16. Read Henry Ford’s biography. Put questions to the given answers.

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863. His mother died when he was 12. He helped on the family farm in summer and in winter attended school. Watches and clocks fascinated the boy. He went around the countryside doing repair work without pay, merely for the chance to tinker with machinery.

At 16 Ford walked to Detroit and apprenticed himself to a mechanic. Later he worked in an engine shop. In 1884 he took charge of a firm his father gave him. He married and seemed settled down, but after two years he went back to Detroit and worked as night engineer for the Detroit Edison Company.

F ord built his first car in a little shed behind his home. It had a two-cylinder engine over the rear axle that developed four horsepower. In 1899 Ford helped to organize the Detroit Automobile Company. Early automobile manufacturers merely bought automobile parts and assembled the cars. Ford’s objective was to make every part that went into his cars. He acquired iron and coal mines, forests, mills, and factories to produce and shape his steel and alloys, his fuel, wood, glass, and leather. He built railroad and steamship lines and an airplane freight service in order to transport his products.

Mass production was Ford's main idea, and he replaced men with machines. Each man was given only one task, which he did repeatedly until it became automatic.

The first Model T Ford was made in 1908. More than 15 million were to be sold in the next 20 years. The Model T, nicknamed the “flivver” and the “tin Lizzie”, was probably more responsible for the development of large-scale motoring than was any other car in automotive history. It also spurred the building of roads and streets in the United States.

Ford also won fame as a philanthropist and pacifist. He established an eight-hour day. He built a hospital in Detroit. He created the Edison Institute.

In 1945 Ford yielded the presidency of the company he headed to his 28-year-old grandson, Henry Ford II. Ford died on April 7, 1947, at the age of 83.

1. ________________? In 1863.

2. ________________? No, without pay.

3. ________________? At 16.

4. ________________? It had a two-cylinder engine over the rear axle.

5. ________________? To make every part that went into his cars.

6. ________________? To produce and shape his steel and alloys, etc.

7. ________________? Mass production.

8. ________________? No, only one task.

9. ________________? In 1908.

10. _______________? The Model T spurred the building of roads.

17. Read the brief information about the famous automakers. Put the historical names and data into the right order. Try to make exhaustive reports on each of the personalities and their inventions.

~ In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler – invented a gas engine that allowed for a revolution in car design.

~ In 1891, John Lambert – America's first gasoline-powered automobile was invented.

~ Nikolaus August Otto – invented the gas motor engine in 1876.

~ Duryea Brothers – In 1893, they founded America's first company to manufacture and sell gasoline-powered vehicles.

~ Henry Ford – Henry Ford improved the assembly line for automobile manufacturing (Model-T) in 1908, invented a transmission mechanism, and popularized the gas-powered automobile.

~ Rudolf Diesel – In 1898, Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel-fuelled internal combustion engine.

~ Charles Franklin Kettering – Charles Franklin Kettering invented the first automobile electrical ignition system and the first practical engine-driven generator.

~ Armand Peugeot – head of a foundry, produced his first motorcar in 1890.

~ Leonardo da Vinci – made his studies on designing moving mechanisms in the 15^th century.

~ Roger Bacon – English scientist, developed the idea of a car in the 13^th century.

~ Nicolas Joseph Cugnot – French inventor, constructed the first self-propelled vehicle in 1763.

~ Sir Isaac Newton – (1642 – 1727), English philosopher and mathematician, formulated the law of gravitation and suggested to propel a vehicle by mechanical power.