Today is an important triple anniversary for the motoring industry.
Ralph R. Teetor, inventor of the cruise control, was born in Hagerstown, Indiana, on this day in 1890.
A mechanical engineer with a degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Teetor began working at the Light Inspection Car Company.
This family business eventually evolved
into the Perfect Circle Company, of which Teetor became president.
Teetor had a knack for invention and continued to work on new ideas after his retirement.
His accomplishments are even more remarkable because he was blinded at the age of 6, but never allowed his handicap to stand in the way of his dream of becoming an inventor.
Andrew McNally III, an executive with Rand McNally & Co, was born in Chicago on this day in 1909.
Rand McNally & Co is the oldest publisher of maps in the United States.
Apart from atlases, reference guides, and textbooks, Rand McNally also published the first road guide for cars.
At the turn of the century, many roads in America were unmarked and hard to follow, but the road map and highway system changed all that.
Charles F. Kettering, of Detroit, Michigan, patented the electric automobile self-starter on this day in 1915.
Kettering, along with Edward A. Deeds, founded Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company).
Kettering and his company invented a wide variety of improvements for cars. They included lighting and ignition systems, lacquer finishes, antilock fuels, and leaded petrol.
The Cadillac was the first car to use the electric starter.
Delco would later become a subsidiary of General Motors.
Before he started working on cars, Kettering invented the first electric cash register.
