The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-01-02
AUTO FACTORIES
ATTRACT SWARMS
OF SIGHT SEERS
Tourists in Detroit Inspect Ford
Plant by the Thousands

Detroit, Jan. 2-As a place of I'M
usual interest to sightseers the large
autom obile factories of the country
rival in drawing power the national
parks Niagara Falls and other places
where nature is at her best. But the
automobile factories attract in a way
peculiarly their own. There is In
them interest closely akin to astonish-
nent to those of mechanical turn of
mind. This industry. SO young in
years, has developed a vast array OF
mac hinery belonging distlnctively tic
itself and as yet little known of ex-
cept to those actively engaged in ,au-
toTnobile manufacture. So large q
number of visitors are entertained
each day at the factories that it is
necessary to employ number of per-
sons whose sole duty it is to show
sightseers about.
Esp cially is this true of the larger
factories of the country, most OF
| which are in Detroit. At the factory
Of. the Ford Motor Company, the
world; a competent Corps of guides
are constantly leading visitors
| throughout the huge plant.
Visitors come to this factory in
crowds. They number up to the
thousands during the course of year
They come from all parts of the globe
and visit. the factory singly, in pairs
or in parties of from ten to five hun
dred-
Mostly the visitors are those either
directly Interested in the autono bile
business OF InOSG OIL a 116Chan1cal IN
clination who are Edesirous of seeing
the many wonderful machines thai
serve in the modern automobile fac
tory.
industry is so young, that it is still a
mystery to most persons. Those who
looked askance at the horse1eSs car
riage a decade ago. look with the
multitude of machines, unfamiliar to
them, that steadily spin out the parts
Of an automobile.
While an autom obile nowadays is
such a common sight that even the
unsophisticated country nag is fani-
lar with it and no longer pricks up
it's ears when passed by car, yet
10 most the many steps by which the
completed car actually assumes it's
shape are as mysterious as the en-
ha1nning of an Egyptian mummy.
No wonder then that almost with
out exception when a traveller finds
himself with a moments time on his
hand while in Detroit, he avails him
self of the opportunity to visit the
others.
And many large. delegations come
from all parts of the world to this
city for the express purpose of going
institutions It not infreQuently hap
pens that as many as a hundred of
such visitors. are found at the Ford
factory at one time.
1t is to accomm odate these visitors
that the guide service is established.
The guides are as thoroughly familiar
with the points of interest in the fac
tory and can describe them with a
great deal more accuracy than can
the venerable conductors who prey
upon unsuspecting tourists in the Alps
and elsewhere.
AS they lead visitors through the
factory they explain just what each
machine they pass is doing and where
each part in the making will be
found in the finished car Thew DOipf
out the machines that do the work
form erly4 done by scores of men as
for instance, a huge four way drill
that bores forty-hve holes in a cy-
Under casting. in exactly one and one
half minutes. Then they show where
the parts are being assem- bled, where
the cars are being put together the
department where the motors are
tested point out, the testing yard, and
bring the visitor or visitors back to
the administration building.
When the visitors leave the factory
they have acquired a pretty concrete
idea of how motor car is built.