Background
Charles Franklin Kettering was born on August 29, 1876, in Loudonville, Ohio, United States. He was one of five children of Jacob Kettering, a farmer and carpenter, and the former Mary Hunter.
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
Kettering graduated from the Ohio State University in 1904 with a degree in electrical engineering.
1913
Dayton, Ohio, United States
Charles Franklin Kettering with a Buick automobile, Dayton, Ohio, 1913.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with Robert E. Healy.
Portrait of Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with his self-starter.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with his self-starter.
1913
Kettering received the Dewar Trophy for his self-starter (1913).
1936
Kettering received the Franklin Medal (1936).
1955
Kettering received the Hoover Medal (1955).
1958
Kettering received the IEEE Edison Medal (1958).
1913
Kettering received the Dewar Trophy for his self-starter (1913).
1913
Dayton, Ohio, United States
Charles Franklin Kettering with a Buick automobile, Dayton, Ohio, 1913.
1936
Kettering received the Franklin Medal (1936).
1955
Kettering received the Hoover Medal (1955).
1958
Kettering received the IEEE Edison Medal (1958).
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
Kettering graduated from the Ohio State University in 1904 with a degree in electrical engineering.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with Robert E. Healy.
Portrait of Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with his self-starter.
Charles Franklin Kettering.
Charles Franklin Kettering with his self-starter.
Statue of young Charles Franklin Kettering.
https://www.amazon.com/Necessity-Culmination-Century-Progress-Transportation/dp/0342694545/?tag=2022091-20
1932
https://www.amazon.com/Short-Stories-Science-Invention-Collection/dp/B0007FEVOE/?tag=2022091-20
1955
https://www.amazon.com/PROPHET-PROGRESS-selections-speeches-Kettering/dp/B000M1ITTG/?tag=2022091-20
1961
Businessman engineer inventor scientist
Charles Franklin Kettering was born on August 29, 1876, in Loudonville, Ohio, United States. He was one of five children of Jacob Kettering, a farmer and carpenter, and the former Mary Hunter.
As a boy, Kettering's schooling was interrupted by poor eyesight, but he eventually graduated from the Ohio State University in 1904 with a degree in electrical engineering.
Kettering joined the inventions staff of the National Cash Register Company, working there for five years; then he left to found the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) with Edward A. Deeds. The company subsequently became part of General Motors.
Kettering’s first great achievement was the electric starter for automobiles, installed on the Cadillac car in 1912. His contribution was a motor powerful enough to turn the engine over but small enough to fit in a motor vehicle. The concept originated when he was working on an electric cash register and realized that the motor he required merely had to deliver an occasional surge of power. Kettering was invited to work on the starter because his company had designed a successful wet-battery ignition system for Cadillac. This system was alleged to be a cause of engine knock; and to refute this criticism Kettering undertook to find the real cause of knock - which, with remarkable insight, he decided was imperfect combustion of the fuel. After long research in cooperation with Thomas Midgley, Jr., and T. A. Boyd, he found a remedy in the addition of tetraethyl lead to gasoline. The resulting product, ethyl gasoline, was put on the market in 1922. At the same time, Kettering was working with Du Pont chemists to develop a quick-drying lacquer finish for motor vehicle bodies, thereby eliminating a troublesome source of delay in production.
In 1919 Kettering became head of the General Motors Research Corporation, an assignment designed to give greater scope and resources for his talents. It was in this capacity that he completed his work on antiknock gasoline and quick-drying finishes. He also tried to design an engine with an air-cooling system using copper fins on the cylinders over which air was blown by a fan. Some cars using this system were built in 1922 but were subsequently withdrawn, and the experiment was discontinued as impractical in the existing state of the art. A search for a non-toxic refrigerant had a happier outcome, the result being the fluorine compounds known as Freon.
During the 1930s Kettering was active in the refinement and improvement of the diesel engine. The specific steps involved using a two-cycle system, better fuel injection, and prevention of piston overheating. The result was the replacement of steam by diesel power on railroads and the use of diesel engines in trucks and buses.
His inventions, especially the electric automobile starter, made him wealthy. In 1945, he helped found what became the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, based on the premise that American industrial research techniques could be applied to cancer research.
Charles Franklin Kettering was probably one of the most influential engineers of all time. He invented the all-electric starting, ignition, and lighting system for automobiles. First incorporated in the 1912 Cadillac, all-electric starting aided in the growth of the U.S. auto industry by making the automobile easy for anyone to start. Other patents included a portable lighting system and an incubator for premature infants. His engine-driven generator was combined with storage batteries to form a "Delco Plant", providing electrical power for farmsteads and other locations far from the electrical power grid. Kettering also designed the "aerial torpedo", nicknamed the Kettering Bug. It is considered the first aerial missile, and lessons learned from the "Bug" led to the development of the first guided missiles, as well as radio-controlled drones. He developed the idea of Duco paint and helped develop diesel engines and ways to harness solar energy. He was a pioneer in the application of magnetism to medical diagnostic techniques.
He received many awards, including the Dewar Trophy for his self-starter (1913), the Franklin Medal (1936), the Hoover Medal (1955) and the IEEE Edison Medal (1958).
In 1998, GMI Engineering and Management Institute (formerly General Motors Institute), of Flint, Michigan, changed its name to Kettering University in honor of Kettering. His ideals, prowess, and belief in co-operative education continue there. Kettering is also remembered through the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a cancer research and treatment center in New York City, and through the Kettering Health Network, which includes several hospitals and medical center campuses as well as Kettering College in Kettering, Ohio.
The city of Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, was named after him when it was incorporated in 1955.
The former U.S. Army Air Service testing field, McCook Field, is now a Dayton park called Kettering Field.
Several U.S. public schools are named after him.
The Kettering Science center on the Ashland University campus in Ohio is named for him.
Kettering Hall at Wilmington College is named for him, also Kettering Hall of Science at Oberlin College.
Kettering encouraged and took an active interest in various fields of medical research, as well as basic research in photosynthesis and magnetism. He was not, however, a pure research scientist; his interest in photosynthesis and magnetism lay in a hope of finding new sources of energy for human use.
Quotations:
“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
“Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.”
“It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again.”
“An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.”
“The Wright brothers flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility.”
“Logic is an organized way to go wrong with confidence.”
“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
“Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.”
“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”
“I am not interested in the past. I am interested in the future, for that is where I expect to spend the rest of my life.”
“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”
“It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.”
“If you're doing something the same way you have been doing it for ten years, the chances are you are doing it wrong.”
“99 percent of success is built on failure.”
“My definition of an educated man is the fellow who knows the right thing to do at the time it has to be done. You can be sincere and still be stupid.”
At the Ohio State University Kettering was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He was a founder member of the Engineers Club of Dayton in 1914.
Kettering’s genius lay in his ability to adopt new methods and concepts in solving technical problems. He was a questioner with a fondness for challenging the apparently obvious: "Why is grass green?" "Have you ever been a piston in a diesel engine?" and other questions of that sort.
Physical Characteristics: Kettering had poor eyesight and often suffered from headaches when he was in school.
Kettering married Olive Williams of Ashland, Ohio, on August 1, 1905. Their only child, Eugene Williams Kettering, was born on April 20, 1908.
Kettering joined Winton Engine in 1930, which was acquired by General Motors and was eventually incorporated into the General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). He became a central figure in the development of the EMD 567 and the Detroit Diesel 6-71, serving at EMD until his retirement in 1960.
