Thesis on "Invention of the Assembly Line"

Thesis 4 pages (1291 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Invention of the Assembly Line

Webster's online dictionary defines an assembly line as a "mechanical system in a factory whereby an article is conveyed through sites at which successive operations are performed on it."

An assembly line is used to assemble quickly large numbers of a uniform product. (Webster's Online Dictionary)

Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 - January 8, 1825), inventor of the American System of manufacturing and the assembly line, was the first to use them when he won a contract with the U.S. Government to create muskets (rifles). Whitney revolutionized the American system of manufacturing in 1799, using the ideas of division of labor and of engineering tolerance, to create what is known today as the assembly line; to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner.

The first automobile to be mass produced in the United States was the 1901, Curved Dash Oldsmobile, built by the American car manufacturer Ransome Eli Olds (1864-1950). Olds invented the basic concept of the assembly line and started the Detroit area automobile industry.

In 1899, with a growing experience of gasoline engines, Olds moved to Detroit to start the Olds Motor Works, and produce low-priced cars. He produced 425 "Curved Dash Olds" in 1901, and was America's leading auto manufacturer from 1901 to 1904. (Bellis)

American car manufacturer, Henry Ford (1863-1947) invented an improved assembly line and installed the first conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory in Ford's Highland Park, Michigan plant, around 1913-1914. At Ford the assembly line was first adapted in the department that built the Model T's magneto, which generated electricity for the ignition system. Previously, one worker had assembled each magneto from start to finish. Under the new approach, each worker performed a single task on each unit as it passed his station on a conveyor belt.

The man who puts in a bolt does not put on a nut," said Ford. "And the man who puts on the nut does not tighten it."

The assembly line reduced production costs for cars by reducing assembly time. Ford's famous Model T. was assembled in ninety-three minutes. After installing the moving assembly lines in his factory in 1913, Ford became the world's biggest car manufacturer. By 1927, 15 million Model Ts had been manufactured. (Bellis)

Following is a report of the day Henry Ford put his assembly line into motion.

For the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park, Michigan automobile factory is run on a continuously moving assembly line when the chassis -- the automobile's frame -- is assembled using the revolutionary industrial technique. A motor and rope pulled the chassis past workers and parts on the factory floor, cutting the man-hours required to complete one "Model T" from 12-1/2 hours to six. Within a year, further assembly line improvements reduced the time required to 93 man-minutes. The staggering increase in productivity affected by Ford's use of the moving assembly line allowed him to drastically reduce the cost of the Model T, thereby accomplishing his dream of making the car affordable to ordinary consumers." (History.com).

The principle of continuous movement is perhaps the simplest and most obvious fact of an assembly line, dating back to Assyrian times, where there is evidence of a system of bucket elevators called the "chain of pots." Miners in medieval

Europe also used these bucket elevators, and by the time of the Renaissance, engineers were becoming familiar with some form of the assembly line. In the fourteenth century, for example, the shipbuilding arsenal of Venice used moving lines of prefabricated parts to equip their war galleys. What may have been the first powered-roller conveyer system was introduced in 1804 by the British Navy's automatic production of biscuits or "hardtack." It used a steam engine to power its rollers. By the 1830s, the principle of continuous processing was starting to enter the consciousness of manufacturers, although it… READ MORE

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