A

TECHNICAL REPORT
ON
HISTORY OF AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
BY

OBASHORO LANRE DAVID

MEE/16/8009

SUBMITTED TO
PROF A.O. AKINOLA

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AKURE

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR B.ENGR

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AKURE

JANUARY, 2022
 ABSTRACT
The evolution of automobile started as far back as the late eighteen hundreds. The pressure

means of mobile transportation then was wooden carts mounted on horses which serves as the

driver. The horses can either be one, two or four depending on what it is used for (I.e. for

conveying royalties, average citizen or for carrying goods). However, the need to move from the

horse-driven era to a better and improved means of transportation, resulted in the creation of

steam combustion automobile. This feat was started and accredited to scientists in European

countries (I.e. Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium) and other countries like USA and

Japan.

As time goes by, improvement on the early steam vehicles to internal combustion gasoline

engine began to take place. And the objective quickly shifted from ‘producing internal

combustion engines that works; to production and improvement in bulk to meet customers

demand'. The evolution of automobile is discussed in this writing with historical improvements

on automobile explained.
 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Exactly who invented the motor car is to a great extent lost in the mists of history. Many

engineers in different countries were working on the same general lines in the middle of the

nineteenth century deriving inspiration from the early steam buses and coaches. They all felt the

need for a more compact and convenient prime mover to get into a horseless age. However, back

in the early 1900s, the automobile industry was rapidly evolved into one of the premier

organizations of the time. This development can be accounted for by the increases in technology

and innovations in the logistics of the business, as well as increases and changes in consumer

demand. Consequently, the development of the automobile industry led to a select few firms that

were in control of the market or in other words an oligopoly. The development of the automobile

industry truly shaped the economy of today’s developed country and has had a lasting impact on

their culture. There have been many approaches to the study of car history. These range from

picture books aimed at a general readership (Roberts, 1985; Furman, 2003) to in-depth technical

studies. They include anthologies of historical events (Cimarosti, 1997), general descriptive

narratives (Boyne, 1988), catalogues of car manufacturers (BurgessWise, 1987; Culshaw &

Horrobin, 1997), histories of specific manufacturers (Filby, 1976; Sabates, 1986; Buckley, 1998;

Feldenkirchen, 2003) and significant industrial studies including manufacturing trends and the

analysis of sales figures (Abernathy, 1978; Womack et al., 2007). Whilst many concentrate on

the main actor of the piece, the automobile, and some consider innovation and use their studies

of the industry to act as examples of their innovation theories, few seem to analyze the actor in

detail. In this writing, the evolution of automobile, its improvement and patent fights is

discussed.
CHAPTER TWO
The word automobile comes from the ancient Greek word αὐτός (autós, meaning ‘self’) and the

Latin word mobilis (movable), therefore automobile means a vehicle that moves itself. The

alternative name, ‘car’ is believed to have originated from the Latin word carrus or carrum

(wheeled vehicle), or the Middle English word carre (cart) (from Old North French). These

words in turn are said to have originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic chariot). Most

definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, have

seating for one or more people, typically have four wheels and are constructed principally for the

transport of people and goods.

2.1 MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES

Manufacturing techniques followed among the early automakers were similar to those used in

other engineering industries. A large number of car companies evolved from bicycle

manufacture. (By the time the first cars appeared the bicycle was accepted as a valuable means

of personal transport.) Companies like Peugeot in France and Humber and Riley in Britain

switched to powered tricycle and quadricycles.

