Charles Kettering and Delco

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This page was last updated on May 4, 2026.

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(The focus of this page is the history of Charles Kettering and the Delco companies before and briefly after their affiliation with Frigidaire and it move into mechanical refrigeration for the transportation industry.)

Charles Kettering and Delco

Charles Kettering (1876–1958) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1904, he joined NCR, where he invented the electric cash register and earned 23 patents. Beginning in 1907, he worked nights and weekends with Edward Deeds and other NCR coworkers on automobile improvements, leading to his resignation from NCR and the founding of Delco in 1909.
Kettering’s most famous invention was the electric self-starter for automobiles, developed for Cadillac after a friend of Henry Leland died from a hand-crank injury. The starter was first installed in 1912 Cadillacs, patented in 1915, and became standard on most cars by 1920. Delco also produced the Delco Light Generator for rural electrification.
In 1916, Kettering sold Delco to United Motors Company for $2.5 million; two years later, United Motors was acquired by General Motors, making Delco the foundation of GM’s research arm and Delco Electronics. During World War I, Kettering helped found the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company and invented the “Bug,” the world’s first aerial missile, as well as retractable landing gear and autopilot. In 1920, he became vice-president and research director at General Motors, a post he held for 27 years.

(Read the Wikipedia article about Charles Kettering)

Charles Kettering was born on August 29, 1876, on a farm near Loudonville, Ohio. After graduating high school, he took classes at the College of Wooster and worked as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse before enrolling at The Ohio State University. He withdrew due to eye problems but later resumed his studies, graduating in 1904 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Immediately after graduation, Kettering was hired directly out of school to work at the research laboratory of the National Cash Register Company (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio. He invented the electric cash register in 1906 and was quickly promoted to head of research and development. During his five years at NCR (1904–1909), Kettering secured 23 patents for the company.

Beginning in 1907, his NCR colleague Edward A. Deeds convinced Kettering to develop improvements for the automobile. Deeds and Kettering invited other NCR engineers, including Harold E. Talbott, to join them nights and weekends in their tinkering at Deeds’s barn. Their first goal was to find a replacement for the magneto.

In 1909, Kettering resigned from NCR to work full-time on automotive developments, and the group incorporated as the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, or Delco.

The hand crank used to start early automobiles could kick back under some circumstances, causing serious injuries such as broken bones. After his friend Byron Carter died from complications of a hand-crank injury, Henry M. Leland, the head of Cadillac, became determined to develop an electric self-starting device. When Leland’s own engineers at Cadillac failed to produce a self-starter small enough to be practical, he consulted Kettering. Delco developed a practical model by February 1911. Leland ordered 12,000 self-starters for his 1912 Cadillac models, forcing Delco to transition from research and development to full-scale production. The self-starter was patented in 1915, and by 1920 the “Delco” starter was standard on most new cars.

Delco was also known for the Delco Light Generator, which revolutionized farm life by supplying electricity in rural areas where municipal power lines did not yet reach.

In 1916, Kettering sold his firm, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), to United Motors Company for $2.5 million (equivalent to nearly $60 million today). Delco was then sold to General Motors in 1918 as part of United Motors. Delco became the foundation for the General Motors Research Corporation and Delco Electronics.

In 1917, Kettering, Deeds, and other investors joined Orville Wright in the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, which manufactured planes for use in World War I. There, Kettering developed the “Bug,” a self-guided aerial torpedo considered to be the world’s first aerial missile. The small monoplane used twelve-foot cardboard wings and a 40-horsepower engine to carry a warhead to its target; however, the war ended before any Bugs could be deployed. Kettering’s other aviation inventions include retractable landing gear and autopilot.

In 1920, Kettering became vice-president (and director of research) of the General Motors Research Corporation, a position he held for 27 years.

Three Companies

What was the relationship of the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), the Delco-Light Company, and the Domestic Engineering Company. Did Charles Kettering control all three companies?

The three companies are directly linked in a clear line of succession. The first was the parent company, which created a division to start a new project. That division was then spun off into its own company, which later changed its name. Crucially, Charles Kettering did not have sole control over these companies; he was a co-founder of Delco who worked in partnership with Edward A. Deeds and other investors.

Here is a summary of the relationships and Kettering's role:

Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) - Founded in 1909 - Often called "Delco" for short - Co-founder (with Edward A. Deeds)
Domestic Engineering Company - Founded in 1916 - Formed to manufacture and sell the Delco-Light system, developed internally at Delco starting in 1913. This new company was the legal entity that produced and sold the "Delco-Light" product - Kettering was founder in 1916
Delco-Light Company - Founded in 1920 - A direct renaming of the Domestic Engineering Company. This was not a new, separate company, just the same business operating under a new name - Kettering was founder of the original company, which was renamed from Domestic Engineering to Delco-Light

The story begins with the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), which Kettering and Edward Deeds founded to design automotive electrical parts.

