For the first time, Henry Ford’s entire Highland Park, Michigan automobile
factory is run on a continuously moving assembly line when the chassis–
the automobile’s frame–is assembled using the revolutionary industrial
technique. A motor and rope pulled the chassis past workers and parts
on the factory floor, cutting the man-hours required to complete one
“Model T” from 12-1/2 hours to six. Within a year, further assembly line improvements reduced the time required to 93 man-minutes.

The staggering increase in productivity effected by Ford’s use of the
moving assembly line allowed him to drastically reduce the cost of
the Model T, thereby accomplishing his dream of making the car
affordable to ordinary consumers.

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947)

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson began hosting the “Tonight”
show on NBC television. He was introduced by Groucho Marx
(left) who warmed up the audience with a 15-minute monologue.

Johnny Carson with second banana Ed McMahon (left).

Talk show host Johnny Carson wipes his eye after
watching a series of clips from earlier shows during
the last taping of the "Tonight Show" in 1992.

Nils Ivar Bohlin (July 17, 1920 – September 21, 2002)

Nils Bohlin, the Swedish engineer and inventor responsible
for the three-point lap and shoulder seatbelt–considered
one of the most important innovations in automobile safety,
was born in Härnösand, Sweden.

Before 1959, only the two-point lap belts were available in
automobiles; for the most part, the only people who regularly
buckled up were race car drivers.

The world’s first parking meter, known as Park-O-Meter No. 1, is installed on
the southeast corner of what was then First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

The parking meter was the brainchild of Carl C. Magee (below), a lawyer and
newspaper publisher who moved to Oklahoma City from New Mexico in 1927.

Carlton Cole "Carl" Magee (January 1872 – February 1946)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kruse GWS Auctions announced Wednesday,
Elvis Presley fans, if they have the money, can take to the road in his
personal white 1973 stretch limousine (the car the music icon often
used to get around Memphis, Tennessee), a GMC pickup truck that
has since been restored or his last motorcycle, a 1976 Harley Davidson
FLH 1200 Electra Glide. The auction house said the items will be part
of its Artifacts of Hollywood auction on August 31.
 

Elvis Presley’s keys to his 1973 stretch limousine.