1903: Clyde J. Coleman is issued a patent for an electric automobile starter.

Coleman originally applied for the patent in 1899, but his early designs proved impractical. The need for this kind of starter for an internal combustion engine was obvious. Automobiles were getting larger, and hand-cranking � the method used to get the pistons moving in order to make ignition possible � was not only cumbersome, but physically demanding and potentially injurious.

The hand cranks in use at the time were built with an overrun mechanism meant to disengage the crank from the spinning drive shaft, but it was designed to work in forward drive only. If the car backfired, the engine could slip into reverse, forcing the crank backward sharply. The result could be a broken thumb, or worse.

The electric starter motor, when perfected, meant the end of the hand-cranked automobile.

Coleman sold his patent to the Delco Company, which was taken over by General Motors. Charles Kettering, a Delco engineer who joined GM, did some tinkering with Coleman's design and received his own patent for an improved version. The 1912 model Cadillac became the first car to replace the hand crank with an electric starter motor.

Most automobile manufacturers switched over to the electric starter during the teens, although Ford's Model T continued using the hand crank through 1919. With the exception of those old Model T's, almost every American car on the road boasted an electric starter by 1920.

Source: GM, Wikipedia

Image: Cadillac touts its new electric starter in this advertisement.

Courtesy The Detroit Free Press/GM

This article first appeared on Wired.com Nov. 24, 2008.

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