Did Henry Ford invent glamping and the charcoal briquette?

Here are some interesting things about Henry Ford you may not know.

Did you know that the Ford Motor Company developed cooking tools for the Model A, even marketing an early “Blackstone”-type cooking plate that hooked to the engine manifold. Our local Model T Club held a national rally in Clear Lake, Iowa, and the Friday night cruise ended at the Surf Ballroom with a banquet cooked along the cruise route.

Several members had the innovative cooking apparatus on their engine. They cooked steaks, baked potatoes, and even baked beans. It was called a Manifold Cooker and would slide onto the engine manifold and cook just about anything that could be cooked in an oven.

There are several knock-off versions available on various websites.

Henry Ford camping trips and the Ford Camp Cooking Kit

Henry Ford would take legendary camping trips in Model A and Model T cars adapted with tent campers that could be considered early motorhomes. The trips would include Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone. and John Burroughs; they called themselves the Vagabonds.

They started in 1915 and took annual trips until 1924. These could also be considered the start of what today is called “glamping,” as the outings would include servants, chefs, cars filled with food and provisions, and they were well organized.

In 1919, the Vagabonds hit the road with 50 vehicles including a car designed by Ford that had a gasoline stove and icebox designed for cooking by master chefs. Another car was built on a truck chassis and was designed to carry tents, cots, chairs, and electric lights. One trip even featured a 24-foot round table with a Lazy Susan swivel that seated twenty.

During these trips, the Ford Motor Company designed a camp cooking kit complete with a charcoal grill and utensils. It was marketed only through Ford dealers.

Charcoal briquettes hit the market

Ford automobiles required a large amount of wood for frames and other components, some as much as 100 board feet. A relative of Henry Ford was tasked to purchase forest land to supply the wood. Consequently, there was an enormous amount of waste wood which was brought along on the camping trips to use as firewood. Henry Ford was concerned about the amount of wasted wood and also was looking for a way to create a convenient way to bring this wood on camping trips.

Although the process of burning wood to make “char” dates back hundreds of years, a University of Oregon chemist named Orin Stafford created a method to make pillow-shaped lumps by combining the charred wood with tar and cornstarch.

Thomas Edison designed a factory to produce the charcoal briquettes for the Ford Motor Company. They were sold exclusively through Ford dealers as a “Picnic Kit” with the briquettes, a grill, and “Ford Charcoal”. This was several years before backyard BBQs and Weber grills.

In 1951, an investment group bought the Ford Charcoal brand and named it after Henry Ford’s relative, Edward Kingsford.

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