The earliest cars were painstakingly constructed by skilled and usually gifted engineers in very

modest workshops, often little more than back-street garages. General-purpose machines and the

techniques that were very largely developed in the horse-drawn era, were used. As volume

increased, batch production got underway from one-off system. A common system was for the

cars to be constructed through the middle of the workshop, but the lines were static and the

workers and the parts moved to the cars. The machines were grouped according to type-grinding

machines would be in one area of the factory, drilling machines in another and brazing

equipment in yet another. All the work in process had to be dragged and pushed from one group

of machines to the other. It was Ford who installed his equipment in the order in which it was
needed in the manufacturing process. A grinding machine was placed next to a drilling machine

that was placed next to the brazing equipment. Ford was able to greatly reduce the amount of

work in progress and increase the speed of production process. The parts and components still

had to be pushed and dragged from one operation to the next, but the distance reduced.

The assembly was pretty much done in one spot, (Fig 1.1) All parts and components were

assembled on benches. Each person was generally assigned to assemble a component one at a

time. Ransom Olds developed ‘stage’ manufacture in US. In 1903 Ransom E. Olds introduced

his curved dash motor car that was the first automobile to go on for “mass” production. Olds

built 4000 cars in 1903, and went up to 6500 cars by 1905 - an astronomical figure for the time.

The American journal, AUTOMOBILE, in 1904 wrote: “ The motors are passed, step by step,

down the assembly bench towards the testing department in the next room, a new piece being

added at each move with clockwork regularity.”

El Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, showed the practicability of interchangeable parts in

the late 18th Century. In 1908, Henry Leland who set up the Cadillac Car Company, proved the

inherent advantages of interchangeable parts. He took three Cadillacs to England to participate in

the prestigious Dewar Trophy. To win this trophy, the three Cadillacs were disassembled, the

parts were jumbled together, then reassembled to form three new cars which were then run at top

speed for 500 miles without a problem. At a time when all other

cars had to be hand-fitted together, this was an astonishing accomplishment.

Henry Ford is credited with the next logical step for mass production by installing moving

conveyor lines, breaking down the operations to the simplest elements and bringing the parts to

the line. Henry Ford got the idea of moving line from a strange place. In a Chicago meat packing
plant, one day he had been impressed with the efficiency gained by moving the carcasses from

one worker to another by means of a moving overhead trolley. Time was saved bringing the

work to the person, instead of the other way around, and because each butcher specialized in one

operation, he could do his cutting work much faster and more expertly.

On March 1,1914 the Ford Motor Co. introduced what was probably the first moving assembly

line of all time. The sliding rail system used on the magneto (which generated current for

ignition) assembly line at the company’s Highland Park plant was replaced with a chain driven

assembly line, (Fig. 1.2) At first Ford tried to run the line at 60 in. (152.4 cm) a minute but that

was found to be too fast. So they slowed it down to 18 in. (45.7 cm) a minute but that was too

slow. A lucky guess set the speed at 44 in. (111.7 cm) a minute and that turned to be perfect. The

workforce on the line was cut by over 20%. With 29 workers, each doing one function, a

magneto could be assembled in 13 minutes. As a result of further refinements of the system, the

assembly time was cut to five minutes per magneto. When the chain drive proved itself on

magneto line, it was implemented on the engine assembly line, though not without some false

starts and setbacks.

Experiments with a moving chassis line took place even before it was tried on magneto line. A

rope was tied with a chassis and it was winched down the line. A group of six workers walked

along with it, putting on parts that were brought to them by other workers. It worked well. But it

was decided to place parts along the line, with a worker assigned to each “station” who would

install a part as the car passed slowly by. The moving line was put in production for chassis

assembly on April 29, 1914. When Ford had built up the chassis in one stationary spot, the

process took 14 hours per chassis and took up 6000 ft(182.8 m) of floor space to do it. With the
moving assembly line, the time was shaved down to 1.5 hours per chassis and only 300 ft (91 m)

of floor space was needed. The refinement of the subdivision of assembly continued.

