Mass Production and New Technologies

Henry Ford revolutionised prodction methods introducing the revolutionary process of the assembly line.

This was standardized and in 1913 the world's first assembly line was created

His first car was the 'Quadricycle' built in his shed

The most successful of his cars was the Model T known as the 'Tin Lizzie'

Due to the popularity of the car, it was hard to keep up with order the introduction of mass production helped to save both time amd money

Creating the assembly line, helped to cut prices and increase wages, with workers earning $5 as a minimum wage.

This also allowed work days to be reduced down to 8 hours to increase motivation

The assembly line process worked by starting with a bare chassis and building the car up as in went along

1913, Ford was producing 500 cars a day, each taking 12 1/2 hours, yet the assembly line process reduced that down to 1 1/2

This technique also reduced car costs, 1914 Model T=$850 by 1926 = $295

This was one of the reasons that the number of cars on the roads rose from 8 million- 1920 to 23 million in 1930

By 1930, the car inductry contributed to 13% of US manufacturing

By 1930, the car industry employed 4 million people

By the mid 1920's it was using: 95% of nation's oil, 75% of nation's plate glass, 65% of the nation's leather, 80% of nations rubber, 20% of nation's steel- thus stimluated growth in these areas

There was increases in road construction

More fuel stations, hotel and restaurants

In1921 the output of motor vehicles was 1,682,000 but by 1929 it was 5,622,000

The price of a radio in the roaring twenties was $400-$850

The first radio station was in Pittsburgh and called KDKA station

People gathered around the radio and listened to sport, concerts and sermons

It was the first mass broadcasting medium

There was a period described as the 'Golden age of radio' and here it was as diverse as TV is today

Films becmae cheap and acessible ways of entertainment in the 1920's, made easier to get to with the increase in cars

New 'movie palaces' were created and became a major success with American people

The release of time sound-synchronised films (1927-1929), known as 'talkies' they overtook silent films

The film that was said to have begun the 'talkies' would have been The Jazz Singer, a musical released in 1927

This was an early form of Plastic that was used to crete appliances such as fridges and radios

The discovery of this plastic revolutionised industries as they changed to use this plastic rather that previous materials