In my research paper I am going to tell you how the first automobile and the evolution of the automobile helped the United States be able to expand as rapidly as it did with the help of the automobile and its many uses.
With the invention of the automobile came a new sense of freedom. The automobile has been a force that has helped to set the course for the future. In the year 1903 a man named Henry Ford invented the first gas powered combustion engine. With this new engine he was able to construct a personal conveyance which was to be named the automobile. With his invention of the automobile traveling became faster and more efficient then a horse and carriage.
His first cars sold for about 900 dollars. This meant that pretty much only the wealthy could afford the luxury of having the first horseless carriage. The first engine was a 20 horsepower straight four cylinder that had a top speed of 25 mph. The first cars were primarily made out of wood, which was hand carved by a skilled carpenter.
The first cars had the bear necessities to be driven. It had a windshield, front seats and back seats that held four people, the engine, the gas tank that was positioned under the back seat, a radiator, and lights for night driving. The first car had a 3 speed manual transmission that was operated by leavers and a clutch. The transmission was used to transfer the power of the engine into a gearbox that caused the car to move. The gearbox is what controlled how much of the engines power was used to start the car in motion and how fast the engine must run to maintain a constant speed.
The clutch was used to allow the gears to be shifted without any damage being done to the gears or gearbox. The gears controlled the speed the car traveled at and how much power the engine used to get up to speed. The gears played an important part in the cars motion. Without the gearbox the car would not be able to move itself. In the years to come the automobile became a status symbol among society.
The people who owned cars were considered to be wealthy or part of a high-income family. If you owned a car you had the ability to travel around urban cities or take long trips without having to take a train everywhere you wanted to go. As the car became more and more popular the demand became greater. Car builders at first produced only a few cars per day.
Then with the invention of the assembly line that changed. With the invention of the assembly line in 1907, car out put began to increase dramatically. In 1903, 12 skilled workers were able to assemble 144 cars a week. Then in 1905, 300 workers could assemble 7,500 cars a week. With the assembly line each individual was given a task that he would perform more then 1000 times a day. Henry Ford was the first to double his wages for workers as more automobiles were built and the price of the automobile went down.
As more and more cars were sold Henry Ford was able to pay his workers a little more as the prices of cars slowly dropped and as cars became more in demand. Soon more and more people would own a car no matter what their economic income was. From 1914 to 1927 car prices dropped from 500 dollars to as low as 300 dollars. With the dropping prices cars became more affordable. As more and more advancements in technology were being discovered automobiles could be constantly approved upon.
Improvements were made in vast areas of the automobile. Improvements on the engine were constantly being made to give it more power. The engine was soon made with an additional 2 cylinders. With the addition of the cylinders configuring the engine became a new task.
With this dilemma Henry Ford and his team of designers came up with what is called the v-6 engine. This design had the cylinders in two lines of three set opposite of each other yet both side .
