Up Next
Back to Show
American Experience
The Ford Assembly Line
Inspired by the moving lines used at meat-packing plants, Ford’s factory tested an assembly line in the flywheel magneto department. Rather than having one person build a coil at a time, the supervisor broke down the individual tasks into a sequence driven by a conveyor. The new system reduced the time it took to make a magneto from twenty minutes to thirteen minutes, ten seconds.
Support Provided By
1:53:12
The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the campaign to breed a “better” American race,
52:03
After attempting to commit the perfect crime, would two boys get the death penalty?
52:01
In the 1950's a Polio outbreak swept the U.S., devastating communities nationwide.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:49:38
The man behind the atomic bomb is put on trial for suspected communist ties in 1954.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:49:22
The final months of WWII from the vantage points of both the Japanese and the Americans.
