It's too bad this is not in the Henry ford Museum, but with our litigious society, they could be covering their a$$e$ not wanting any kid to try this at home. I'm 48 years old. We learned this in school. I had to do my research on Henry Ford for a 9th grade essay and came across this story form books about the history of the Ford automobile. The closest I can remeber from that far back in my lifetime is that this took place in the 1880's sometime.
He was a child of about 12 when he lived with his Aunt and was scolded for something. I'm going back into my memory far here. While he was forced to stay in the parlor and think about what he was punished for, he decided the teakettle should be stopped up with the lid anchored down just to see what would happen while he waited. He filled the kettle halfway with water and set it on the parlor wood stove to boil and waited. The resulting explosion had shattered the teakettle and blew pieces of it around the parlor and one cut a nasty gash in his face above the left eye badly. It also broke a pane of glass.
He remembered while being punished for that incident, thinking this was a powerful energy source and there must be a way to harness it. The steam engine was developed as a result. How much Henry Ford was involved in this was not made clear. Please do ask the Museum curator about this! I'd love to know more on this as what I can remember as a child fades with age!
I was in the 9th grade at 14.
Henry Ford later began working on the Gasoline engine. Shortly after he was married, his wife became part of the project and said she was worried about the dangers of using a volatile fuel in such a crude device. She Slowly poured fuel into a crude carburetor with a teaspoon while the single cylinder motor sputtered and backfired up the card and shot sparks and small flames out the muffler with the motor setup on the kitchen table! The motor would only run for a few minuts at best at the time, but Henry Ford was determined to build an internal combustion engine.
After seceral long discussions about moving to Detroit because of the waterways that would make transporting the necessary materials for building engines, it was reported that his wife told him "If you really want to go to Detroit, we'll find a way somehow". He was almost broke at the time after spending his money to build this crude motor.
When asked about how he came up with the idea for the gas engine, he reported back about the episode with the teakettle on his Aunts aprlor stove and rolled this over in his head for years. Building a crude engine and having it operate, even rather crudely with his wife teaspooning fuel into it only pushed him onward. He was reported as saying that hearing the motor sputter to life was a thrill never before experienced.
The reason for my 9th grade essay was to point out the risks and dangers involved with invention, and how some made the leap to go forward with their ideas even against an incredible amount of opposition!
I feel so sorry for this country now that we lack the ambition to do something constructive with our lives and give back to our society. California Senator Barbara Boxer introduced legislation that says and I quote from her here " This legislation will not let any employer discriminate against workers and favour a few simply because the majority of them do not know what they are doing!" WHAT!!!!??
This is supposed to be a worker rights bill. Yeah Right!
I don't know what happened to this country and the enjoyment of accomplishment by accepting risks.
I feel like I'm living in the wrong century! Everything that we would do in the pursuit of knowledge, greatness, ingenuity, intelligence, invention! etc.... has now all but dissapeared in the morass of a spoiled society with no tolerance for adventure anymore. Being litigious of course doesn't help either!
Were so afraid of being sued that the paranoia of it had led us into meager existence and stalled growth and developement.
I can remember when companies like GE would come to school and bring us electronic parts with a list of their operating conditions and tell us to see just what we could make with them! Radio tubes, Semiconductors, power supplies, etc... all donated. Can you imagine what would happen and how fast a parent would sue for damages if little Johnny got shcoked While trying to build a warp drive device?