Childe Harold Wills (June 1, 1878 – December 30, 1940)
was an American engineer and businessman. He was an early associate of
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
, one of the first employees of the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
, and the chief contributor to the design of the
Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
. After leaving Ford, he began his own automobile company.
Early career
Wills was born in
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, in 1878, the youngest child of John C. and Angelina S. Wills.
His first name Childe was taken from the poem ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'' by
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
. Wills hated the name, however, and always went by his middle name Harold or his initials instead.
By 1885, the family had moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Wills finished his schooling.
Wills seemed to have an equal interest in commercial art and mechanical engineering; he learned a considerable amount about the latter from his father, a railroad mechanic.
[Hemmings Motor News: Childe Harold Wills](_blank)
retrieved July 23, 2009
When Wills was 17, he began a four-year apprenticeship as a toolmaker at the
Detroit Lubricator Company
An automatic lubricator is a device fitted to a steam engine to supply lubricating oil to the cylinders and, sometimes, the bearings and axle box mountings as well. There are various types of automatic lubricator, which include various desig ...
, where his father worked.
At the same time, he took night courses in
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
,
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and mechanical engineering.
After serving his apprenticeship, he moved on to the Boyer Machine Co.,
later the
Burroughs Adding Machine Co., becoming chief engineer in 1901, when he was only 23.
Ford Motor Company
However, Wills was strongly attracted to automobiles, and in 1899 approached Henry Ford, offering to work for him part-time.
Wills worked with Ford in the early mornings and late evenings at the
Detroit Automobile Company
The Detroit Automobile Company (DAC) was an early American automobile manufacturer founded on August 5, 1899, in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first venture of its kind in Detroit. Automotive mechanic Henry Ford attracted the financial backing o ...
, of which Ford was superintendent. The Detroit Automobile Company was reorganized in 1901 as the
Henry Ford Company
The Henry Ford Company was an automobile manufacturer active from 1901 to 1902. Named for Henry Ford, it was his second company after the Detroit Automobile Company, which had been founded in 1899. The Henry Ford Company was founded November 190 ...
, and by 1902, Wills was working for Ford full-time, helping him build his 999 and Arrow racers.
When Ford started Ford Motor Company in 1903, Wills went along as chief designer and metallurgist.
Although Wills was too poor to afford stock in the new company, Ford offered Wills 10% of Ford's own dividend.
At Ford, Wills hired
Peter E. Martin
Peter Edmund Martin (1882–1944) was a leading early production executive of the Ford Motor Company.
Martin was hired by close Henry Ford associate C. Harold Wills on December 15, 1903, and at that time was the company's fifth employee.
He was ...
in 1903. He worked hand-in-hand with Ford on the early Ford models. When Ford planned mass production of cars, Wills saw the importance of lightweight, strong, nickel-chrome vanadium steel to the mass production process. Ford tasked Wills with determining how to produce the necessary quantities of steel.
Wills eventually found a mill to produce it, and in 1907 Ford used the alloy in the production of his
Model N at the
Ford Piquette Avenue Plant
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Fo ...
.
Wills also contributed heavily to the design of the
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
.
Wills is credited with designing the planetary transmission used in the Model T
and the detachable cylinder head
as well as (with his early interest in commercial art and calligraphy) the calligraphy of the script "Ford" logo that is still in use today.
Wills also was given charge of the production of the
Liberty engine
The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both i ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
In 1904, Wills married Mabel Preston. Henry Ford was the best man at their wedding. The couple had a son in 1906 who only survived an hour. They then had two daughters. Virginia was born in 1908, and Josephine in 1910.
In 1914, Wills married Mary Coyne.
He had two sons with Mary: John Harold and Childe Harold Jr.
Although Ford and Wills began as friends, over time the relationship between the two grew frosty,
exacerbated by
Charles E. Sorensen
Charles Emil Sorensen (7 September 1881 – 11 August 1968) was a Danish-American principal of the Ford Motor Company during its first four decades. Like most other managers at Ford at the time, he did not have an official job title, but he served ...
's dislike for Wills.
In 1919, as Ford began buying out his minority shareholders, Wills demanded an accounting of the profit-sharing he had accrued. Ford ultimately provided Wills with a $1.5 million severance package.
In addition, Wills had amassed another $4 million from his own shrewd investments in steel firms.
After Ford
With his capital, Wills started his own automobile firm,
Wills Sainte Claire
Wills Sainte Claire was an American automobile brand manufactured by C. H. Wills and Company, in Marysville, Michigan, from 1921 to 1927. Childe Harold Wills, the company founder, was a perfectionist and his automobile company focused on very h ...
.
He built a factory just north of Detroit scouting the area on his yacht the Tashmu and docking it there in summer months, and incorporated and re-platted the surrounding area of the town of
Marysville, Michigan
Marysville is a city in St. Clair County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,959 at the 2010 census. The municipality was founded in 1919, first as a village, then became a city in 1924.
Marysville is located on the western sho ...
.
He moved the town from its original location, to where the town park, and the Chrysler Plant are today. The first automobile model, the Gray Goose, debuted in 1921.
It was a sensation, but its $3000 cost led to low sales, and the company lost money.
Although Wills still supported his factory, the company lost money every year, and Wills shut the doors in 1927.
Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
bought the plant in 1933.
Wills went on to join
Ruxton and eventually consulted at Chrysler as a metallurgist.
His various patents also provided a steady income. In 1940, Wills suffered a stroke and died a short time later at
Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital (HFH) is an 877-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex at the western edge of the New Center area in Detroit, Michigan. The flagship facility for the Henry Ford Health System, it was one of the first hos ...
.
He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.
''Detroit Free Press''
/ref>
References
External links
at Wills Auto Museum
C. Harold Wills
at the Automotive Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Childe
1878 births
1940 deaths
People from Fort Wayne, Indiana
Ford designers
American automobile designers
Burroughs Corporation people