Gas-Steam Engine at the Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant Powerhouse, May 1916

THF707061 / Gas-Steam Engine at the Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant Powerhouse, May 1916
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Artifact Overview

Ford Motor Company opened its Highland Park plant in 1910. It was here that Ford produced most of its 15 million Model T cars, developed its moving assembly line, and instituted its Five Dollar Day. The plant's electricity was supplied by an on-site powerhouse with generators connected to nine gas-steam hybrid engines. Together, the nine engines produced 53,000 horsepower.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

29 May 1916

Location

Not on exhibit to the public.

Object ID

64.167.833.P.5694

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 7.5 in
Width: 10.75 in

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    Highland Park Plant Engine- Generator, 1915-1916

    Ford's Model T mass production system would not have been practical without electricity; by 1919 nine of these Ford-designed hybrid internal combustion/steam engines generated the power needed by the Highland Park plant's assembly lines and associated machinery. By 1926 the engines were rendered obsolete when electricity was fed from the power plant at Ford's River Rouge plant ten miles away.