Highland Park Craneway

In among old family photos I found a 'period' photo of the Highland Park Model T Plant Craneway, circa 1926 according to the 'experts'. They spotted a stack of steel wheels to the right, on the main floor to aid in dating. I had no idea what the photo was of when I found it. I researched some more and found out that my grandfather had come to Detroit in 1910 after an invitation by Edward Gray to join him at the Ford plant. My grandfather met him in Oil City, PA either on a job or at an engineering school. I knew Edward Gray was the founder of 'Grayhaven' but I didn't know that he was a major force in the design of the first assembly line- Albert Kahn is always the main name mentioned but research will show that the concept came from Gray. My grandfather left Detroit in 1919 before returning again in 1936 to work for Gar Wood at Grayhaven. Anyone have any more history on Edward Gray? Or a photo of him?

Can't help you with history, but that photo is beyond neato.

From Clarence Burton's City of Detroit, 1922:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text...ew=pdf&seq=874

References to Edward Gray that I have refer to him as Ford's construction engineer; giving credit to him mainly for designing the factory's power plant as well as several of the additions to the main plant. The photo above is from what is called the "new shop" which was built in 1914. It provided a big advancement in materials handling at the plant and is credited for making the scale and success of Ford's assembly line possible. One source I have gives credit to Gray for coming up with the layout and Kahn for working out the details and designing the shell.

A larger version of the photo is at http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2647/...847994bb_o.jpg if it helps anyone.
Thanks for the info so far.

Thanks xdet.

Reminds me of the inside of a prison. I'm surprised at how clean it is if the photo is from 1926. Looks like it was taken when the shop was newly built.

Go to amazon.com and check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Rational-Facto...01&sr=8-1#noop

The Rational Factory by Lindy Biggs. Use the "Search Inside" feature and go to page 123. That's where he explains the features of the craneway in the "new shop". The chapter about the new shop starts on page 118.

Kahn designed buildings to the needs of the customers, the assembly line was used in the east coast for the manufacture of sewing machines and firearms long before automobiles, so forget what your elementary school home room teacher taught you, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile and he didn't invent the assembly line.
People like Gray [[and others) were instrumental in this pursuit, another person who pioneered efficient assembly techniques was Walter P. Chrysler, when he ran Buick.
Ford applied the assembly line to the automobile, fine tuned the delivery of parts to the sub-lines and the final assembly line and took the idea to its logical end, the ultimate vertical intergration.
Kahn was an architect, pure and simple, he did not pioneer the assembly line.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 56packman

Kahn designed buildings to the needs of the customers, the assembly line was used in the east coast for the manufacture of sewing machines and firearms long before automobiles, so forget what your elementary school home room teacher taught you, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile and he didn't invent the assembly line.
People like Gray [[and others) were instrumental in this pursuit, another person who pioneered efficient assembly techniques was Walter P. Chrysler, when he ran Buick.
Ford applied the assembly line to the automobile, fine tuned the delivery of parts to the sub-lines and the final assembly line and took the idea to its logical end, the ultimate vertical intergration.
Kahn was an architect, pure and simple, he did not pioneer the assembly line.

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Please don't forget RE Olds when talking about the auto assembly line. You'd be remiss not to mention Olds when discussing the auto assembly line, and he did it before Ford. Ford simply honed and perfected it.

Ford borrowed some features from Swift's Meat Packing hog line in Chicago. He toured the plant before he built his own for automobiles.
jjaba.

Little fact. I work for a worldwide operating engineering firm Fugro. The company was founded in the early sixties. The first trucks they used were REO trucks. Starting with REO 1, 2, etc.

To this they they still keep the number order that way. Even though the company obviously doesn't use REOs anymore. Nowaday we have a fleet of DAFs, GINAF, Mercedes and MAN trucks.

The latest addition was a MAN 8x4 truck. But this one is called REO73.

http://members.home.nl/sluik/klassie...inaf_6x6-2.jpg
Here's a classic GINAF. As you can see, it's REO19.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MikeM

Thanks xdet.

Reminds me of the inside of a prison. I'm surprised at how clean it is if the photo is from 1926. Looks like it was taken when the shop was newly built.

Go to amazon.com and check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Rational-Facto...01&sr=8-1#noop

The Rational Factory by Lindy Biggs. Use the "Search Inside" feature and go to page 123. That's where he explains the features of the craneway in the "new shop". The chapter about the new shop starts on page 118.

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Funny you should mention how clean it was- look at the stack of brooms at W2-10!
Yes, Ford didn't invent a lot of things- or come up with a number of new ideas but no one put the concepts together like Ford. Even today, Ford [[the company) didn't take any government money- just like Henry never borrowed money to build his first major plants. And if he wasn't so stubborn holding onto the Model T for so long, who knows where Ford would be today.

Update- I know this photo is from much earlier than 1926 as the platforms were 'caged' around 1916 or so, I've recently discovered. Most likely this is from very early in the life of the WXYZ building.