{{Short description|American inventor (1890–1982)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Ralph Teetor | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Ralph Rowe Teetor | birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|08|17}} | birth_place = Hagerstown, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|02|15|1890|08|17}}<ref>{{cite news|title=RALPH R. TEETOR, 91, IS DEAD; INVENTOR LOST SIGHT AS YOUTH|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/18/obituaries/ralph-r-teetor-91-is-dead-inventor-lost-sight-as-youth.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 30, 2017|date=February 18, 1982}}</ref> | death_place = Richmond, Indiana, U.S. | other_names = | known_for = Cruise control | alma_mater = University of Pennsylvania | occupation = Engineer, inventor | spouse = {{marriage|Nellie Van Antwerp|1922}} | children = 1 }}
'''Ralph Teetor''' (August 17, 1890 – February 15, 1982) was a prolific inventor who invented cruise control. He was the longtime president of the automotive parts manufacturer The Perfect Circle Co. (acquired in 1963 by Dana Holding Corporation, then sold to Mahle GmbH in 2007) in Hagerstown, Indiana, a manufacturer of piston rings.
==Early life== Ralph Rowe Teetor was born on August 17, 1890, in Hagerstown, Indiana to John H. Teetor.<ref name="richmond">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76911872/community-to-remember-ralph-teetor-16-f/ |title=Community to remember Ralph Teetor |date=1982-02-16 |page=4 |newspaper=Palladium-Item |location=Richmond, IN |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref><ref name="marriage">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76914356/ralph-teetor-weds-nellie-van-antwerp-4/ |title=Ralph Teetor Weds Nellie Van Antwerp |date=1923-01-04 |page=4 |newspaper=Hagerstown Exponent |location=Hagerstown, IN |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref> Teetor injured his eye at the age of five with a knife.<ref name="hemmings">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/ralph-r-teetor |title=Ralph R. Teetor |last=Donnelly |first=Jim |date=July 2009 |work=Hemmings |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref><ref name="smithsonian">{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/sightless-visionary-who-invented-cruise-control-180968418/ |title=The Sightless Visionary Who Invented Cruise Control |last=Sears |first=David |date=2018-03-08 |work=Smithsonian |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref> Within a year, he developed sympathetic ophthalmia and became blind in both eyes.<ref name="smithsonian"/>
Teetor graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1908.<ref name="richmond"/> He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1912.<ref name="richmond"/><ref name=SAE>{{cite web|title=Ralph Teetor:A Biography|url=http://www.sae.org/news/awards/list/teetor/teetteet.htm|publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers International|access-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref><ref name=AHOF>{{cite web|title=Ralph Teetor|url=http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/inductee/ralph-teetor/134/|publisher=Automotive Hall of Fame|access-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref> He returned to the University of Pennsylvania and received a master's degree in engineering around 1930.<ref name="richmond"/>
==Career== ===Early career and World War I=== After college, he returned to Hagerstown and worked at the Teetor-Hartley Motor Company.<ref name="richmond"/> He remained with his family's company until they sold their motor division off in 1918.<ref name="richmond"/><ref name="hagerstown">{{Cite web |url=https://hagerstown.in.gov/history/ |title=History |website=hagerstown.in.gov |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref> In 1918, Teetor went to Camden, New Jersey to help the New York Shipbuilding Corporation balance turbine rotors on torpedo-boat destroyers in World War I.<ref name="richmond"/><ref name="indystar">{{Cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76914971/ |title=Celebrated inventor, industrialist Ralph R. Teetor dies at Richmond |date=1982-02-16 |page=28 |newspaper=Indianapolis Star |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref><ref name="smithsonian"/> Teetor's highly developed sense of touch proved helpful in developing a technique for balancing steam turbine rotors used in Navy torpedo-boat destroyers. Dynamic balancing of large components had puzzled others before Teetor solved the problem.{{citation needed |date=April 2021}}
===Perfect Circle Company=== After the war, he returned home. He designed a fluid-operated gearshift that he sold to Bendix in the 1920s.<ref name="hemmings"/><ref name="asc">{{Cite web |url=https://blog.americansafetycouncil.com/history-of-cruise-control-2/ |title=Ralph Teetor and the History of Cruise Control |website=americansafetycouncil.com |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref> In 1919, he began to work for the Piston Ring Company (later called the Perfect Circle Company), the successor to the Teetor family's piston rings manufacturing division of the Teetor-Hartley Motor Company.<ref name="richmond"/><ref name="indystar"/> From 1919 to 1946, he oversaw the engineering division as director and vice president.<ref name="indystar"/> He was president of the company from 1946 to 1957.<ref name="richmond"/><ref name="indystar"/> He remained on the board of directors until 1964.<ref name="indystar"/> Perfect Circle was sold to the Dana Corporation in 1963.<ref name="hagerstown"/>
