Henry Martyn Leland was an American machinist, inventor and automotive entrepreneur who founded two of the premier American luxury automobile marques, Cadillac and Lincoln. Trained in precision manufacturing at firearms and machine tool companies including Brown and Sharpe, he brought a standard of interchangeable parts and exacting tolerances to automobile production that was unusual for the early industry. He organized the Cadillac Automobile Company in 1902 from the remnants of an earlier Henry Ford venture, then later founded the Lincoln Motor Company in 1917. Leland's insistence on precision manufacturing earned him recognition from industry leaders such as Alfred P. Sloan, who credited him as chiefly responsible for bringing interchangeable parts into automobile manufacturing. He was born in Vermont in 1843 and died in Detroit in 1932.
Facts
FAQs
How did Cadillac prove the interchangeable parts that Henry M. Leland insisted on?
In 1908 three Cadillacs were rebuilt from mixed parts, driven five hundred miles at Brooklands and won the Dewar Trophy.
In 1908 the Royal Automobile Club sponsored a standardization test in Britain, and Cadillac took part with three cars. The cars were taken apart and put back together using only screwdrivers and wrenches, which took two weeks, so that they ended up with fenders, doors, hoods and wheels of mixed colors. All three were then driven five hundred miles around the Brooklands track, and Cadillac was awarded the club's Dewar Trophy. The source credits the expertise of the engineer Henry M. Leland for the idea of interchangeable parts that made the test possible.
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Sources
1. Henry M. Leland (Wikipedia)
Infobox, Birth
February 16, 1843
Death paragraph
Henry M. Leland died in Detroit on March 26, 1932.
Lead paragraph
was an American machinist, inventor, engineer, and automotive entrepreneur.
In Group: Automotive Engineers and Designers, Lead sentence
Henry Martyn Leland (February 16, 1843, March 26, 1932) was an American machinist, inventor, engineer, and automotive entrepreneur.
View the SourceLeland, Henry M. (Encyclopedia of Detroit, Detroit Historical Society)
Biographical entry, paragraphs 1 and 2Quote, Biographical entry, paragraphs 1 and 2
he gained machine knowledge working with farm equipment and learned the firearms trade working at Colt before the Civil War. Working at Brown and Sharpe in Rhode Island, he learned the importance of precision grinding that permitted the interchangeability of parts, a key element in his later success. Traveling the country to sell Brown and Sharpe parts, Leland found Detroit an attractive site for his own machine shop. He acquired financial backing and established Leland, Faulconer & Norton in 1890. His son Wilfred, who had been studying medicine, joined him. The company made bicycle and marine engine parts, became Leland & Faulconer in 1894
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