Kettering, Charles F.

Charles F. Kettering, in full Charles Franklin Kettering, (born August 29, 1876, Loudonville, Ohio, U.S.—died November 25, 1958, Dayton, Ohio), American engineer whose inventions, which included the electric starter, were instrumental in the evolution of the modern automobile.

In 1904 Kettering began working for the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, where he developed the first electric cash register. He became chief of the inventions department before he resigned in 1909.

With Edward A. Deeds, Kettering founded Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) to design automotive electrical equipment. He developed improved lighting and ignition systems as well as the first electric starter, which was introduced on Cadillacs in 1912.

In 1916 Delco became a subsidiary of United Motors Corporation, later General Motors Corporation (GM). Kettering was vice president and director of research for GM from 1920 to 1947. In 1914 he also founded the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, which during World War I developed a propeller- driven guided missile with a 200-pound (90-kilogram) bomb load.

Kettering contributed much to the development of quick-drying lacquer finishes for automobiles and of antiknock fuels and leaded gasoline in collaboration with the American chemist Thomas Midgley, Jr. He developed the high-speed, two-cycle diesel engine, making it more efficient by improving its design. In 1951 he also developed a revolutionary high-compression automobile engine.

Kettering’s interest in science was manifested in the establishment of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research at the Memorial Cancer Center, New York City, and the C.F. Kettering Foundation for the Study of Chlorophyll and Photosynthesis.