Ford almost at the same time raised the basic wage in his factories from $2.5/day to $5/day. This

was simply unbelievable. Production efficiencies of a moving assembly line enabled him to sell

cheap while paying highest wages, and he was hailed a genius by intellectuals and was rated

even higher by common folk. As production techniques were refined, the cost of the car dropped,

once as low as $260. Ford dreamt of a car for multitude that could be realised with the Model T

that though awkward looking, was distinguished by its lightness, simplicity of design, and

superior power-to-weight ratio. Model T was dubbed as the Tin Lizzie as it looked almost as

flimsy as tin next to other heavier cars. Actually, Ford had begun exploiting the strong, lighter

weight vanadium steel. First Model T rolled out of the Ford assembly plant in Detroit in mid-

1908. By early 1914, the cars were being driven off the moving line virtually complete, (Fig. 1.3)

Production tripled between 1912 and 1915. The production reached 2 million in 1924. Every

other car in the world was a Model T. Mass production system devised by Ford (known in

Germany by the term Fordismus) spread to a host of other industries, becoming not just the fact

of life but a way of life.

2.2 ERA OF AUTOMOBILE EVOLUTION

1. Belgium and Germany: Etienne Lenoir in Belgium demonstrated a self-propelled vehicle

driven by a type of atmospheric engine in 1860. Though the engine was hopelessly inefficient, it

did have the merit of quick starting, and unlike steam vehicles, did not need frequent and large

dose of water. This engine interested Nicholas Otto, a young German, as he observed its lack of

punch and reasoned that more power could be obtained by compressing the charge before

feeding it into the cylinder. Otto did this with great success and the idea was an essential step
towards the true four-stroke engine. Around 1872, Otto was helped and encouraged to develop

the four-stroke system by Gottfried Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, who joined Otto’s company

(by then called Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz). Otto perfected the true four-stroke cycle and it was

this power unit that opened the way to the motor age. Another pioneer in the area, Karl Benz had

worked with Daimler at one time in their careers for the same locomotive works in Karlsruhe.

Karl Benz is credited with being the first to make a gasoline-engined car for people to buy: a car

conceived as entity and not just a carriage with an engine replacing the horse. This first car was

built and was running by late 1885 with a water-cooled, single cylinder engine that developed

about 0.8 hp at 400 rpm- fast for an engine of the day. A simple handle arrangement steered two

front wheels and his subsequent models were four wheeled. Daimler concentrated on four stroke

engine after setting up his own company.

2. FRANCE: In France, Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville constructed a four-wheeled engine-

driven vehicle in 1884 and patented it. However, as one motoring historian points out: “ There is

no evidence that this unwieldy machine actually ran in that year. What we know is that when it

did actually get going, it got halfway across the workshop and broke in half.” It was only in 1891

Armand Peugeot, the grandson of the famous bicycle manufacturer with Levassor produced a

four-wheeled rear-engined car with a two-cylinder Daimler engine of 2.5 hp - a quite advanced

version with full suspension, four-speed gearbox and capable of 15 mph (24 km/h). Louis

Renault’s first car was a three-wheeled DeDion that he converted to four wheels. He threw out

the jumble of belts and chains that made up the drive to the rear wheels and replaced them with a

solid shaft. The shaft was driven through a gearbox of his own design with three forward speeds

and reverse. This has been claimed as one of the most significant developments in automobile

history : for the first time a car was available without side chains and belts. By 1903, France was
by far the most advanced motoring nation in Europe, producing half the world’s output of cars,

some 60,000 per year.

3. BRITAIN: The famous restrictive legislation that a man with a red flag should precede all

powered vehicles, stifled the development of the automobile in Britain. Otherwise it has been

said that Britain’s horseless age could have started fifty years earlier than it did. So the first cars

to run on British roads were of German or French origin. In 1896, the Red Flag Act was

amended and the permitted road speed was raised from 4 to 14 mph(6.4-22.5 km/hr). Very soon

bicycle makers (mostly based in Coventry) like Riley, Swift, and Sunbeam graduated to cars.

