The most mundane things that you use every day (think post it notes, rubber bands, concrete) often have fascinating stories behind them.
In fact, people often only notice how something's designed when it goes wrong. But the process of discovery, testing and prototyping anything, no matter how ordinary, is full of pitfalls and the occasional exhilarating breakthrough.
Model T Ford
The world's first affordable motor car not only introduced many innovations in automotive design, the process by which it was built was revolutionary, too. The Model T was built on an assembly line that brought the car to the men working on it, rather than workers moving from car to car. It not only saved time, it enabled workers to specialise by performing the same tasks over and over. This helped keep costs low. When the Model T debuted in October 1908, it cost $850 (around $19,000 or £10,000 in today's money). In later years Ford was able to sell them for as little as $260 ($5,400 or £2,700 today).
Ford wasn't the first to embrace assembly lines, but it was the first to perfect it. By 1914 a Model T chassis (the car minus the interior, body and paint) could be built in just 93 minutes, and 15 million were made in total. The car was so successful that Ford didn't buy any advertising from 1917 to 1923.
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