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Charles Franklin Kettering (29 August, 1876–25 November, 1958) is inventor of the electrical ignition system. The electric driven generator is also the holder of 186 different patents. Kettering graduated from Ohio State University as an engineer and joined the National Cash Register Company; in 1909, he left NCR and set up the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, with businessman Edward A. Deeds, where he invented his most significant engine devices. Kettering’s engine-driven generator  provided electricity on millions of farms.
In 1916, Kettering sold his company to General Motors. At G.M. as a head of research, he set up and directed a central research laboratory and stayed for 31 years, until his retirement in 1947. He helped develop the lightweight diesel engine that made possible the diesel locomotive, the refrigerant Freon, four-wheel brakes and such other items. It was the greatest honour to Charles Franklin Kettering, when General Motors Institute was renamed Kettering University in 1998.