Childe Wills
| C. Harold Wills | |
|---|---|
C. Harold Wills, c. 1922
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|
| Born |
June 1, 1878 Fort Wayne, Indiana |
| Died | December 30, 1940 (aged 62) Detroit |
| Occupation | Business, engineering |
| Spouse(s) | Mabel Preston (first marriage), Mary Coyne (second marriage) |
| Children | Virginia Wills Chauvin and Josephine Wills (by Mabel Preston); Childe Harold Wills Jr and John Harold Wills (by Mary Coyne), and stepdaughter Elaine Coyne Schenck |
| Parent(s) | John C. Wills and Angelina S. Wills |
Childe Harold Wills (June 1, 1878 – December 30, 1940), also known as C. Harold Wills, was an early associate of Henry Ford, one of the first employees of the Ford Motor Company, and a contributor to the design of the Model T. After leaving Ford, he began his own ultimately unsuccessful automobile company.
Wills was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1878, the youngest child of John C. and Angelina S. Wills. 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.
When Wills was 17, he began a four-year apprenticeship as a toolmaker at the Detroit Lubricator Company, where his father worked. At the same time, he took night courses in metallurgy, chemistry and mechanical engineering. When his apprenticeship was served, he moved on to the Boyer Machine Co., later the Burroughs Adding Machine Co., becoming chief engineer in 1901, when he was only 23.
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, of which Ford was superintendent. The Detroit Automobile Company was reorganized in 1901 as the Henry Ford Company, 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 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.
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