1930's Transportation
The great automotive inventor and manufacturer Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” Change cannot be driven without innovators who strive for something better; cheaper, easier, faster, stronger, anything a step above everyone else. This strived individuals to seek for better than what there already was, and fueled the workhorse of American transportation throughout the tough times of the Great Depression to deftly change the landscape of what we use to travel. The 1930's marked a period of great change within the automotive industry at a time when retailers needed new ways to sell cars. Meanwhile, aircraft began to implement numerous changes that created safer, more reliable planes that thrusted aviation into a prominent part of society, and the railroad industry was at its peak as new innovations separated the train into many state of the art machines that insured a successful future for decades to come. The 1930's marked the start of the great change in transportation that fuels the way we travel today. To begin, automobiles began to see dramatic changes from the modest roots it came from. From the time Henry Ford had produced his first famous Model T to the start of the Great Depression, all automobiles in the United States had very similar looks. When the stock market crash hit America, the automotive industry was suffering from poor sales following the initial boom it had created (History.com staff 2). In addition, most of the pioneering technological innovations that paved the way in the early 20th century faded off as the automobile became more refined. In an attempt to boost sales of their main brand, Chevrolet, General Motors, headed by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., created “planned obsolescence” (2), an initiative that slowed the implementation of the few technical innovations that were left and instead focused on body design, slightly changing the style of the car from year to year. This new way of car sales, aimed at making people dissatisfied with their old cars enough to buy a new one, spread through other main manufacturers such as Ford and Chrysler and became the norm up until the 1980s (2). Even today, companies must change body style annually in order to stay in the market. As the Great Depression ended and the struggles of the early 1930s started to fade, new, more modern innovations came, such as air conditioning, turn signals, and car radios (Car Timeline 2). Integral changes in the automobile paved the way for creative deviations that make the inventions of the 1930s shape the modern car into the advanced piece of technology it is today. While automobile manufacturers had to find creative ways to sell their product, aircraft rapidly innovated and staked its claim as the quickest, most reliable way to transport goods and people even in the high-stakes industry of the 21st century. Until the 1930s, airplanes were slow, dangerous, and unreliable. However, with the full potential of aviation finally realized by investors, more money and attention was put into the science, making groundbreaking inventions such as radar, pressurized cabins (Hallion 1), and more reliable engines (Airplane Timeline 3). These made airplanes safer and better suited to become a main form of transportation. Indeed, this marked the start of a rapid increase of use for aircraft in the consumer market. Where cargo ships would have to carry mail across the Pacific, airplanes could do the same job exponentially quicker (3). Commercial flights also modernized as people traveled longer distances in less time. As more and more people decided to travel by air, the plane finally gained recognition as a reliable form of transportation. In the true spirit of the Great Depression Era, aviation took new turns, and unique flying machines, such as the single-rotor helicopter, were born (3). As WWII loomed large as Nazis took control in Germany, more and more nations piled resources towards the acceleration of aircraft technology, and planes became an integral part of the war. In conclusion, this period marked the start of the time that aviation made a significant impact on mainstream transportation. Finally, railroads that had been a reliable mainstay for decades before began to branch out into different looks that set off the biggest boom in railroading history (History 1900’s 2). The 1930s were a period of deep change for railroads. For almost a century, the world had been dominated by steam locomotives. Indeed, this old school form reached its peak of technological advancement, and in Great Britain a steam loco reached a speed of 120 miles per hour (2), the fastest of its kind to date. Although diesel locomotives had been introduced in Europe in the 1910s, the new train was introduced in America in 1934 (Railway Timeline 3). Today, diesel is the main type of locomotive used for cargo in the U.S. In addition to diesel, more and more types of trains began to emerge, including early prototypes for the first magnetic levitation (MagLev) trains, first patented in Germany in 1937 (3). These new forms of railway transportation marked not only great diversity within railroads but also a movement of change that would forever alter the way railroads impact our travels today. To conclude, the 1930s were a decade of change that would continue to mold transportation into the modern world. First, the automotive industry started a new period of innovation for the automobile. Second, aviation began large leaps towards a better, more efficient airplane. Lastly, railroads entered a period of expansion that made it one of the biggest industries in the world. While the 1930s was a period of economic depression and public distress, this spurred companies to innovate in new and resourceful ways in order to appeal to a desperate public. The Great Depression may have been one of the lowest points in American history, but it was this that helped inspired the brave to make transportation look the way it is in the advanced world we live in today. |
Henry Ford, one of the pioneering men in the automotive industry.
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr, founder of General Motors.
A diesel locomotive, first introduced in the U.S. in the 1930's.
Class A4 Mallard, the fastest steam train in the world.
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