Henry Martyn Leland was born to Quaker parents (a religious society) in Vermont in 1843 and was raised with solid Christian values. He was tall, well-built and had a well-balanced outlook on life. When he started working at 11, it soon became apparent that he liked to improve things. One of his projects made him earn as much as an adult. When his family moved to Massachusetts to work in a textile mill, Henry went to work at a factory that made wheels for the textile mill. He later became an apprentice mechanic at the textile factory where his father worked for a good salary of $3 a week.

During the civil war he was able to work in the arms industry and his skills and knowledge developed there were important for his further career. The British still saw themselves as superior and you could expect nothing from an American, and certainly no good mechanics skills. However, the Americans had developed something that impressed even the British. Interchangeability of parts.

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Samuel Colt had produced his first successful revolver in 1835. It became famous during the war with Mexico. Demand for the revolver came from all over the world. In 1848, Colt hired 40-year-old Elisha Root. He was known as the best mechanic in New England and he got Connecticut's highest salary and was worth every penny. Colt wanted the most modern factory, and Root designed nearly every 1,400 machines built there. Also included were casting stamps that could deliver small castings in large quantities. Even the burrs did not have to be removed. The factory had the largest collection of machines under one roof that could produce all parts that always met the most stringent requirements and would always be interchangeable. When a biography of Root was published more than 80 years later (in 1934), it was found that most of the machines were still in use and could easily be compared with modern variants. Fitting out the factory required a huge investment, and the competition thought Root and Colt had gone mad. On the contrary, the factory's capacity doubled in 1864. Leland joined Samuel Colt in Connecticut after the Springfield Armory, where he now worked, was reorganized after the Civil War and he was fired. He would work there for two years and improve his skills even further. Precision became his passion.

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He married Ellen Hull and after several other employers went to work for Brown and Sharpe, makers of tools and machines in Rhode Island, for whom he developed, among other things, a hair clipper that made a hairdresser's job considerably easier. At Brown & Sharpe they worked with even tighter tolerances than at Colt. One hundred thousandths of an inch and sometimes a millionth of an inch. Until 1850, people mainly repaired watches, clocks and scientific precision instruments. After 1850, Joseph Brown invented a machine that could make smaller graduations on measuring instruments than when engraving them directly. This allowed even more precise measurements to be made. These inventions made the name Brown & Sharpe famous in workshops around the world. Their mass-produced micrometers and other devices already compensated for wear within one-thousandth of an inch. They therefore promoted their products with the slogan 'The World's Standard of Accuracy' and they won many prizes. That is why Leland went to work there. Both Leland and the company benefited from this. Leland's goal was to start his own company. Leland soon saw the shortcomings of the lathes already used to make parts for their sewing machines. The department where he worked. When Leland suggested his idea to Brown, he learned that Brown already had this idea in 1868. A better, more precise lathe could not yet be made because there were no good usable sharpening stones. In 1873 a better sharpening stone had been developed nearby. In 1874 Leland, Brown and Richmond Viall got to work. The lathe announced in 1876 is the father of all lathes today and is still recognizable today. He would have an enormous influence on all kinds of precision work and also on the automotive industry that did not yet exist. It ran as a prototype in July 1876, a few days after Brown's unexpected death. In 1886 the machine was upgraded. It was strengthened and got better cooling. In 1878 Leland became head of the sewing machine department. He improved the efficiency of the department and halved production costs within one year. He even wrote a thesis about it: 'The art of manufacturing'

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After being away for several years due to illness, he returns to Brown & Sharpe in 1885 and eventually becomes a sales representative and introduces the cowboy west of America to his products. A few years later, he could finally think about his own business. He often visited Detroit and a friend who sold machines and parts there introduced him to Robert Faulconer. In 1890, Leland took his family and his talents to Detroit, where fine machine work was virtually unknown but in demand. In 1890 there were only 9 machine shops. He teamed up with wealthy woodworker Robert C. Faulconer and tool designer Charles H. Norton. The combination was called Leland, Faulconer and Norton. Falcouner donated $40,000 into the company, Leland $1,600 and another $2,000 borrowed from Brown & Sharpe. Faulconer was director and Leland vice president. As a machine parts designer he hired Charles H Norton, his former Brown & Sharpe partner. In 1894 Norton left the company to start his own venture and became a successful manufacturer of crankshaft lathes. Initially, Leland and Faulconer (L&F) specialized in making precision gears. Within three months they went from 12 employees to 60. In 1838 they moved to a large factory on Trombley Avenue. By 1896 the company had a capital of $100,000 and produced steam engines for Detroit streetcars and gasoline engines for marine use. They made all kinds of products, but they were best known for the gears. These were expensive but also perfect and ultimately the best choice. During the bicycle hype of the time, bicycle manufacturers such as Pope and Pierce had problems with their sprockets. The geared bikes didn't have greasy chains that kept clothes clean, but they wore out quickly and were noisy. L&F was approached. The process of hardening the gears was not good. A good gear was developed and soon thousands of gears were supplied to Pope and Pierce. Both companies eventually bought the machines themselves and later stated that these machines were invaluable when they entered the automotive industry.

