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Legendary inventor Charles F. "Boss" Kettering’s electric self-starter eliminated the cumbersome and dangerous hand-crank and made automobile-driving convenient and appealing to a broad range of new consumers, including women. Developed by Kettering at his own small company, Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), it was first offered on the 1912 Cadillac and is still widely considered the most important automotive innovation of the twentieth century.