Henry Ford

1863 – 1947 · died at about 84^[1][2]

Business & Industry

Fun Facts About Henry Ford

• Henry Ford helped develop Kingsford charcoal briquets, which his cousin-in-law Edward G. Kingsford made from wood scraps from the Ford factory.^[1]
• Ford was chief engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit when he built his Quadricycle car, and Thomas Edison himself approved of his automobile experiments.^[1][3][4]
• Ford sued the Chicago Tribune for calling him an "anarchist". He won, but the jury awarded him six cents instead of the $1 million he asked for.^[1]
• Although Ford fancied himself an engineering genius, he had little formal training and could not even read a blueprint.^[1]
• Early Model Ts came in other colors, including red. Ford's "any color so long as it is black" rule arrived with the assembly line, because black paint dried faster.^[1]
• At 15, Ford took apart and reassembled the watches of friends and neighbors dozens of times, earning a reputation as a watch repairman.^[1]
• Henry Ford was alive at the same time as Donald Trump — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1946–1947).^[1][2][5][6]
• Henry Ford shares a birthday with Emily Brontë: both were born on July 30.^[1][2][7][8]

Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would be used in the Ford Model T and other automobiles.^[1]

Contemporaries

Max Planck

84 yr overlap

George Bernard Shaw

84 yr overlap

Edvard Munch

81 yr overlap

Nikola Tesla

80 yr overlap

H.G. Wells

80 yr overlap

Frank Lloyd Wright

80 yr overlap

David Hilbert

80 yr overlap

Rabindranath Tagore

78 yr overlap

Mahatma Gandhi

78 yr overlap

Henri Matisse

78 yr overlap

Sigmund Freud

76 yr overlap

Orville Wright

76 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Henry Ford

When was Henry Ford born?

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, and died on April 7, 1947.

How old was Henry Ford at death?

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, and died on April 7, 1947, at age 83.

What was Henry Ford known for?

Henry Ford was known for: Assembly line, Model T automobile. Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automobiles affordable for middle-class Americans through the system that came to be known as Fordism. In 1911, he was awarded a patent for the transmission mechanism that would be used in the Ford Model T and other automobiles.

Who was alive at the same time as Henry Ford?

Henry Ford's closest contemporary was Max Planck. Their lives overlapped for 84 years.