Herbert Austin, the manager of The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Co. was one of the early

pioneers. He later left Wolseley and started his own company. Standard was one that specialized

in moderately priced cars at the lower end of the market. Vauxhall Iron Works designed its first

car in 1902 and put it on sale the following year. Henry Royce came into business of car by

accident. Royce imported a used Decauville in 1903, but was grossly dissatisfied with its

performance, and as skilled and meticulous engineer, he redesigned and rebuilt a far superior car.

Later, Charles Rolls joined Royce and the first Silver Ghost was on road in 1906. However, F.

W. Lanchester was one of the most remarkable of all British automobile engineers, who

launched his first experimental car in 1896. The car had many essential features of a modern car:

a torsional rigid frame, a perfectly balanced and almost noiseless engine; dynamically stable

steering; and epicyclic gear for low speed and reverse, with direct drive for high speeds. This car

was underpowered. Lanchester designed a new one - a two-cylinder one of 8 hp and added some

remarkable features for its time: a new Lanchester-designed ignition system based on a magneto

generator and new valve gear, a worm-and-wheel instead of a chain transmission or bevel gear.
(Lanchester even designed and built new gear cutting machines to enable him to make his

transmission.)

4. ITALY: In Italy too, the first horseless carriages were imported from France and Germany. It

was in 1898, Giovanni Ceirano of Turin, a bicycle builder by trade with help of an engineer,

Aristide Faccioli, put together a car called Welleyes, using his bicycle trade-name. A group of

businessmen including the far-sighted lawyer named Giovanni Agnelli approached the two. And

after a meeting on July 11, 1899 the Societa Anonima Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino

(better known by its initials, FIAT) was formed that destined to become one of the biggest

industrial enterprises in Italy and a world-famous car maker. Fiat’s first model was a two-to-

three seater powered by a 679 cm3 engine developing 3.5 hp. In 1900, Faccioli who was

technical director started work on the next model with a larger engine of 1082 cc that 6hp and

propelled at 60 kph.

5. JAPAN: Japan’s first auto import arrived in 1899 from Locomobile Co. of the US, purchased

by one Mr. J.W. Thompson. In 1904 Torao Yamahane took his place in the history of automobile

industry by producing Japan’s first automobile - more specifically, a steam bus in his home

garage with a sponsorship by two wealthy Okayama businessmen. The first car to be built with

an internal combustion engine was introduced in the spring of 1907, named after its principal

investor, Shintaro Yoshida who owned a bicycle shop in Tokyo. The car was developed by

Russian-educated engineer Komanosuke Uchiyama. Approximately 10 to 15 “Yoshida-type”

vehicles were produced between 1907 and 1908. Yoshida’s car sold for about 5000 yen.

Yamahane’s car, three years earlier, sold between 10,000 and 15,000 yen. Keeping in mind that

the average salary for a new employee only amounted to between 3 and 7 yen a month, this

represented a rather sizable investment. Approximately the same investment was required for
foreign models. Fiat carried the highest price tag, approximately 15,000 yen, a 40-hp Packard

cost about 7000 yen, and Ford’s original Model T was approximately 4000 yen.

6. USA: In US, the early motor cars were seen as logical replacement for the farm buggy, and

were born therefore in the blacksmith’s shop. The first successful US gasoline-engine motor

vehicle, designed by Charles E. Duryea and built by his brother Frank, was run on Sep.21, 1893.

The vehicle was propelled by a single-cylinder engine with a spray carburetor and electric

ignition. In the same year Ohio’s Wooster Pike near Cleveland was laid with a brick surface to

become the first rural road. Elmer and Edgar Apperson built a car to Elwood G. Haynes’ design

in 1894 that is generally considered to be the first successful gasoline car in the US. The 820-lb.

