Kingsford Charcoal (Ford Charcoal Briquets)
When you make 15 Million cars and the frames are made out of wood, you have a lot of wood scraps
Henry Ford was credited for inventing the charcoal briquets in 1920.
The scraps of wood were burned, mixed with starch, and compressed into compact briquettes.
Ford sold the charcoal to the auto dealerships for restaurants, but quickly customers learned they could buy charcoal and the demand took off, and soon sold to hardware stores, sporting goods stores, and department stores.
It was a prime example of Ford’s commitment to reducing waste and reusing everything (and making money with everything.)
How did this start?
Early automobile bodies were made of wood and Henry Ford wanted a timber supply from the hardwood trees of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
E. G. Kingsford was an authorized Ford dealer in Iron Mountain and Henry Ford's cousin-in-law.
Ford had E.G. Kingsford purchase land for the company.
Iron Mountain, MI quickly became the center of Ford's logging and manufacturing operations.
Ford seeing the leftover scraps of wood piling up with no use, Ford figured out how to use the scraps to make Charcoal Briquets.
E. G. Kingsford ran the operation to create Ford's Charcoal Briquets (later to become Kingsford Charcoal.)