Henry Ford (July 1863 – April 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, and founder of the Ford Motor Company. Ford himself can be considered an inventor. As the primary developer of the assembly-line construction technique still used today, Henry Ford made possible the mass production and sale of affordable automotives to the public.

Before designing his first automobile in 1896 (and going on to create an automotive empire) Henry Ford owned a small lumber company. In 1891, he left the lumber company and took a position as a night engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company, which was founded by Thomas Edison in 1880 and built electrical generating systems.

By 1893, Ford had been promoted to Chief Engineer. The promotion had a convenient side effect: he now had enough time and money to devote attention to his experiments on gasoline engines.

In 1896 Ford built his first self-propelled, gasoline-powered car, which he called the “Ford Quadricycle”. The vehicle was created from commonly available materials: angle iron for the frame, a leather belt and chain drive for the transmission, and a buggy seat. He sold the quadricycle for $200 (170.5 €), and used the money to build another.

That same year (1896) Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to Thomas Edison. Edison approved of, and encouraged Ford's automobile experimentation. Ford would later go on to found the Ford Motor Company and become one of the world's richest men.

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