Haynes was powered by a one-cylinder engine and achieved 6 mph on July 4, 1894 on the

Pumpkinville pike in Kokomo, Indiana. The Duryea Motor Wagon Co. was established in 1895

to become the first American company to build gasoline-powered automobiles. In 1896 the

company built 13 cars. And George H. Morill, Jr. of Massachusetts bought a Duryea and become

the first American purchaser of a gasoline car. The marketable vehicle of the Duryea brothers

named ’Buggynaut’ was described in the first edition of HORSELESS AGE thus: ” ....in

appearance, the vehicle does not differ materially from an ordinary heavy-built buggy. It weighs

about 700 lb. and has ball-bearing and rubber-wheeled tires...”. On June 4, 1896, Henry Ford

successfully operated his two-cylinder, 4-hp “Quadricycle” in Detroit. However, the Ford Motor

Co. was incorporated only in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and Chief Engineer. Some

famous auto manufacturers came from different industries: Ransom E. Olds started with

stationary engines, William C. Durant - the founder of General Motors in 1908, had made his

fortune by manufacturing carriage, Henry M. Leland who built the Cadillacs started with

machine tools. Ransom Eli Olds drove a single-cylinder, 6-hp gasoline car on the streets of
Lansing, Michigan in September 1896. The Cadillac Automobile Co. was formed out of the

Detroit Auto Co. In 1902. William C. Durant founded the General Motors Co. in New Jersey in

1908 with William Eaton as the company’s first president.

2.3 CLASH OF TWO PATENT REGIMES

In the early 1900s, Henry Ford found himself embroiled in a decade-long patent battle with

George Selden that would end up shaping the auto industry for more than a century. Though this

protracted fight played out in federal court and in the court of public opinion, with Ford and

Selden trading blows as America and the world watched, the feud has largely remained the only

high-stakes patent battle that the industry has seen.

Unlike other technology sectors, the auto industry has not experienced rampant patent litigation

among key players. Patent litigation takes a backseat to well-entrenched business relationships.

For decades, carmakers and multiple tiers of suppliers have managed patent rights through

licensing agreements.

The car has come a long way since Ford and Selden did battle. Not only can a buyer purchase a

car in any color (not just the black that Ford once famously offered), but in various power-train

versions, with multiple connectivity features and the promise of eventual self-driving capability.

It is connectivity that introduces a slew of new players into the auto industry, many of whom

have also been key stakeholders in the smartphone sector. However, the management of patent

rights for smartphone technology, characterized by the smartphone patent wars, stands in stark

contrast to the management of patent rights for automotive technology. Original equipment

manufacturers (OEMs) of cars have traditionally let their suppliers handle the licensing of

patents. Thus, royalties are assessed at the component or subassembly level.

2.4 INNOVATIONS OF OLIGOPOLY IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

The automobile industry in its early stages was primitive compared to the complex system of

manufacturers and dealerships that exists today. Hochfelder and Helper examined the shifts that

occurred in the early 1900s that eventually led to the vertical integration of the industry. In the

beginning, the design of the cars being produced was handled primarily by those in charge of the

physical car company; however these companies did not have the necessary machinery or parts

to construct their designs. The common practice was to hire machinists to produce the key

components of the car such as the, “motor, carburetor, transmission…and axles.” (Hochfelder

and Helper,1996. Page 41.) Cars and their necessary mechanisms were in their early stages of

development. Luckily, the creativity of machinists and fabricators made it possible for the

logistics of the car to become a reality (Hochfelder and Helper,1996.. Page 39.) Without

innovations in the components the automobile would not have been able to be produced

economically. Once the technology advanced, it spread throughout the fabricators of the time

and became common knowledge. It is only after this point that the relationships between

designers and manufacturers began to change, becoming “short-term contracts [with] their

respective responsibilities…spelled out on a single page.” (Marx, 1985. Page 466.) With only a

certain number of skilled machinists and only a few methods of production, it was nearly

impossible to produce a unique automobile. This made it difficult for the products of one

company to stand out compared to their competition, as Hochfelder and Helper cite from the

trade press of the day (Hochfelder and Helper,1996. Pages 39-43.) The limited number of

fabricators also introduced another problem: the absence of mass production. When outsourcing

all of the labor for machining essential parts for automobiles, it becomes challenging to maintain

a steady supply for a rising demand (Marx. Page 466.) These issues led the pioneers of the

industry to race towards a more economical method of production, vertical integration.

