Auto industry / Science & invention
Charles F. Kettering
1876–1958 · inventor, engineer, head of GM Research
Inventor of the electric self-starter, first fitted to the 1912 Cadillac, and head of General Motors research from 1920 to 1947, whose laboratory stood in Detroit's New Center.
- Born
Loudonville, Ohio- Died
Dayton, Ohio
aged 82- Birth name
- Charles Franklin Kettering
- Also known as
- Boss Kettering · Charles Kettering
- Detroit years
- 1912; 1920–1947
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kettering grew up on an Ohio farm, studied engineering at Ohio State and made his name at the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, where he electrified the cash register; in 1909 he and Edward Deeds founded Delco. His Detroit chapter began with a tragedy: the car builder Byron Carter died from injuries after a hand crank kicked back on Belle Isle, and Henry Leland of Cadillac asked Kettering for an electric starter compact enough for a car. Delco had a working design by 1911, and the 1912 Cadillac became the first car with electric starting, lighting and ignition, opening driving to millions who could not crank an engine. Delco later joined General Motors, and in 1920 Kettering became head of the GM Research Corporation, which moved to Detroit in the 1920s; from 1928 its home was Albert Kahn's eleven-story laboratory on West Milwaukee Avenue. Under him GM researchers produced leaded gasoline, Freon refrigerants and lightweight two-stroke diesels. He kept his home in Dayton and retired in 1947.
Highlights
- Invented the electric self-starter, introduced on the 1912 Cadillac
- Co-founder of Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company), 1909
- Vice president and head of General Motors research, 1920–1947
- Held 186 patents; on the cover of Time in January 1933
- Kettering University in Flint was renamed for him in 1998
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1928–1947
Argonaut Building (General Motors Research Laboratory)
Albert Kahn's 1928 research tower in the New Center, built for GM Research under Kettering, with freight elevators big enough to lift cars to the roof. GM research moved to the Warren Technical Center in 1956; since 2009 the building has been the College for Creative Studies' A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education.