After his mother’s
death at a very young age of 37, Henry’s prefer
ence for
engines and machinery instead of the endless round of chores and farm work continued to
grow, and finally at the age of sixteen, he decided to leave home and seek his fortune in
the city. He went to Detroit and got a job in a machine shop. After three years, during
which he came in contact with the internal-combustion engine for the first time, he
returned home, and worked part-time for the Westinghouse Engine. In spare moments, he did
experiments in a little machine shop, which he had set up. Eventually, he built a small
‘farm locomotive’, a tractor that used an old moving machine
for its chassis and a homemade steam engine for power.
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