Charles Kettering
Innovator
Enshrined 1979
1876-1958
Kettering was always willing to tackle a job even if it interfered with his leisure time. One evening, while on his way home from work, Kettering stopped to check the progress of the Gordon Bennett Racer. The Dayton-Wright Experimental boys were having trouble meshing gears and wing flaps. As Kettering and his wife headed to the theater that evening, he made a detour to inspect the progress, even though he was decked out in his formal attire. He soon doffed his shoes and coat tails and began working on the problem. He addressed his wife, “Mother, you better let the driver take you into the theater and wait for you … Pick me up here after the show.”
- He joined NCR in 1904 and perfected the first electric cash register.
- He invented and improved the ignition system and the first electric starter for automobiles, formed DELCO.
- In 1912 he became interested in flying after flying in a Wright brothers biplane.
- During World War I he designed the ignition systems for the “Liberty” aircraft engine and made the first synthetic aviation fuel.
- He helped form the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company that produced the DeHavilland, DH-4 warplane and led its development of an unmanned guided missile.
- In 1923 his study of engine “knock” led to the development of tetraethyl lead in gasoline.
- He pioneered developing high compression engines and improved fuels that increased aircraft engine horsepower and flight safety.
Biography
Charles Franklin Kettering was already a household name by the time he became involved with aviation in 1912. His remarkable contributions at the National Cash Register (NCR) company, where he acquired the nickname “Boss Ket,” included the electric cash register and accounting machines. Equally outstanding were his contributions in the automotive field. His reliable ignition system for Cadillacs, created in Edward Deed’s barn in 1909, led him and Deeds to form the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, later to become famous as “Delco”.
After taking his first flight at the Wright Flying School in Dayton, Kettering became one of the few prominent men in the entire country who took up flying. But aviation wasn’t the only thing that interested him. The newfangled aircraft engine and ignition system also captured his imagination.
In 1916, Kettering and Deeds sold Delco to the United Motors Corporation for a whopping (by the standards of the times) nine million dollars. With the profits they built a factory to produce Kettering’s innovative farm lighting systems. Kettering helped to organize the Dayton Airplane Company and engaged Orville Wright as consulting engineer. The company sought to perfect Orville’s automatic flight control system and to build planes for private use. But when the United States entered World War I the company became the Dayton Wright Airplane Company and received contracts to build 5000 DeHavilland warplanes with the new American Liberty engine. Eventually, thousands were built for use over the Western Front. Meanwhile, Kettering developed a highly reliable ignition system for the Liberty engine. Another of his wartime achievements was the development of the first synthetic aviation fuel.
At the same time, the aircraft production board asked Kettering to head the development of a pilotless “flying bomb” to carry explosives to a target 50 miles away. Kettering selected Dayton Wright as the prime contractor with Orville Wright as the aeronautical consultant. The flying bomb quickly acquired the name “Kettering Bug,” and its inventor devoted considerable time to the bomb’s ingenious control system.
By October 1918 the first Kettering Bug was ready for launch. While it took off as planned, it climbed too steeply, stalled, and crashed back to the ground. In a test several days later, a “Bug” was successfully launched and eventually came down near Xenia. But the war ended before plans could be implemented. As a result, while the Kettering Bug earned a patent, it remained a military secret until World War II, when the Nazis utilized the concept with devastating effect.
When General Motors Corporation took over the Dayton Wright Airplane Company, Kettering is made Vice President. Among the outstanding aircraft that it developed was the R.B. Racer, with a high lift wing incorporating flaps, retractable landing gear, and a fully enclosed cockpit. Other aircraft included the O.W. Coupe, which set an American altitude record of just under 20,000 feet.
In 1920, General Motors Corporation asssumed control of most of Kettering’s business interests and set up General Motors Research Corporation with Kettering as president. Soon, he also became a Vice President of GM and named to its Board of Directors. World War I halted all previous research, and Kettering set out again to find a practical gasoline additive to eliminate engine “knock.” The hunt eventually led him and Tom Midgley to Tetraethyl Lead, the most effective substance ever found. Kettering’s Ethyl gasoline soon found its way into aviation, but also added to increased engine horsepower and greater aircraft safety, reliability and speed. In the following years, Kettering focused his efforts on making the automobile easier to drive and more economical to operate. Many of his ideas found application in aviation, in railroad diesel locomotives and in medical areas such as cancer research.
During his lifetime, Charles Franklin Kettering received hundreds of honors, honorary degrees and patents on his ideas. Through it all, he always remained the person he described himself to be by saying, “I’m just a plain old inventor”. And so, we honor the man the world knows best as “Boss Ket” for his outstanding contributions that earn him his place in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Charles Kettering died on November 25th, 1958.
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