Charles Kettering (1876–1958) was an American engineer and inventor best known for his work on the electric starter. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of a carpenter. He was educated at the Detroit Institute of Technology and at the University of Michigan. In 1899 he moved to Dayton, Ohio to work with a bicycle factory
Read more
In 1902 he became manager of Standard Steel Cycles, a manufacturer of bicycles and motorcycle parts. He married in 1913 and had two children, both born in Dayton. In 1917 Kettering retired from Standard Cycles and began experimenting with electric self-propelled vehicles.
In 1918 he started work on an automobile that would use internal combustion engines while simultaneously recharging its batteries through a generator. The engine was to be driven by a belt from a generator mounted along the outside of the car, while the car itself would be driven by a separate motor mounted on a shaft between the front wheels. At first he concentrated on building a shopping cart but later turned his attention to designing an entire vehicle for this purpose.
In 1920 he took his idea to several auto manufacturers who were not interested in it because it was considered too risky and expensive. In 1922 Kettering set up his own company, Dayton Engineering Laboratories Incorporated (Delco), which manufactured automotive electrical products for other companies to use in their vehicles. Delco also made parts for automobiles but did not manufacture them itself until 1935 when it started making an electric starter for Ford cars.
The product went into mass production in 1939 and won Delco one million dollars worth of business during World War II when Ford cars were rationed for military use only to be discontinued after the war ended in 1945. Delco also contributed to other industries such as aviation, heavy trucks, farm equipment, aviation engines, tractors, electric lights and power plants. Whereas most inventions are lost once they are no longer profitable or useful, Delco has continued to thrive since its creation nearly 120 years ago with dozens of products still in production today.