1908 — Henry Ford introduces his Model T, which costs $850. By 1909 his company is turning out 19,000 automobiles a year. Ford makes his operation so efficient that by 1926 the price drops to $310.

• Congress passes a bill regulating child labor in Washington, D.C., hoping the separate states will do the same.
• Scottish author Kenneth Grahame publishes The Wind in the Willows, a classic children’s novel.
• General Electric patents the electric iron and toaster.
• The 47-story Singer building in New York City is America’s first skyscraper.
• Thomas Edison produces an improved nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery.