Editing Henry Ford (section)

==Early life==
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in [[Springwells Township, Michigan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Ford – Visionaries on Innovation – The Henry Ford |url=https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/stories-of-innovation/visionaries/henry-ford/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024223215/http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp |archivedate=October 24, 2008 |website=www.thehenryford.org}}</ref> His father, William Ford (1826–1905), was born in [[County Cork]], Ireland, to a family that had emigrated from [[Somerset]], England in the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ford.ie/AboutFord/CompanyInformation/HistoryOfFord |title=The history of Ford in Ireland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119153940/http://www.ford.ie/AboutFord/CompanyInformation/HistoryOfFord|archive-date=November 19, 2017}}</ref> His mother, Mary Ford (née Litogot; 1839–1876), was born in Michigan as the youngest child of [[Belgian Americans|Belgian]] immigrants; her parents died when she was a child and she was adopted by neighbors, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings were John Ford (1865–1927); Margaret Ford (1867–1938); Jane Ford (c. 1868–1945); William Ford (1871–1917) and Robert Ford (1873–1877). Ford finished eighth grade at a [[one-room school]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Henry Ford—Biography, Education, Inventions, & Facts |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Ford |accessdate=February 6, 2022}}</ref> Springwells Middle School. He never attended [[Secondary school|high school]]; he later took a bookkeeping course at a commercial school.<ref>Nevins and Hill (1954), 1:90.</ref>

His father gave him a [[pocket watch]] when he was 12. At 15, Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman.<ref>Ford, ''My Life and Work'', 22–24; Nevins and Hill, ''Ford TMC'', 58.</ref> At twenty, Ford walked four miles to their [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] church every Sunday.<ref>Evans, Harold, "They Made America", Little, Brown and Company. New York.</ref>

Ford said two significant events occurred in 1875 when he was 12: he received the watch, and he witnessed the operation of a [[Nichols and Shepard]] road engine, "...the first automobile other than horse-drawn that I had ever seen".

Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His father expected him to take over the family farm eventually, but he despised farm work. He later wrote, "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."<ref>Ford, ''My Life and Work'', 24; Edward A. Guest, "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," ''American Magazine'', July 1923, pp. 11–15, 116–120.</ref>

In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice [[machinist]] in Detroit, first with James F. Flower & Brothers, and later with the [[Detroit Dry Dock]] Company. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm, where he became adept at operating the [[Westinghouse Farm Engine|Westinghouse portable steam engine]]. He was later hired by [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation|Westinghouse]] to service their steam engines.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIDyU91YMHAC |title=The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century |last=Watts |first=Steven |publisher=Random House, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0307558978 |page=28}}</ref>

[[File:Henry Ford 1888.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Henry Ford in 1888 (aged 25)]]
In his farm workshop, Ford built a "steam wagon or tractor" and a steam car, but thought "steam was not suitable for light automobiles," as "the boiler was dangerous." Ford also said that he "did not see the use of experimenting with electricity, due to the expense of [[trolley wires]], and "no storage battery was in sight of a weight that was practical." In 1885, Ford repaired an [[Otto engine]], and in 1887 he built a four-cycle model with a one-inch [[bore (engine)|bore]] and a three-inch [[stroke (engine)|stroke]]. In 1890, Ford started work on a [[two cylinder|two-cylinder]] engine.

Ford said, "In 1892, I completed my first motor car, powered by a two-cylinder four [[horsepower]] motor, with a two-and-half-inch bore and a six-inch stroke, which was connected to a [[countershaft]] by a belt and then to the rear wheel by a chain. The belt was shifted by a [[clutch|clutch lever]] to control speeds at 10 or 20 [[miles per hour]], augmented by a [[throttle]]. Other features included 28-inch wire bicycle wheels with rubber [[tire]]s, a foot brake, a 3-gallon gasoline tank, and later, a water jacket around the cylinders for cooling. Ford added that "in the spring of 1893 the machine was running to my partial satisfaction and giving an opportunity further to test out the design and material on the road." Between 1895 and 1896, Ford drove that machine about 1000 miles. He then started a second car in 1896, eventually building three of them in his home workshop.<ref name="Ford">{{Cite book |title=My Life and Work |last=Ford |first=Henry |date=2019 |isbn=9781545549117 |location=Columbia |pages=12–17}}</ref>