Last Model T is the first of five landmarks during ASME's anniversary year

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

The first of five special accomplishments in mechanical engineering history will be landmarked in a ceremony next month honoring what the Model T and its mass production meant to the American public.

All five anniversary landmarks, which will be designated as such throughout the anniversary year, represent such well-recognized achievements as the ballpoint pen, the mass-produced automobile, the screw thread standard, a revolutionary printing press and early aerodynamics testing.

"To mark the 125th anniversary, ASME has selected five outstanding examples of mechanical engineering accomplishment to accord landmark status — five technologies that honor an array of mechanical engineering accomplishment and are impressive technological milestones of clear significance to the general public," said R. Michael Hunt, chair of the ASME History and Heritage Committee.

The first of these five will become a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark later this month at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., and will honor the Model T.

First produced on Oct. 1, 1908, the Model T was brought into being by bold technological and management advances that were aimed at Henry Ford's vision of producing reliable, low-cost automobiles so that anyone earning a good salary could own one.

During the 20th century, the assembly-line processes that made the Model T possible were applied to many everyday endeavors — from fast food to phonographs — making them a tremendous influence on a significant part of immigration trends, labor and employment practices, as well as energy production, leisure activities and the national infrastructure, to name a few.

The vehicle selected for designation as a landmark by ASME is the 15 millionth and last Ford Model T to be produced, having come off the line at Ford's Highland Park, Mich., plant on May 26, 1927.

Henry Ford's son, Edsel, drove the car off the line, accompanied by his father, and production pioneers Peter Martin and Charles Sorensen. The car has always remained in the possession of Ford Motor Co. or the Henry Ford Museum. Edsel Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford, is scheduled to be present during this month's landmark ceremony.

The other 2005 ASME anniversary landmarks and the dates they are slated for designation are:

• June 12, William Sellers' 1864 screw thread presentation at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, as a Mechanical Engineering Heritage Site, to be held prior to the Summer Annual Meeting's opening reception.

• July 23, Ottmar Mergenthaler's square-base Linotype from 1890, at the International Printing Museum in Carson, Calif., near Los Angeles.

• Sept. 29, the Birome ballpoint pen collection, at Centro Argentino de Ingenieros (CAI, Argentine Center of Engineering) as a Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collection, Buenos Aires, honoring "Laszlo" Josef Biro (1899-1985) and the Biro pen of 1943 (nominated by the Argentine Section).

• Oct. 27, Eiffel wind tunnel (1912) and drop test machine (1903), at Aérodynamique Eiffel
at Auteuil, in Paris (nominated by the French Section).

For additional information, visit the events page on the anniversary Web site at www.asme.org/anniversary.

 

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