Ethyl: A History of the Corporation and the People Who Made It

An excellent history of one of Virginia's premier corporations from pre Civil War days to the 1980s.

Ethyl: A History of the Corporation and the People who Made It, by Joseph C. Robert, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 1983. This 448 p. paperback tells the complex story of Ethyl Corporation. Ethyl was the producer of tetraethyllead, the gasoline additive, invented by Charles Kettering in Dayton Research Laboratories, and originally developed by Dupont and General Motors (and Standard Oil of New Jersey). In 1961 when it came time to sell, Albemarle Paper Co. of Virginia bought the business and changed its name to Ethyl Corporation. The book follows the story of tetraethyl lead from birth to death. When leaded gasoline ended, Ethyl changed its names back to Albemarle. Albemarle Paper Company was founded in Richmond, VA in 1887. The company prospered, but was conservatively managed. Expansion began under Floyd Gottwald, who became president in 1941. First contact with Ethyl Corporation was initiated in 1958 because of Albermarle's interest in polyethylene for packaging. The executives involved found themselves compatible and of like mind. Albemarle soon undertook acquisition of Ethyl, a company five times their size, a case of Jonah swallowing the whale. Ethyl Gasoline Corporation was founded in 1924 to manufacture tetraethyl lead, which had been discovered by Charles Kettering in his Dayton Research Laboratories. The Kettering story here is abbreviated. He was one of the most prolific inventors of the 20th Century, often compared to Thomas Edison. He was born in Loudonville, OH, and studied electrical engineering at Ohio State University. He worked for National Cash Register Company, where short duty electric motors was developed to power electric cash registers. In 1912, he used the same concept in the auto electric starter for the Cadillac. Engine knock was blamed on the electric starter provoking his interest. He had developed the Dayton Light Engine to generate power for farm lighting systems. Fire regulations required that it be designed to run on less flammable kerosene, but that resulted in engine knock-requiring the engine compression be reduced with a corresponding reduction in power. The search for a suitable antiknock compound is told in detail. Iodine was the first discovered antiknock compound. It was soon followed by aniline and compounds of selenium, tellurium, and tin. Eventually materials lower in the periodic table were found more effective, suggesting lead as a promising candidate. When tested tetraethyllead was far more active than any previous material. The critical test was run on Dec 9, 1921. The discovery was presented to the Society of Automotive Engineers in June, 1922, and to the American Chemical Society in September. Thomas Midgley and Thomas Boyd were the authors. Many details of the Kettering story seem to have been omitted. His Dayton Research Laboratories eventually became Dayton Electric and then Delco division of GM. Apparently he continued as head of the TEL busines