Childe Harold Wills (June 1, 1878 – December 30, 1940)[1] was an American engineer and businessman.

Wills was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1878, the youngest child of John C. and Angelina S.

[3] When Wills was 17, he began a four-year apprenticeship as a toolmaker at the Detroit Lubricator Company, where his father worked.

[3] However, Wills was strongly attracted to automobiles, and in 1899 approached Henry Ford, offering to work for him part-time.

[3] Wills also contributed heavily to the design of the Ford Model T.[2] Wills is credited with designing the planetary transmission used in the Model T[3] and the detachable cylinder head[4] as well as (with his early interest in commercial art and calligraphy) the calligraphy of the script "Ford" logo that is still in use today.

[3] In 1919, as Ford began buying out his minority shareholders, Wills demanded an accounting of the profit-sharing he had accrued.

[3] In addition, Wills had amassed another $4 million from his own shrewd investments in steel firms.

The first automobile model, the Gray Goose, debuted in 1921,[2] and featured the first recorded instance of back-up lights,[8] an invention that supposedly occurred to Wills due to the number of fire hydrants he had accidentally backed into.

In 1940, Wills suffered a stroke and died a short time later at Henry Ford Hospital.