Delco Electronics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors.
The name Delco came from the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., founded in Dayton, Ohio by Charles Kettering and Edward A. Deeds. The "AC" often seen in front of the name are the initials of Albert Champion, a pioneer in the development of the spark plug. He made the change during his tenure at General Motors, after they took over Delco.
Delco was responsible for several innovations in automobile electric systems, including the first reliable battery ignition system and the first practical automobile self starter.
[edit] History
Initially Kettering and Deeds were co-workers at National Cash Register Company (along with Thomas J. Watson Sr., the future general manager of IBM). Kettering and Deeds had a lifelong professional relationship and friendship.
In 1904 Deeds hired Kettering at NCR to motorize the cash register.
In around 1908, Deeds asked for help with a car he was building from a kit. Working in one of Deeds' barns with spare-time help from William A. Chryst and other NCR friends, Kettering developed a high-energy spark ignition system to replace the weak-spark model supplied with the kit. Leaving NCR in 1909, Kettering focused on final development of this ignition set and demonstrations were favorably received. In 1909 when Henry Leland of Cadillac ordered 5,000 ignition sets, Deeds and Kettering formed the Dayton Engineering Laboratories company. The ignition system was introduced on the 1910 Cadillac.[1].
In 1911 Kettering invented and filed for U.S. Patent 1,150,523 for the first useful electric starter, adapted from a cash register motor.[1] The starters were first installed by Cadillac on production models in 1912.
In 1912, NCR company was found guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Deeds and 27 other NCR executives and managers were convicted for illegal anti-competitive sales practices and were sentenced to one year of imprisonment. Their convictions were unpopular with the public due to their efforts to help those affected by the Dayton, Ohio floods of 1913, but efforts to have them pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson were unsuccessful. However, their convictions were overturned on appeal in 1915 on the grounds important defense evidence should have been admitted.
In 1915 Deeds left NCR to devote himself full-time to Delco.
At the time, one of Kettering's widely-known inventions was the Delco-Light, a small internal combustion generator with battery intended to provide a source of electric ilumination and mechanical power to rural residents (mostly farmers) who were not yet connected to the nacent electrical grid system.[2]
The Delco brand name was associated with original production units of the company such as Delco Light, Delco Products, Delco Moraine and others.
In 1916 Deeds, Kettering, & Harold E. Talbott took over the Orville Wright Company renaming it the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company.
During World War I the Delco plant in Moraine, Ohio was expanded to manufacture the DeHavilland DH.4 bomber, the only American-built airplane to see action in World War I. More than 3,000 were built in Moraine for the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company. Delco was also one of those that produced the Liberty engine.
In 1919 United Motors Company (a predecessor of General Motors) acquired Delco, Dayton-Wright, and the Dayton Metal Products Company. [3]. All of these companies were associated with Charles Kettering, Edward A. Deeds, and Harold E. Talbott.
Kettering became vice president of General Motors Research Corporation in 1920. He held the position as head of research for General Motors for 27 years.
Delco merged with Remy Electric in 1926 to form Delco-Remy.
In 1936 Delco began producing the first dashboard-installed car radios. By the early 1970s Delco had become a major supplier of automotive electronics equipment. Based in Kokomo, Indiana, Delco Electronics employed more than 30,000 at its peak.
In 1962 GM created the General Motors Research Laboratories, based in Santa Barbara, California, to conduct research and development activities on defense systems. This organization was eventually merged into Delco Electronics and renamed Delco Systems Operations.
In 1985 General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft and merged it with Delco Electronics to form Hughes Electronics Corporation, an independent subsidiary. In 1997 all of the aerospace and defense businesses of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft and Delco Systems Operations) were merged with Raytheon, and the commercial portion of Delco Electronics was transferred to GM's Delphi Automotive Systems business. Delphi became a separate publicly-traded company in May 1999, and continued to use the Delco Electronics name for several of its subsidiaries through approximately 2004.
Although Delco Electronics no longer exists as an operating company, GM still retains rights to the Delco name and uses it for some of its subsidiaries including the ACDelco parts division.
[edit] References
- ^ Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)
