Automobiles -- Starting devices; Carillon Historical Park (Dayton, Ohio); Deeds, E. A. (Edward Andrew), 1874-1960
Chryst had succeeded Kettering in the NCR Inventions Division, but spent
every moment of his spare time at the barn. He was immensely proud of
his choice of the company name. As he worked about the barn he began to
refer to it as “Delco.” Soon Deeds, Kettering and the rest of the “Barn
Gang” took it up. In this way the name that became a household word came
into being.
Then trouble broke. Soon after the first ignition sets had been
delivered to Cadillac, Kettering received a telegram from Leland saying
that the controlling relays, the heart of the ignition system, were
sticking. “Come at once” was Leland’s command. Kettering was certain
that the specifications given to the Kellogg Company were accurate. He
went to Detroit, tried out the system, and sure enough the controlling
relays stuck. Leland had announced that the new ignition system would be
placed on his 1910 car. He prided himself on the integrity of his word.
It was up to the “hayloft wizard” to make good.
Kettering put the relays in his bag and took the midnight train back to
Dayton. The next twenty-four hours would be crucial for Delco. As sleep
evaded him he reached into his bag, got out one of the relays, and began
to feel the pole pieces and the armature. Then, in the darkness of his
upper berth, he discovered what was wrong. The Kellogg people had made
the pole pieces a trifle rounded instead of perfectly flat. Kettering
went straight to the barn from the railway station, machined the pole
pieces down, and returned to Detroit on the next train with one source
of trouble ended. Another anxiety developed when there was coil trouble.
Again Kettering dashed to Detroit and worked a miracle.
The spark ignition, with the slogan, “Nothing on the dashboard but the
switch,” went on the 1910 Cadillac and operated to the satisfaction of
every user. A new cycle of the Motor Age dawned. Delco was launched.
A trouble far more serious than mechanical anxieties now developed. In
his almost vicious assault on the barn problems, Kettering strained his
eyesight. It augmented a weakness that had started in his college days
when he burned the midnight oil. For a time it was feared that his
vision would be permanently impaired. Despite this handicap he stuck
resolutely to the job.
When the ignition contract was signed with Cadillac there were 308,930
automobiles and 6,030 trucks in the United States. These totals
represented a tremendous advance from the day when it was a debated
question as to whether the horseless carriage would be propelled by
steam, electricity, or gasoline. Gasoline had won out and the internal
combustion engine came into its own.
[Illustration: Another view of the hayloft workshop, W. A. Chryst
with back to camera.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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