If you had to name the auto industry’s single greatest advance, one leading candidate would have to be the 1912 Cadillac electric starter developed by Charles F. Kettering.

From 1920 to 1947, Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) was “Boss” Kettering, head of General Motors Research, where he led many of the automaker’s important advances. But how he rose to that position was largely on the strength of his 1912 innovation for Cadillac, the self starter. With his engineering background in cash registers, Kettering realized that with a short duty cycle, an electric motor could be small and light enough to crank an automobile engine, contrary to popular belief. With the stupendous success of his invention, both Kettering and his company,  the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (aka Delco) were acquired by GM in 1918, and with his shares in the automaker he became an extremely wealthy man.

With its bulky, rectangular case, Kettering’s original self-starter doesn’t look too familiar, but its operation is much the same as today. A two-pole, direct-current motor with gear reduction turns over the engine via a pinion driving a large ring gear on the flywheel, providing additional torque multiplication. But there was one important difference: the Delco starter was designed to operate as a DC generator as well, driven at the front by a shaft and chain. The generator (“dynamo” in the lingo of the day) not only charged the battery for starting but enabled electric lighting and accessories—another important advance. The acetylene lighting systems of the time were a cumbersome nuisance. (1913 Cadillac engine photos courtesy of The Henry Ford.) 

In the original Kettering design, the starter motor operated on 24 volts, while the charging and lighting systems operated at 6 volts, supported by a lead-acid battery package (12 cells in four cases of three cells each) and a rather complicated controller for voltage switching. This was soon simplified so the entire system could run on 6 volts. An ampere-hour meter allowed the driver to keep tabs on the current, while the starting motor was engaged by hand—or rather by foot, we should say, via the clutch pedal.

It would be difficult to overstate the electric starter’s impact on the industry. Starting an engine with a hand crank was one of the more difficult aspects of owning an early automobile, while the so-called self-starters that were offered before then (mostly Rube Goldberg setups powered by compressed air, acetylene, clock spring, etc.) were not reliable or practical. With the electric starter, now most anyone who could afford an automobile could easily operate one, too, greatly expanding the potential market. Among other things, Kettering’s starter nullified the electric vehicle’s most atttractive feature, and its appeal to women—no need for hand cranking.

Henry Leland of Cadillac was so sure of the self-starter’s value that it was immediately offered as standard equipment on all cars in 1912. Hudson, Cole, Oldsmobile, Oakland, and others quickly adopted the Delco starter, while similar systems from other suppliers soon arrived as well—for example, the North East starter-generator used by Dodge Brothers in 1915. Even Henry Ford, champion of the bare-bones, low-priced car, was eventually forced to offer an electric starter on the Model T starting in 1919, as standard equipment on closed cars and a $75 option on the rest.

1912 Cadillac Model 30 Touring