The explosion of the market in the early 1900s forced automakers to change their approach to

production. Automobile production in the United States went from 4,000 units in 1900 to almost

two million in 1920 (Marx. Page 469.) Sloan argues that automakers were constantly trying to

evolve and strived to achieve, “a closer corporate relationship.” (Hochfelder and Helper, 1996.

Page 46.) This increase in demand pushed automakers to become more efficient; one way of

doing this was to vertically integrate their systems. Obtaining the machinists and fabricators

became necessary for producers such as Ford and General Motors in order to be successful. It

became a situation of survival of the fittest, and only those companies large enough to buy out

the companies producing the essential parts would be able to produce the cars. The market that

this created, an oligopoly, will be addressed later in the paper. Before the inception of vertical

integration, it was possible for producers, “with little knowledge of automotive design to bring

their cars to market.”(Hochfelder and Helper. Page 49.) However, according to Hotchfelder and

Helper the increases in demand and the number of machinists being bought out made it more

difficult for small producers to enter the market. Producers who placed the supply chain of their

parts into their company profile were able to match the demand of the consumer and further

developed the industry (Ibid. Page 49.) After automakers addressed the issue of increasing

demand in the market by introducing the machinist into their companies a new issue arose,

logistics.

Before 1929, car makers’ main concern, according to Marx was production but that quickly

shifted to distribution once, “production capacity…exceeded demand.”(Marx. Page 470.)

Producers rushed to meet the consumer demand for “greater vehicle performance, comfort, and

reliability.”(Ibid. Page 471.) This led to advances in technology and a more improved

automobile, but also a surplus of older models that were traded in. Consumers who had
purchased automobiles in the early stages of production wanted newer and more improved

models, as a result a supply of used cars flooded the market after they traded in their older

models for the newer. This led to what Marx refers to as the creation of the franchise system in

place today. The automobile producer grants access for a retailer to market and sell their cars on

their own property, commonly referred to as a dealership. Manufacturers found it necessary to

acquire a middleman because “consumer demands became harder to predict, especially by those

removed from the immediate consumer contact.”(Marx. Page 473.) The acquisition of the supply

chain by the designers, the need to keep up with changing consumer demand, and the influx of

used cars created a two-sided system that consisted of manufacturers who create all of the parts

and produce the vehicle and distributors who deal with the sale of new and used cars. This

system made it easier for automakers to supply their products to consumers, improving the

logistics of the business.

Another area that further developed the industry was that of innovations in the logistic and

technical processes that automakers such as General Motors and Ford established. Economic

managers of the industry attempted determine the consumer demand and matching their supply

and price in a manner that maximizes profits. Henry Ford is revered as one who ingeniously

changed the manufacturing process of automobiles to a way that made mass production possible.

Raff credits Ford with abolishing the artisanal method,where parts are specifically made

elsewhere and shipped in to be assembled. He states that Ford’s development of the assembly

line effectively created the need for parts to be made in the factory and to be semi-universal so

that a limited number of machines were required to fit all of the parts of the car together (Raff,

1991. Pages 726-727.) Raff states this assembly line mentality also made workers more

productive since “wandering around the plant” was no longer necessary (Ibid. Page 728.) The
introduction of the assembly line and the resulting focus around efficiency streamlined the

production process and made it easier for firms to keep up with increasing consumer demand.

The other way producers improved their overall profitability was through their managerial

approach, in particular the way the firms gather and interpret information on the supply and

demand necessary to turn a profit. Knight argues that determining this information is directly

associated to “the existence and the size of firms.”(Norton, 1997. Page 246.) One way that

Norton found firms, in particular General Motors, gain a competitive advantage is by forecasting.

