Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23
1927 CARS SEEM PERFECTION,
BUT ENGINEER SEES ADVANCE
Charles F. Kettering Believes Research
Will Boost Efficiency of Automobiles
for Many Years to Come.

Motor lovers, glancing at the 1927
automobiles, are inclined to look upon
the new models as perfection itself.
They are7-relatively. That is, moth.
ing in the past ever has approached
them in alluring design or mechanical
efficiency.
1t Is impossible. however, to con-
vince the engineer that they repre-.
sent the ultimate. II one is willing to
take the word of Charles F. Kettering
as that of the automotive engineer in
general.
Mr.. Kettering, one of the best
known names in the engineering
world, Is proud of the automotive en-.
gineer's work, but he does not believe
that work is anywhere near finished
so long as the automobile utilities but
per cent of the energy that Is in the
fuel it burns. That, according to his
own word Is just where he stands on
the matter.
Mr. Kettering should know, accord.
ing to a writer in the New York Sun.
Ability Is Varied.
President of the General Motors Re-
search Corporation and a vice presi-
dent of General Motors itself, Mr.. ket
tering is a. mixture OF scientist, phil
osopher, farmer, orator, father. avi-
ator, preacher-that is, preacher of
the value and importance of research
for any business or for any non-ossi-
fed brain. First a school teacher.
then telephone man and next a cash
register expert. he ranks today as
one Of the greatest contributors to the
development of the American auto
mobile.
"Ket" is the lf,r1ade man who in
q dnUnlnnA6
the ignition system on the Liberty
motor. He directed the development
of the nitro-cellulose finish for motor
cars-an achievement ranked in i'm
portance with the invention of the
little machine that has saved the
wrists. backs and breath of millions
He worked on ethyl gas for motor
cars, but not for goats. He was and
Is moving spirit behind his com
pany's great proving ground for test
ing automobiles as they have never
been tested before. He is the man
who has this motto above his desk
Another advantage in telling the
truth Is that 1t is no trouble to re-
member what you said"
Big physically, big mentally and big
hearted President and Vice President
and Chairman kettering can take re-
search out of the test tube and labo-
ratory and entertain the layman with
it. He can tell you that the new Ger
man process for the liquefaction of
coal Is going to lower the price of the
gasoline you buy fer moving your car
or cleaning your coat. He can tell
you that synthetic wood alcohol
known as methanol, will kill you Just
as quickly as the other kind.
81 Per Cent Lost.
"This thing known as research is
not bunch of nuts stuck off in a
corner" says Kettering I'VE In our
research organization see what we
can do with the automobile to make 1t
serve better than ever before. We
work on perfectly definite problems.
Most folks. when they're driving
along the road in a car, don't realize
that they are getting just per cent
of the energy they should get-that
the other 81 per cent Is lost.
We'll, thinking about all this en-.
ergy that's wasted. we said to our
selves years ago, You got to do some
thing to increase the efficiency of fuel
for gasoline engines 1t took a long
while to work out something. In
tetra ethyl lead we found something
to help us. We knew that it was ex.
tremely poisonous, but we didn't
know that one.tenth of ! per cent put
in gasoline was. Even when the
other fellows said it was. we didn't
believe 1t. To prove that they We're
right they took lot Of goats, SHAY
their bellies and rubbed tetra-ethyl