3 things to know about Charles Kettering's world-changing invention

Charles F. Kettering, at the wheel and Bill Chryst, in passenger seat, test the Delco self starter system that Kettering invented in Dayton. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAYTON HISTORY

Charles F. Kettering, at the wheel and Bill Chryst, in passenger seat, test the Delco self starter system that Kettering invented in Dayton. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAYTON HISTORY

On Aug. 17, 1915, Charles Kettering received a patent for his automatic self-starter for automobiles - a major revolution in an industry that once demanded drives to crank their cars to life.

In celebration of that anniversary, and Kettering's lifetime of innovation, here are three things to know about that ground-breaking invention:

1. Kettering came to Dayton to work for NCR. That happened when he left Ohio State in 1904, and he became an experimental engineer.

2. He worked with a group on the self-starter in his own time. That group - known as the "Barn Gang," because they worked in a barn - included Col. Edward A. Deeds and other NCR employees

3. Their first customer was Cadillac. So, to do the job, they rented downtown space for the newly founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (later shortened to Delco).

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