Williamson argues that “information impactedness (sic) problem…observational economies…

the convergence of expectations…and veracity risk,” are issues that firms should focus on when

determining the economics of their business (Norton,1997. Page 246.) Williamson suggests that

if a company is effective in forecasting that in turn they will “increase profits.”(Ibid. Page 247.)

Norton focuses on the changes that Alfred P. Sloan introduced into General Motors’ business

model in order to better forecast the automobile market. Essentially the reforms that Sloan

introduced can be summarized as better forecasting in terms of rates of return and market share,

inventory, synchronization, and retail demand changes. Through forecasting, Sloan and General

Motors were able to determine that there was a lag time between when the firm discovered the

consumer preference and when they were able to create a product to match. In order to account

for this, Sloan adopted a multi-divisional corporate organization in which different departments

were in charge of different aspects of the business. Norton suggests Sloan founded the idea that

firms should monitor the consumer demand in the market and adjust the business accordingly, a

revolutionary business idea for the automobile industry. These changes propelled General

Motors into one of the top car producers of the mid-1900s (Norton, 1997. Page 248-259) Norton
states that, “GM achieved one of the most remarkable performances in the annals of American

enterprise.”(Ibid. Page 258.) Norton proposes the idea that Sloan used a basic economic theory,

supply and demand, to transform the business practices that car producers used to maximize their

efficiency and in turn, their profits.

2.5 EVOLUTION OF NEW MACHINE TOOL AND TECHNOLOGY

The history of manufacturing is marked by the development of mass production in the

automotive industry, and was followed by the improvements in machine tools and cutting

tools, and the introduction of new and better materials with which to manufacture the cars. By

early 1920s, machine tool builders competed fiercely with one another in bringing out

machines of higher production capacity, especially for the auto industry. The methods of

transmitting power to machine tools were constantly improving. Helical gears for connecting

parallel shafts were used more and more to provide smooth transmission. Special steels and heat-

treated gears were common, where hardened-and-ground gears were gaining favour where

greater accuracy was required. The use of motor drives and of ball bearings and a growing trend

toward hydraulic instead of mechanical transmissions was the outstanding developments in

machine tools of the 1920s. Centralised control became popular and, in several types of

machines, it was possible to shift speed instantaneously, without stopping the machines, through

a combination brake-clutch. By 1927, another definite trend became noticeable; a trend toward

single-purpose equipment of so-called manufacturing type and away from machine of a more

universal nature. The design of this single purpose machine was such that only a few key parts

needed to be interchanged to make the machine adaptable to a wide variety of work. By the early

1930s the trend got completely reversed.

The interesting involvement of changes of equipment during a model change will be clear from

the details of work done during a changeover from Model T to Model A by Ford in 1927. To do

it, the company spent nearly $ 10 million for the purchase of 4500 new machine tools and

alteration of 15,000 more. Preparing to make the new rear axle alone necessitated construction of

an entire group of machine tools. Some 160 gear-generating machines were completely rebuilt,

at a cost of $3000 each, to produce two gears for the new rear-axle assembly. Ford introduced a

new V-8 model ($460-$650) to replace the Model A in 1932 and became the first company to

use a cast alloy-steel crankshaft in place of a forging.

In 1920, Henry Ford improved foundry practices by conveying moulds to the metal-pouring

station instead of carrying molten metal to stationary moulds. The same year, Ford introduced

continuous pouring of molten iron and produced gray-iron castings directly from ore.

In addition, the first automatic production line for large-scale manufacture of a complex

automotive assembly (frame line) went into operation in 1921, that could perform 552 separate

operations in a ten-second cycle.

Nickel plating was started for auto radiators and lamps in 1921 and chromium plating followed

in 1925. Continuously rolled sheet steel was developed in 1924 and provided the automakers

with improved metal surfaces and better thickness and width control; and steel became the

logical material for automobile exteriors. The painting was applied by brush, a time consuming

process, as it took 24 hours for it to dry, (Fig. 1.4) In 1925, the use of synthetic, quick-drying

pyroxylin finishes with spraying followed by baking started.

