Slide 1

Slide 2

Boss Ket The Life and Work of Charles F. Kettering By Terry GeerDecember, 4 th 2009

Slide 3

Early Life Born on August 29, 1876 The same year: Telephone invented U.S. Centennial He grew up on a farm in Loudonville, OH. His family was poor but he did not realize it. He liked his life and saw it as an opportunity.

Slide 4

Born to Build He took apart and rebuilt his mothers sewing machine when he was eight years old. When he finished rebuilding it, it worked better than when it was new. He wanted to go to college more than anything. He needed to know, How? and, Why? He enjoyed taking things apart to figure out how they worked.

Slide 5

Inventors love to ask Why? He wanted to know why grass was green. He wanted to know why certain flowers bloom earlier than the rest. He wanted to know why we can see through glass. If you told him, Glass is transparent, he would ask, but why is it that way? How does it work?

Slide 6

What do you think he did after he graduated high school?

Slide 7

Teenage Teacher After graduation he began teaching at the Bunker Hill Community Schoolhouse before going to college! He wanted to save money to go to college. Although he was barely older than his students, they respected him. He inspired many students to improve their grades through his teaching.

Slide 8

Eyes on College He went to the College of Wooster in 1896. His eyes were weak. His poor vision began to cause terrible headaches. The headaches made it too hard to read anything. He was forced to drop out of school to let his eyes heal. He returned to teaching for another two years.

Slide 9

O-H-I-O!!! Charles returned to college but not the College of Wooster. Charles went to Ohio State University instead. (Go Buckeyes!) He decided to study electrical engineering. After a little more than a year, the headaches returned. He had to leave college again

Slide 10

On the line Charles took a job digging holes for telephone poles in 1900. The phone company noticed his skills. They asked him to make improvements to the phone lines. He fell in love with a woman he met on the phone during a phone line repair.

Slide 11

What did Charles Do Next?

Slide 12

A.) Stay at the phone company and save money to get married? C.) Return to the family farm to lead a simpler life. B.) Go back to college again even though he could barely read the text books. Charles Kettering had strong feelings about failure

Slide 13

The only time you dont want to fail is the last time you try. -Charles Kettering

Slide 14

Third times a charm! He returned to OSU in 1901. He had classmates read his textbooks to him to avoid straining his eyes. He worked for the phone company every summer until he graduated in 1904. A professor convinced him to take a job in Dayton, Ohio after he graduated.

Slide 15

National Cash Register The job he took was at National Cash Register in Dayton, OH. His first challenge at NCR was to create the first electric cash register. The old registers used a lever that made peoples arms tired. Most people believed a motor any smaller than the register itself could not do the job.

Slide 16

Charles proved them wrong. Most people believed that a small motor would quickly overheat and wear out.

Slide 17

National Cash Register cont. Charles disagreed. The motor had time to rest and cool since it wasnt always running. He later used a similar idea on one of his auto inventions. He was highly respected by most people that worked for him, just like his students had been.

Slide 18

At NCR he was given a nickname.

Slide 19

Did you catch it at the beginning of the slideshow?

Slide 20

Correct Answer: BOSS KET

Slide 21

Wedding Bells and Automobiles. Charles married his wife Olive on August 1, 1905. While waiting for the train to go on their honeymoon, they saw a man having car trouble. In 1905 cars were still a new invention. Charles fixed the car, and the man took the newlyweds for their first car ride ever as a way to say thank-you!

Slide 22

The Barn Gang Charles and a friend at NCR named Edward Deeds wanted to improve automobiles. Deeds Barn They started designing a new ignition system in Deeds barn during their spare time. As others joined, they started calling themselves the Barn Gang.

Slide 23

Their new ignition system increased auto performance by: Minimizing Stall-outs Increasing battery life ten fold. DELCO (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) Kets original sketch of the ignition They sold the idea to Cadillac Motor Company. Cadillac ordered 8,000 units. They didnt even have a company name so they named it DELCO.

Slide 24

That Stubborn Old Crank Early automobiles were started by turning a crank. Women didnt drive because it was too difficult to start a car. Click here to see why. Click here to see why. Many people were being injured by backfiring cranks. Broken arms were becoming common. One man even died from his cranking injuries!

Slide 25

Henry Leland, the president of Cadillac, knew the man who was killed by the faulty crank. Close to Home The man had stopped to help a stranded woman start one of Lelands Cadillacs. Leland didnt want anyone else getting hurt by his cars, so he asked Ket to invent a self starting engine. Henry Leland The crank broke the mans jaw. He died from an infection caused by the injury.

Slide 26

The price of progress Ket built the first self starter in the barn but it was bigger than the whole car! is trouble. Charles remembered his days at NCR. If the starter were used in short bursts it would have time to cool, like the cash register motor!

Slide 27

THE BARN GANG DID IT! They successfully installed the first working self starter in Kets car on Christmas Eve, 1910. There was only one problem It fit into Kets Roadster but not the 1912 test model sent to them four days later!

Slide 28

One step forward, two steps back The designers at Cadillac didnt leave any space to put the starter in. They had less than two months to start over and shrink it further. In the last five days, the Barn Gang kept themselves awake with coffee and worked 24-hour shifts to meet a February 17 th deadline.

Slide 29

Down to the wireliterally. Early on the last day they tested their final product and it didnt work. Charles and his Auto Self-Starter They were all so tired that none of them could think clear enough to fix it. They called an old friend at NCR to take a fresh look. He fixed some bad wiring and the car started perfectly.

