, er, resources, Ford DID indeed have Aliens on his staff... for a while, apparently, he even worked to assimilate them and help them blend in, from giving classes in the Lingua Terra to making sure their homes appeared like others in their neighborhoods. In fact... before the whole "Roswell incident" (in which the army showed up in Ford jeeps to contain the "situation"... ponder the implications there, if you would) where people were told to be frightened of Aliens, he publicized these efforts in various publications like Factory Facts, etc...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Frank Harris from Long Beach & Big Bear on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 12:43 pm:

We had a Crealock 37 sailboat and I have done some blue water sailing. The longest trip was from Molokai to Santa Barbara, 2200 miles on a 40 foot long racing sailboat with three other guys. In today's world they use GPS and Loran as well as dead reckoning, but you had better have a good reliable sextant if you want to get home after the electronic stuff fails. Today's boaters use on board computers to check the weather isobars, we wet a finger and held it up into the wind.

Computers are just fine and I found a rat rather than a mouse in our 1913 Cadillac Touring car so it must have been from a big desk top model rather than a little lap top.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gary H. White - Sheridan, MI on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 12:54 pm:

Hard to pass up a deal like this. (Was in a 1985 magazine.) A whopping 64K RAM,20K ROM.

One similar to this was found in a forgotten closet in a local high school. They tried to operate it but couldn't find any floppy discs.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Sosnoski on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 01:09 pm:

Care to post a picture of this "artifact" that you found and are absolutely convinced is part of some computer which didn't exist at the time?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susanne on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 01:23 pm:

Way OT - Someone *gave* me a Kaypro 4 CP-M machine once (like the one above), used it as a dumb terminal for a packet station... then I found a copy of WordStar, and wrote about half a novel... couldn't find a dot matrix printer that would work with it, tho... Miss the bright green on black display. Didn't come with a mouse, tho... ;)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michael Deichmann, Blistrup, Denmark on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 01:40 pm:

I believe it is in the "Ford Methods & Shops" that there is a picture showing the "International Time Recording Company" Card recorder used in Ford factories to register arrival and departure of workers to the factories.
To process the payroll som sorters may have been used from the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co.
Both companies where later merged and ended up as International Business Machines or I.B.M. and they have served Ford Motor Company since :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Henry Petrino in Modesto, CA on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 02:16 pm:

Don,

He probably was ADHD. I have a grandson who is ADHD and his doctor says people with this affliction end up "either in jail or in office". I think he's right. It takes a lot more focus on your objective than most of us can muster to become a huge success in something. The trick is to channel it in a positive direction!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Don Buelke on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 02:44 pm:

Fred, I don't need another T. They are not like peanuts or potato chips where "you can't have just one" (contrary to some buff's belief.) On the other hand, I think some of the readers would benefit from playing with a computer more and lighten up a little so they can recognize a spoof when they read it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Kossor on Saturday, December 01, 2012 - 04:35 pm:

Here is a picture of an artifact I just came across which appears to show the E-Timer computer controlled electronic timer in use back in the day when this 1927 touring was new. :-)

E-Timer in use back in the day


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep NZ on Sunday, December 02, 2012 - 01:59 am:

green on black
They had a dressup kit for windows7, so much better than windowsMc'touchscreenmenu opps i mean 8


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Jablonski on Sunday, December 02, 2012 - 08:31 am:

Wow Mike !!! Looks just like a Baby Lincoln !!


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