===Cruise control=== Family lore suggests that Teetor was inspired to invent cruise control one day while riding with his family's lawyer, Harry Lindsay.<ref name="smithsonian"/> The lawyer would slow down while talking and speed up while listening.<ref name="NIHF" /> This rocking motion so annoyed Teetor that he was determined to invent a speed control device. In 1948, after ten years of tinkering, Ralph Teetor received his first patent on a speed control device.<ref>{{Cite patent|number=US2519859A|title=Speed control device for resisting operation of the accelerator|gdate=1950-08-22|invent1=Teetor|inventor1-first=Ralph R.|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2519859A/en}}</ref> Early names for his invention included "Controlmatic", "Touchomatic", "Pressomatic" and "Speedostat", with "Speedostat" becoming the trademark name.<ref name="asc"/> Teetor received a patent for the "Speedostat" on August 22, 1950.<ref name="smithsonian"/> The Perfect Circle device wasn't used commercially until Chrysler introduced it as a luxury model option called the "Auto Pilot" in 1958.<ref name="smithsonian"/><ref name="classiccars">{{Cite web |url=https://journal.classiccars.com/2020/10/15/who-was-ralph-teetor-and-why-is-he-in-the-automotive-hall-of-fame/ |title=Who was Ralph Teetor and why is he in the Automotive Hall of Fame? |last=Edsall |first=Larry |date=2020-10-15 |work=Classic Cars |access-date=2021-05-02}}</ref> Cadillac marketed the product as "Cruise Control" and the name stuck and became the common name for the invention.<ref name="smithsonian"/>
The throttle was controlled by a bi-directional screw drive electric motor, the two connected during use by an electromagnet. A 12v post would stay nearly centered between two throttle mounted electric contacts, one for turning the motor's screw for more throttle, the other for less. The floating post would "guide" the motor (and throttle and vehicle speed) with input from 1) sprung leveraged spinning weights driven from the transmission's speedometer cable, and 2) a counter-spring tension set by a cable from a dial near the steering wheel. This first-mass-marketed design was the industry standard for just over a decade (GM changed to vacuum-actuator/turn-signal-engage-button in 1969, though still a "Speedostat" product).{{citation needed |date=April 2021}}
===Other achievements=== [[File:Western Union - NARA - 534368.jpg|thumb|Telegram of appreciation to Perfect Circle Company employees for their contribution to the war effort, from Arnold Stratmeyer, Chief of Air Staff, 1942]] Teetor managed to live his life almost as if his accident had never happened, and went on to become successful as an engineer, manufacturing executive and entrepreneur. His other inventions included an early powered lawn mower, lock mechanisms, and holders for fishing rods.
In 1936, Teetor was elected as president of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).<ref name=SAE/> In 1963, he endowed the SAE's Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award which is awarded annually to stimulate "contacts between younger engineering educators and practicing engineers in industry and government."<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award|url=http://awards.sae.org/teetor/|publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers International|access-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref>
In 1965, Teetor received two honorary degrees, Doctor of Engineering at the Indiana Institute of Technology and Doctor of Laws at Earlham College, Indiana. He was also made a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.<ref>See p.214 in {{cite book|last=Teetor Meyer|first=Marjorie|title=One Man's Vision: The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor|year=2011|publisher=Self-published|isbn=978-1-87820-867-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onemansvisionlif00meye/page/224 224]|url=https://archive.org/details/onemansvisionlif00meye/page/224}}</ref> The planetarium and one of the residence houses at Earlham College are named in Teetor's honor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Teetor Planetarium|url=http://www.earlham.edu/joseph-moore-museum/plan-a-visit/ralph-teetor-planetarium/|publisher=Earlham College|access-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cultural Theme Houses|url=http://www.earlham.edu/multicultural-affairs/cultural-theme-houses/|publisher=Earlham College|access-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref>
In 1988, Teetor was posthumously inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan, for his numerous contributions to the automotive industry.<ref name=AHOF/> In 2024 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his cruise control efforts, improving safety and fuel efficiency.<ref name="NIHF">{{cite web |title=NIHF Ralph Teetor invented Cruise Control |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/ralph-teetor |website=www.invent.org |publisher=National Inventors Hall of Fame |access-date=30 March 2025 |date=2024}}</ref>
==Personal life== Teetor married Nellie Van Antwerp of Huntington, Indiana on December 30, 1922.<ref name="marriage"/> Together, they had one daughter, Marjorie.<ref name="richmond"/>
Charles N. Teetor, the inventor of a railway inspection car, was Teetor's uncle.<ref name="hagerstown"/>
==Death== Teetor died on February 15, 1982, at Reid Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Indiana.<ref name="richmond"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|last=Teetor Meyer|first=Marjorie|title=One Man's Vision: The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor|year=2011|publisher=Self-published|isbn=978-1-87820-867-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onemansvisionlif00meye/page/224 224]|url=https://archive.org/details/onemansvisionlif00meye/page/224}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20051104031820/http://www.cruise-in.com/resource/cismar08.htm Bio] *[http://www.waynet.org/waynet/spotlight/2003/030521-perfectcircle.htm History of the Perfect Circle Corporation] *[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847646,00.html Time magazine | Science: I see]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Teetor, Ralph}} Category:1890 births Category:1982 deaths Category:American blind people Category:People from Hagerstown, Indiana Category:University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Category:20th-century American inventors Category:American automotive engineers