Slide 30

Charles left immediately to catch the last train to Detroit with Cadillacs first self-starting car in tow. Click here to see the 1912 Cadillac

Slide 31

The Effect of Ketterings Electronic Self-Starter The company grew from 12 to 1,200 employees in only 18 months. Women were then able to drive comfortably and safely. Starting a car became safer and more reliable for everyone. The Self-Starter Engine also acted as a generator while the main engine was on. Power to keep engine running Power to use electronic bulbs instead of acetylene lamps

Slide 32

Whos the Boss? People called him Boss, but one of his favorite mottos was, Let the problem be the Boss. He didnt care what people thought the rules were. He would say, We think we are further along the path of knowledge than we actually are. He didnt care for experts much. He said, if you show a new problem to an expert, Hell be too educated to solve it.

Slide 33

His home, Ridgeleigh Terrace, was the first home to have air conditioning. He invented a gas powered generator for farm families to provide electricity in hard-to- reach places. He produced the first lightweight diesel engine. His work with diesel helped improve the railroad business. Other Inventions Ridgeleigh Terrace

Slide 34

Other Achievements After selling DELCO to GM, Charles was Vice President of General Motors Research Corp for 31 years. Van Buren township, the site of Ridgeleigh Terrace, was renamed the Village of Kettering in 1952. The General Motors Institute was renamed Kettering University in 1998. Boss Kettering lost his wife, Olive, and two sisters to Cancer. He and G.M. President Alfred Sloan started the Sloan- Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.

Slide 35

Other Achievements cont. He developed hundreds of patents and was granted more than three dozen honorary doctors degrees He had one son, Eugene Kettering, who was also a skilled engineer He was given flying instructions by The Wright brothers in 1912. He loved to fly In 1916 Kettering, Edward Deeds and Orville Wright built the first airfield opened within the limits of a city Later on, Ket helped organize Dayton Wright Airplane Co. to fuel his passion for aviation research

Slide 36

The same till the end Charles Kettering rarely worried about the past since the future is, Where (he) had to spend the rest of (his) life. He was still trying to find out why grass was green when he suffered multiple Strokes and died in 1958. He didnt think of his research as him Having a job. In the end, the job had him. Thats just the way he liked it.

Slide 37

Review

Slide 38

How was he looked at by the people who worked with him? He was admired and respected

Slide 39

How did Boss Ket meet his wife Olive? He spoke to her on the phone while repairing a phone line.

Slide 40

Why was it necessary to create the automatic starter? People were getting injured by difficult hand cranks.

Slide 41

Which group of people were given the opportunity to drive because of his electric starter? Females! They no longer had to worry about turning an annoying crank.

Slide 42

How many times did Charles Kettering attend college before he actually completed it. It took him three tries.

Slide 43

With such poor eyes, what did Ket have to do to complete his assignments at OSU? He had his friends read him the lessons aloud.

Slide 44

Works Cited Volti, Rudi. "Electric Starter." The Facts On File Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society. New York: Facts On File, Inc. 1999. Science Online. Facts On FileInc. 12, November 2009. Cho, Dan "A Good Start." Technology Review 107.8 (2004): 92. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. Hall of Fame/Inventor Profile: Charles Franklin Kettering. National Inventors Hall of Fame Website, 2002. Web. 13 November, 2009 Charles F. Kettering, 1876-1958. IEEE Website (Biographies), 2009. Web. 13 November, 2009. Scharchburg, Richard P. Kettering University Website. Kettering University, 2009. Web. 13 November, 2009 McPherson Young, Rosamond. Boss Ket: ALife of Charles F. Kettering. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1961. Print.

Slide 45

Works Cited cont. Lavine, Sigmund. Kettering: Master Inventor. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1961. Print Boyd, T.A. Prophet of Progress. Selections from the Speeches of Charles F. Kettering. New York: E.P. Dutton and CO. Inc., 1961. Print Bernstein, Mark. Grand Eccentrics. Turning the Cuntury: Dayton and the Inventing of America. Wilmington, OH: Orange Frazer Press, 1996. Print Zehnpfenning, Gladys. Charles F. Kettering: Inventor and Idealist. Minneapolis: Denison, 1962. Print Mieth, Hansel. Life Conference at Ann Arbor. 1939. LIFE. Web. 13, November 2009. Clip Art. Sewing Machine. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009

Slide 46

Works Cited cont. Weber, Paul. Does Grass Hold Secret of Hidden Power? Modern Mechanix. May 1935. Web. 13, Nov 2009 Clip Art. Apple, Books, Chair. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Clip Art. Glasses. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Clip Art. Phone Line. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Clip Art. Coffee. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Clip Art. Cap and Books. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Clip Art. Wedding. Microsoft Office. 13, November 2009 Ohio State University. Flag Wallpaper. 2009. Web. 13, November 2009 Martel, Mark. Antique Cash Register. 2009. Web. 13, November 2009

Slide 47

Works Cited cont. Engineers Club of Dayton. Barn Gang. 1912. Web. 13, November 2009. Kettering, Charles. Patent Sketch. January 1908. Web. 13, November 2009 Unknown Photographer. Crank Motor. 1999. Web. 13, Nov 2009 Engineers Club. Self Starter. 1914. Web. 13, November 2009 Kettering University. Solar Lab. 2009. Web, November 2009 Ketteringoh.org. Ridgeleigh Terrace. 2009. Web. 13, Nov 2009 Detroit News Online. Henry Leland. 2009. Web. 4, Dec 2009 Clip Art. Balloons. Microsoft Office. 4, Dec 2009 Clip Art. Train. Microsoft Office. 4, Dec 2009

Slide 48

Works Cited cont. University of Dayton. Dayron_Map_Ohio. 1992. Web. 13, November 2009