Today in Automotive History
1923 Leaded Gasoline Goes On Sale
Gasoline mixed with Tetraethyl lead was first sold to the public at a roadside gas station owned by Willard Talbott in Dayton, Ohio. Coined "ethyl gasoline" by Charles Kettering of General Motors, the blend was discovered by General Motors laboratory technician Thomas Midgley to beneficially alter the combustion rate of gasoline. Reportedly, in seven years of research and development General Motors labs tested at least 33,000 compounds for their propensity to reduce knocks. Leaded gasoline would fill the world's gas tanks until emissions concerns lead to the invention of unleaded gasoline.
Posted by Quality Weenie at February 2, 2005 08:12 AM