Teresa Cox, age 15, of Marquette, Mich., for her question:

WHO WAS RANSOM OLDS?

Ransom Olds was an American automobile manufacturer. In 1897 he founded the Olds Motor Works, the first automobile factory in the world and the first to use an assembly line.

Olds was born in Geneva, Ohio, and began to experiment with horseless carriages in the 1880s. In 1885 he built a successful steam powered three wheeled vehicle. Ten years later he constructed a four wheeled automobile powered by a gasoline engine.

About 12,000 Oldsmobiles were produced between 1902 and 1904, when Olds sold his interest in the company.

From 1904 to 1924 Olds was president, and from 1924 to 1936 chairman of the board, of the Reo Motor Car company. This organization produced the Reo, a popular automobile of the 1920s.

Olds was born in 1864 and died in 1950 at the age of 86.