A few years later, Kettering saw the potential to bring electricity to rural America, which led to the creation of two entities in the same year.

The Delco-Light system (the product), was invented and developed at Delco beginning in 1913.
Domestic Engineering Company (the company), was created to manufacture and sell the Delco-Light product.
By 1920, the Domestic Engineering Company was renamed to the Delco-Light Company.

While Kettering was a driving force, he did not have absolute control. His role evolved as the business changed hands:

Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco): Kettering and Edward Deeds co-founded the company together, but they sold their interests in this venture relatively early.
In May 1916, Delco was sold for a reported $9 million and became a subsidiary of the United Motors Corporation.
Just two years later, in 1918, General Motors purchased United Motors Corporation, and with it, Delco.
The sale to United Motors included Kettering's Domestic Engineering Company as well.
Domestic Engineering Company / Delco-Light Company: Although Kettering founded the Domestic Engineering Company, the entire enterprise came under the control of United Motors and then GM through these acquisitions.

After the sale, Kettering's role shifted from being an independent owner to a top executive at GM. He accepted the position of head of the General Motors Research Corporation in 1920 and continued to lead it until his retirement in 1947. This demonstrates that his post-1916 leadership was as a corporate officer, not an independent controller.

Delco-Light

"The Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, of Dayton, O., better known as the Delco, have just recently put on the market an outfit composed of a gasoline engine and electric plant for use in farm, village and suburban homes. Owing to the fact that their present business of starting, lighting and ignition equipments for automobiles is so very large they have decided to establish a separate organization to handle the new product. The new company will be known as the Domestic Engineering Company, and will have its headquarters at the Delco plant. It was incorporated last week for $800,000. The officers of the new company are: E. A. Deeds, president; C. F. Kettering, vice-president; R. D. Funkhouser, secretary and treasurer, and H. Grant, general manager. The Delco is well known in the automobile industry, being the leading makers of high-grade electrical equipment for automobiles. Last year's output was more than 125,000 complete systems of starting, lighting and ignition, and the prospects are for an enormously increased business next year." (Indianapolis News, February 26, 1916)

Delco Light was the successor to the Domestic Engineering Company, which had been incorporated on February 12, 1916, with its base in Dayton. The company took over the Delco-brand light designs, assets and interests of the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), and would retain the same organization as the previous company. Charles F. Kettering was involved in the organization of the new Delco-Light company. (Cincinnati Enquirer, February 13, 1916)

From the Encyclopedia of North Carolina History.

Delco-Lights, invented in 1912 by C. F. Kettering in Kokomo, Indiana, were used by many North Carolinians before the federal government's efforts to electrify the rural South during the Great Depression. The Delco Light system consisted of a generator that ran on kerosene and was hooked to a series of batteries such as those found in a car. The system produced and stored 32 volts of current without the noise or nuisance of a constantly running generator.

The Domestic Engineering Co. of Dayton, Ohio, began producing Delco Lights in 1916, and by autumn 1919 Delco products were advertised for sale in the state in Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Oxford. These products, together with products from major competitors Kohler, Cooper-Hewitt, and Westinghouse, offered a reliable source of electric lighting and power. Luxuries enjoyed by city dwellers, such as late-night reading, sewing, or working by lamp light, became available to whomever could afford the Delco system.

The Delco system had drawbacks, however. The generator fuel was considered dangerous and poisonous if mishandled. To hold the electric charge, the batteries required a mixture of acid and water-a highly corrosive fluid containing lead that could contaminate the surrounding environment. Those who experienced the life-changing effects of Delco Lights regarded such risks as negligible, though, and the novelty of electric lighting in the countryside resonated in North Carolina. In the tiny Columbus County community of Pershing, a new high school was built with a Delco system installed. Patrons were so awed and proud of their school and its lights that in 1918 they changed the town's name to Delco.

Delco and Frigidaire

The company now known as Frigidaire began in 1916 as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Detroit, producing only 50 machines in its first year. After being sold to William C. Durant in 1918 and then to General Motors in 1919, the company was renamed Frigidaire Corporation. In 1920, operations were transferred to Delco-Light Company in Dayton, where, with the help of inventor Charles F. Kettering, the Frigidaire product was re-engineered for mass production.

By 1926 Frigidaire had far outpaced Delco-Light, leading to their separation. The Frigidaire company highlighted its innovations in metal cabinets, porcelain enamel, and commercial cooling equipment, as well as its emerging leadership in air conditioning.

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