Anonymous

“ In industrial production, as in so many other activities, large oaks from little acorns grow. The cash register and the electric self-starter are instances in point. The first factory of The National Cash Register Company under the presidency of John H. Patterson, was a room in the Callahan Power Building, forty feet wide and eighty feet long, with thirteen people on the payroll. From it emerged a business on which the sun never sets.
More humble in environment was the invention of the self-starter which had its birth in a barn. ”

“ Once on the 1912 Cadillac, every expectation was realized.
The experimental shop in the barn—the setting of so many headaches—now gave way to a factory. Quarters were rented on the second floor of the Beaver Power Building at the corner of Fourth and St. Clair Streets. Delco was now a full-fledged and going concern. The advent of the self-starter however required money and machinery. Deeds and Kettering had little of either. With implicit faith in the enterprise, they mortgaged their homes and borrowed money on their life insurance to raise the wherewithal for equipment. ”

“ Detroit is a rumor factory. If the work had been carried on there, the whole city would have known about it. It was therefore necessary to carry out the experiments in Dayton and in secrecy. Deeds turned the cows out of his barn and used it as a machine shop. All the machinery was installed at night and most of the work was done while Dayton slept. The secret was well kept. Deeds and Kettering improved the Hall engine and then took “Old Steve” to Toledo, where Leland gave it a drastic tryout. It stood up under every test, proving that the V-8 principle was right. ”

“ To this Deeds replied: “Just watch us grow.” And grow they did. The second Delco order to O. Lee Harrison was for 15,000 storage batteries, the largest placed up to that time. An enterprise that began in a barn with scant assets save the faith, energy, and inventive genius of the founders, had created an industry whose name carried weight wherever automobiles were made. ”

“ The Liberty engine, a milestone in the development of American aviation, is among the historic exhibits in Deeds Barn.
The Liberty Engine, one of the outstanding achievements of World War I, represents an engineering and manufacturing triumph that contributed much to man’s mastery of the air. ”

“ Deeds Barn is symbolic of one of the most important developments in the automotive field. It was here that the modern ignition system for automobiles and the self-starter were born and the foundation laid for one of Dayton’s most important industries. The barn itself and one of the 1912 Cadillac cars, first to be commercially equipped with a self-starter, represent this important invention. ”

“ If the self-starter had not been invented, the automobile would never have reached the place that it has in the lives of the people of this country. Continued dependence on the old hand crank as a means of starting would have been an almost unsurmountable handicap. It is also interesting to know that many of the cars which contribute to the stream of traffic on Patterson Boulevard are those of employees of NCR and of General Motors. Deeds and Kettering started their business careers with NCR and were responsible for bringing the first unit of General Motors to Dayton. ”

“ The Delco achievement stands as a thing apart in the development of American productive enterprise. It created a new industry, revolutionized the use of the automobile, and launched Deeds and Kettering on the road to wider and equally constructive fields. One became an outstanding industrial leader and builder; the other rose to be the greatest industrial scientist of his time.
The 40th anniversary of the invention of the starter found Kettering, Deeds and other members of the old “Barn Gang” previewing the displays in Deeds Barn. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If the starter did not reach Detroit in forty-eight hours, all was lost. Still the trouble persisted. Finally, late in the afternoon, Kettering sent an S.O.S. to Chryst who was still at the NCR. When he arrived at the barn all he could see of human life was legs protruding from under Kettering’s car which was now the guinea pig. The gang was completely exhausted after the long ordeal of heat, toil, and trouble. “You fellows rest awhile,” said Chryst, “I will try to find out what is wrong.” ”

“ That “something” on a motor car still clamored for development. Vaguely, Deeds saw it as an electric ignition system that would emancipate motorists from one of the tribulations of the early automobile era. The “Suburban Sixty” was equipped with an Atwater-Kent single spark battery ignition. It was efficient but complicated and expensive. Deeds envisaged improved ignition as another electrical possibility.
Kettering, whose very life was keyed to electricity, had been thinking along the same line. ”

“ This ambition pointed the way to what became the electric ignition, lighting, and starting system.
In order to put that “something” on a car it was necessary to have a car. Here is where the famous barn first entered the picture. Deeds lived at 319 Central Avenue in Dayton. Back of the house was a barn which housed a horse and phaeton. Deeds could easily have purchased an automobile had he wished. A purchased car, however, would not serve the purpose that clamored for action. That “something” could only be placed on an automobile that he literally knew from the ground up. ”

“ Electricity had turned the trick for ignition; Kettering was certain it could repeat the performance for a self-starter.
Kettering returned to Dayton and on the same train with him went a new Cadillac engine. Both were in the barn before day dawned. Deeds appeared to lend a hand. They rousted out an implement maker, got him to send over sprocket wheels and chains, and rigged a temporary set-up with motor and storage batteries. Now came the great question, “Can we do it electrically? Will it turn the engine over?” The “Barn Gang” worked all day, Deeds calm and imperturbable ”

“ Once more, Leland stepped into the Delco picture. Like every other automobile manufacturer, he had a grievance against the crank. One day he picked up his friend, Carter, while driving to the Cadillac plant. On the Belle Isle bridge the car stalled. Carter got out to crank it; the engine kicked back and broke his arm.
Leland sent for Kettering and told him of the Carter mishap. Then he said:
“The crank is vicious, turbulent and unruly. I am breaking arms all over the country and it’s got to stop. In the past six months six of my workmen have fractured their arms while cranking cars. ”

“ The story of the Liberty engine begins in 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. Air power, even then, had become a vital factor in military operations, and the hard-pressed Allies desperately needed a quantity-produced aircraft engine that would wrest control of the skies from the Central Powers. ”

“ The “Cincinnati” was built by the Harkness firm of Cincinnati, and was one of the most advanced locomotives of its day. Its honest functionalism, as evidenced by the businesslike cow-catcher and the monstrous stack designed to trap dangerous wood sparks, makes this type of locomotive, called an “American,” a favorite with railroad fans. ”

“ Delco needed thousands of batteries. In their dilemma a new ally came to their aid. He was O. Lee Harrison, salesman for the Electric Storage and Battery Company of Philadelphia, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the country.
He worked out of the Cleveland branch and while at Steubenville, Ohio he received this wire from the manager:
“We have a letter from the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company signed by a man named Kettering who wants to buy 5,000 storage batteries. Go down and see what he looks like.” ”

“ This relationship had an interesting and, so far as the automobile industry is concerned, an historic sequel. Although the episode did not transpire in the barn it was a direct result of all that happened there. As such it is well worth relating.
As Delco grew in prestige and prosperity Deeds and Kettering purchased between them a tract of beautiful rolling country just outside 16 Dayton. Each built a residence on his property. ”