Innovation in the 1920s
Illinois Social Science Standards
SS.H.1.6-8.LC: Classify series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.
SS.H.1.6-8.MdC: Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
SS.H.1.6-8.MC: Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.
Bell Ringer Question:
In your opinion, what household item would you say has had the greatest improvement on the lifestyle and quality of life to you and those that live in your home? Identify this item, and explain using AT LEAST three examples of how this household item improves your standard of living.
Important Vocabulary:
Mass Production - is the efficient manufacture of large quantities of standardized products, frequently utilizing assembly line technology.
Assembly Line - is a manufacturing process in which parts are added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequence until the final assembly is produced.
Standard of Living - a term used to describe the level of material wealth, general health, and living conditions of a person, family, or community.
Income - money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments.
The Theater
The first movies had no sound
Often a band would play music along with the movie
Audience members would read a "title card"
Most theaters only had one viewing area.
By 1927, the first movie with sound called a "talkie" was released.
shorter and cheaper shows aimed at a younger audience quickly became known as "nickelodeons."
The Automobile
The driving force behind the automobile industry was Mass Production, which is the efficient manufacture of large quantities of standardized products, often using the assembly line.
The concept behind the assembly line was that the car, rather than the worker, would move along a path in a factory.
Men and women working at specific stations would specialize in one or two tasks to construct the automobile.
This meant Ford could hire unskilled workers who wanted good factory jobs and train them in simpler tasks.
Henry Ford's Model T and the Assembly Line in the 1920s
Henry Ford, My Life and Work (1922)
A Ford car contains about five thousand parts—that is counting screws, nuts, and all. Some of the parts are fairly bulky and others are almost the size of watch parts. In our first assembling we simply started to put a car together at a spot on the floor and workmen brought to it the parts as they were needed in exactly the same way that one builds a house…..
The undirected worker spends more of his time walking about for materials and tools than he does in working; he gets small pay because [walking] is not a highly paid line. The first step forward in assembly came when we began taking the work to the men instead of the men to the work. We now have two general principles in all operations—that a man shall never have to take more than one step, if possibly it can be avoided, and that no man need ever stoop over….
The principles of assembly are these: (1) Place the tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing. (2) Use work slides or some other form of carrier so that when a workman completes his operation, he drops the part always in the same place—which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand—and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his operation. (3) Use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances…..
The payment of high wages fortunately contributes to the low costs because the men become steadily more efficient on account of being relieved of outside worries. The payment of five dollars a day for an eight-hour day was one of the finest cost-cutting moves we ever made, and the six-dollar day wage is cheaper than the five. How far this will go, we do not know…..
Average Income, 1912-1924
Ford Advertisement (1905)
Ford Advertisement (1925)
Model T vs Electric Vehicles today
