We all know that Henry Ford's Model T from 1909 to 1927 put America on wheels and changed human transportation. But what breakthrough is this car? What makes this small, cheap car revolutionize the world? Bob Casey, a former transportation curator at The Henry Ford and famous automotive historian, is the ideal person to address this issue. Bob explains the Model T's breakthrough design in basic, straightforward terms in this video made by Seven Cylinders Studio for the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. Light weight; monobloc cylinder construction; flexible chassis; innovative engine design; flywheel magneto electrical system; planetary gearbox were his five secrets to the Model T's success. If you're a car enthusiast, these are six incredibly instructional minutes. Have fun watching the video. Chapters: 00:41 - Vanadium Steel 01:08 - The Engine Block in a Single Piece 02:37 - Engine Block and Crankcase 03:33 - Batteries 04:50 - Sliding Gear Transmissions Some information you may know about Model T The Ford Motor Company's Model T, which was sold from 1908 until 1927, was the first attempt to create an automobile that ordinary people could afford. The Model T was genuinely inexpensive, and it became so popular that a majority of Americans had one at one time, immediately helping rural Americans become better linked with the rest of the country and paving the way for the numbered highway system. The Ford Model T, which debuted on October 1, 1908, was a self-starting vehicle with a left-side steering wheel and an enclosed four-cylinder engine with a removable cylinder head and a one-piece cylinder block. It was made of vanadium alloy steel and provided outstanding strength despite its low weight.
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The Model T's light weight gave the car better performance, better fuel economy, and required
less material, making the car cheaper.
One of the ways that Ford achieved light weight was by using something called vanadium steel.
Vanadium steel was lighter than typical carbon steel, which meant that the parts made from
vanadium could be smaller and lighter.
Another trick that Henry Ford used was to use just a single spring on each axle.
Most cars used two or even more springs on each axle, so that was another place where
he saved weight.
Yet another trick was to cast the engine block in a single piece.
Model T's predecessor, the Model N, had an engine block cast in three pieces, which was
heavier and more difficult to assemble.
The result was that the Model T was a lightweight car, used less material, gave good performance,
and was a great value.
In 1908, most American roads were just dirt paths full of ruts and bumps.
Most American car makers dealt with this by making their cars big, rigid, and heavy.
Henry Ford's Model T, by contrast, was small, flexible, and light.
One of the keys to that flexibility was the front axle.
It was pivoted in the middle, had a pair of radius rods that kept it aligned, and allowed
it to flex with all the ruts and the bumps.
The rear axle was similar.
Even the frame itself could flex.
The result was that, like a reed bending in the wind, the Model T twisted and flexed over
the bumps, but didn't break.
When the Model T first appeared in 1908, it had one of the most modern engines available
on any car.
There were two things about this engine that made it really modern.
First was that the engine block and crankcase were cast as one piece.
Most cars of the time, like the Model T's predecessor, the Model N, had the crankcase
and the cylinders cast as separate pieces and bolted together.
The other thing that made this a modern engine was that the cylinder head was removable.
Ford sealed the joint between the block and the head with a copper asbestos gasket.
This made the engine not only easier to make, but also easier to maintain, because you could
remove the cylinder head for things like grinding the valves.
Both of these things became standard eventually on all cars, but in 1908, the Model T was
the only American car that had these features.
Many early cars, including Ford's Model N, used batteries to supply the electricity to
ignite the gasoline fuel, but as we all know, batteries can run down.
In 1908, there weren't very many rechargeable batteries, and there weren't very many places
to recharge them anyway.
Some cars supplied electricity with a device called a magneto that mounted underneath the
hood of the car and was driven by a chain or a belt off the engine.
Ford's Model T took advantage of the fact that when the engine is turning, the flywheel
is always turning.
Magnets mounted on the flywheel moved past coils mounted behind the engine, and that
generated the electricity that fired the spark plugs.
This tester illustrates that as the flywheel turns, the magneto generates electricity,
and when the flywheel turns fast enough, you get a spark at the spark plug.
It was simple, it was elegant, and it was one of the most distinctive features of the
Model T.
In 1908, most cars used sliding gear transmissions in which a lever moved spinning gears from
one position to another.
These were rugged and efficient, but shifting them was a tricky skill to master.
Some people said that to shift properly, you needed to have a mental picture of what was
going on inside the transmission.
Most drivers, though, didn't want any mental pictures.
They just wanted to be able to drive their car.
Henry Ford chose to use an older style transmission called a planetary transmission.
It really wasn't rugged enough for big, heavy cars, but it worked well on a light, small
car like the Model T.
Model T drivers shifted by pushing pedals on the floor with their feet.
If you pushed in this pedal, you were in low gear.
If you let it out, you were in high gear.
If you pushed the center pedal in, you were in reverse, and if you pushed the right-hand
pedal, that was the brake.
It was a system that was very easy to learn if you'd never driven a car before, and that,
of course, was Henry Ford's target audience.