2.6 MACHINE TOOLS AFTER WORLD WAR II

World War II put a stop to car industry, as most of the plants were requisitioned to produce war

machinery and equipment. After the War, many automakers were in bad shape. The effort of

rebuilding the industry started with a new zeal and many new technological strategies evolved

for the manufacturing of ‘The Machine that Changed the World’. It is evident from activities

such as setting up of an Automation Department in Ford in 1946. The department devoted to

making equipment operate at its maximum rate (which usually can not be done without

automatic loading and unloading) and to making work safer by eliminating hand loading of

presses. By Oct.21, 1948, Automation Department had approved more than 500 devices, costing

$3 million, that were expected to increase production by 20% and to eliminate 1,000 jobs. Most

of the early work was on presses and included sheet feeders, extractors, turnover devices,

stackers, loaders, unloaders, etc.

Next automation project related to the machining line for engine block, where automation meant

mechanical handling of blocks in, out, and between machines. Another approach to automation

by combining operations into a single machine instead of providing mechanical handling

between machines was pioneered by the Morris automobile plant in Coventry, England in 1924.

A collection of standard machines was attached to a continuous, 181 ft long bed to perform 53

operations on engine blocks. The machine had a total of 81 electric motors. In 1929. Graham

Paige installed in its cylinder department a system of operations that included automatic jigs and

fixtures with transfer bars to move work from machine to machine; all the basic elements of the

modern transfer machine were present in the system.

Many improvements were incorporated in manufacturing processes of automobile over the years.

Perhaps sometime in 1950 door-off / -on concept got a start. By 1970 possibly the first welding

robot was put in use in the auto industry. This was developed by Fisher body. This 6-axis
manipulator (SAM) was capable of handling 510 commands distributed over 10 separate

programs.

2.7 NUMERICAL CONTROL AND COMPUTERISED MANUFACTURING

Shortly after World War II, John T. Parsons envisioned the use of mathematical data to actuate a

machine tool. An electronic control system for machine tools was developed with the US Air

Force funded program. The first commercial production based NC unit was built by Bendix

Corp. and was produced in 1954 for machine tools introduced in 1955. By 1957, Barnes Drill

Co. built a drilling machine with four parallel horizontal drilling spindles, that moved on vertical

ways to bring the desired spindle into position, and only that spindle would then feed. In 1958,

Hughes Aircraft and Kearney & Trecker worked together to develop a flexible automatic line

comprising of three machines: one each for milling, drilling(and tapping), and boring. The three

machines were tied together by handling equipment, and the whole system was under tape

control, called a Digitape that was developed by Hughes aircraft. The entire line was called the

Milwaukee-Matic Model I. In December 1958, with the Milwaukee-Matic II - a NC horizontal

spindle multifunction machine capable of automatically changing cutting tools in its spindle- the

machine-tool industry’s first numerically controlled machine, or machining centre, was born to

make the beginning of the second industrial revolution. In 1960, the first controller with

transistor technology was introduced. Integrated circuits(ICs) came in 1967 that permitted a 90%

reduction in the number of components, as well as an 80% reduction in writing.

With increased automation, came increasingly specialized machinery for manufacturing

processes that depend on the availability of unlimited markets and long model runs. However,

even in automobile industry, the days of mass manufacturing system with dedicated machines

are fast changing. Flexibility for quick model change without any stoppage is becoming the basic
demand from the manufacturing system. Computerized manufacturing may provide the answer.

In chapters to follow, we shall be discussing the details of the trends in different areas of

manufacturing activities of an automobile industry: machining in general, major engine

components’ manufacturing, gear manufacturing, stamping of auto-body panels, body welding,

painting, trim and final assembly of automobiles.

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