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The same year that Leland Faulconer and Norton were founded, Olds Gasoline Engine Works was founded in Lansing, Michigan. Ransom Eli Olds already had experience with fuel engines and self-propelled vehicles. He and his father had already built motorcycles for use on farms. However, the first Olds vehicles were steam powered. The first American vehicle sold abroad was a steam-powered Olds. It was sold to the Francis Time Company in India around 1893. The development of fuel-powered vehicles was already in full swing. This is partly due to the developments of Daimler and Benz in Germany. Olds also joined in, having completed his first vehicle in 1886, making it a pioneer in Michigan. A state that would then build more than the rest of the world combined. In 1897, the Olds Motor Vehicle Company was founded with a capital of $50,000. The board immediately asked Olds to build a vehicle. Lansing had only 12,000 inhabitants and no paved streets. Olds left for Detroit and there the holding company Olds Motor Works was founded, which brings together the two existing companies. Paid in is $350,000 and a total of $500,000 is available thanks to two investors EW Sparrow and Samuel L. Smith. Their factory was probably the first built specifically for the manufacture of cars. Olds was a man of vision and daring but still using farming techniques. Despite that, he was one of the founders of Detroit Motor City. Due to the use of the simple techniques, there were some problems in the manufacture. The hand-filed gears for the transmission resulted in a lot of time loss, high costs and a noisy transmission. Unacceptable. Olds went to the Temple of Precision on Tombley Avenue and explained his problem to the priest. Leland fitted it with a silent transmission with precision ground gears that were interchangeable and required no rework.

In June 1901, L&F was awarded a contract by Olds Motor Works to manufacture 2,000 engines for the Curved Dash Oldsmobile. The other supplier of engines to Olds was the Dodge Brothers. L&F developed a refined version of the existing Dodge engine that developed 23 percent more horsepower than the Dodge Brothers version (3.7 hp vs 3.0). The difference soon became apparent at the first Detroit auto show where Olds had a large booth. There were two Olds cars side by side with their engines running and the same speed on the meter. As Henry and his son Wilfred looked at the cars, they heard a man say 'look behind the gauges'. There was an extra load on the Leland engine. When a few years later Henry Ford asked for advice on piston grinding, she recognized the man from the stand. When L&F saw that they had the better engine due to their working method, which resulted in less friction losses, they set to work to make the engine even better. Olds had commercial skills and basic mechanical skills, but it wasn't all very efficient. By improving the air intake and exhaust and enlarging the valves, Leland and his boys probably tuned an engine for the first time. The more breathable engine now ran 900 instead of 500 rpm and had 10.25 horsepower. More than 3x as much as Olds found adequate. However, this new engine was rejected by the Olds board because the conversion of the production line would delay production even further than it already had due to a factory fire in March, and the costs for the modifications to the frame were also too high. A good move by Olds because their sales and production figures were unmatched by anyone in the coming years. A disappointment for Leland because there was no application possibility for the engine. The engine was built into Henry's own Curved Dash.

Henry Leland's desire to start his own business was fulfilled a year later by Henry Ford. In August 1902, Wilfred heard strange voices in his father's office next door. A moment later his father called him. In the office were William Murphy and Lemuel W. Bowen. Both unknown to father and son Leland until then. Murphy and Bowen were two of the financiers of Ford's auto company the Detroit Automobile Company. The firm was liquidated. Their chief engineer was the mechanic they spoke to at the 1901 Detroit Auto Show, Henry Ford. Ford, in his late thirties, had an engineering background at the James Flowers machine shop and the Detroit Edison Company. In 1896 he had built two cars, one of which he had sold. During that time, he teamed up with Murphy's group. The future of the Detroit Automobile Company was uncertain and between death and on a ventilator, but it had built a few cars. When things went wrong in November 1900, the company was resurrected a year later on November 30, 1901 as the Henry Ford Company with Henry as chief engineer. It was short lived and within three months Henry was gone again. The financiers were disappointed that Ford didn't seem to want to produce much more than race cars. Ford was disappointed that they wanted to make a profit too quickly and that they seemed to have no vision for the future. Ford's successor was also quickly gone and in August 2002 it was decided to liquidate. They enlisted Leland's help as a consultant to appraise the car factory and its equipment so they could sell it and get out. After his visit to the factory, he got an idea. He had the original engine of his Olds restored and took his appraisal papers and his fast engine more to the Murphy Group premises where Murphy, Bowen and the other executives Clarence A. Black and AEF White waited. Leland gave the valuation but told them it would be foolish to say goodbye to the auto industry. He showed them the engine designed for Olds and explained the advantages; more power, interchangeable parts and above all, no temperament. People had to laugh about it. Leland said he could supply the engines cheaper than Olds and suggested they remain financiers. On August 22, 1902, the Murphy Group held a meeting to reorganize the company. One had to have a name. The directors hoped to become the first successful automaker in Detroit and chose the name of the adventurer who founded Detroit two hundred years earlier; Cadillac! The name was imposing, historic and attractive. Detroit had just celebrated its 200th anniversary so there was no better time to advertise this name. Perfect PR. Something that would always distinguish the company. Thus the Cadillac Automobile Company was born, named after Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. The laurel wreath logo was registered under trademark number 54,931 on August 7, 1906. The paid-up capital was $300,000. Lemuel W. Bowen became the first director and William E. Metzger the sales manager. He had already gained experience at Oldsmobile. Henry Leland came on the board and got shares. L&F would manufacture engines, transmission and steering boxes, and Cadillac would manufacture the chassis and bodies.