Inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. But how much do you really know about Boss Kett?
Charles F. Kettering: Not Your Typical Innovator
Charles F. Kettering, the namesake of Dayton’s largest suburb, a health network and slew of other entities wasn’t your typical innovator who struck it big.
Raised on a farm, and enrolling in and out of college due to bad eyesight, Kettering had no problem putting the work in. For him, that was a given. Thinking, tinkering and not taking things too seriously was his way to get away from it all.
Any Google search for Charles Kettering quotes will open your eyes to a truly open mind. What kind of famous inventor would say don’t take your education too seriously?
Kettering at a glance: Charles Franklin Kettering (born August 29, 1876, and died November 24 or 25, 1958) was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. Kettering’s first job took him to Dayton’s National Cash Register (NCR). After five years and 23 patents (including NCR’s electric cash register), he and Colonel Edward Deeds (whose home you can visit on Stroop Rd. in Kettering) went off to form Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO). Just a few years later General Motors would go on to buy Delco, and Boss Kett as many called him, would be named VP of GM’s new research division.
Three things to thank Boss Kett for
1. Not hand cranking your car to start it
Likely Kettering’s most famous invention, as part of DELCO, Kettering invented the electric self-starter. Instead of starting your car by hand with a crank, beginning in 1912 you could start your Cadillac with the turn of a key.
2. Today’s air conditioning and refrigerators
Prior to the development of freon by Kettering and Thomas Midgley, Jr., air conditioners and refrigerators used toxic and/or flammable substances like ammonia and sulfur dioxide as refrigerants. While freon (a CFC) would later be found later to hurt the ozone layer, it was important to the progression of refrigerants and is still used today. Charles Kettering home (off Southern Blvd. in Kettering) is often referred to as the first home with air conditioning.
3. His contributions to Dayton jobs
We may not often think of an inventor in this way, but Kettering’s creations were instrumental in Dayton’s economy. NCR, DELCO & GM manufacturing jobs made up the backbone of Dayton’s working class for decades. Kettering improved NCR’s core product by creating the first electric cash register. He also founded DELCO, whose plants would provide jobs for years to come. Many of the ideas he patented at DELCO and as head of Research at GM would go on to be used at GM’s Moraine Assembly and plants around the world.
Side bar: Dayton’s largest production brewery, Warped Wing, certainly knows Charles F Kettering. TWO of their famed beers reference the inventor. Warped Wing’s Self-Starter IPA is named and designed for Kettering’s most famous invention, the car’s electric self-starter. Warped Wing’s Barn Gang Saison pays homage to the group started by Kettering and Colonel Edward Deeds that would later become the Engineers Club of Dayton.
