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One
Man's Vision The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph
R. Teetor
One Man's Vision The Life of Automotive Pioneer
Ralph R. Teetor by Marjorie Teetor Meyer, 224 pages,
Guild Press of Indiana, $22.95
In December 1902, the New York Herald ran a story
about an engineering wunderkind who lived in Hagerstown,
Indiana. Twelve-year-old Ralph Teetor had designed
and built his own gasoline-powered automobile. He
also had built a generator to supply electricity
to his home and his neighbors'. |
Such feats in themselves were
remarkable, yet the newspaper feature somehow omitted
mentioning the most amazing fact of all, that Ralph
Teetor was totally blind. The reporter apparently
had failed to notice.
Anyone who knew Ralph Teetor would have forgiven
the oversight, for the boy, who lost his sight at
age five, functioned so well that he always enjoyed
the frequent opportunities to meet people who either
did not realize or did not believe that he could
not see.
Though Teeter is little known today outside of engineering
circles, he nevertheless ranks among the outstanding
automotive pioneers of the 20th century as an inventor,
company president and industry leader. His most
famous automotive invention was the Speedostat,
now known universally as cruise control, but Teetor
had other inventions as well. He designed and patented
one of the first automatic gear shifts. He built
an improved type of lawn mower and even designed
a "Suitfolder" suitcase to keep packed
clothing from wrinkling. He loved music and theater,
speedboats, auto racing, and fishing. He counted
among his friends and colleagues automotive leaders
such as car builder Fred Dusenberg and Charles Kettering
of General Motors.
The story of this remarkable man is told by his
daughter, Marjorie Teetor Meyer, in her book, One
Man's Vision: The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph
R. Teetor.
Teetor never used a cane. He devised his own system
for getting around. "He walked all about the
little town by himself," Meyer writes, "sensing
where he was by hearing the echo of his footsteps
change at the corner of a building, or by touching
a familiar bush, or just counting the steps it took
to walk from one landmark to another."
Teetor could visualize machinery by feeling it,
could tell what was wrong with an engine by listening,
and could judge small tolerances accurately simply
by feeling parts with his sensitive fingers.
Being blind, Teetor always rode with other drivers.
Some were smooth drivers. Others were not. One in
particular, his patent attorney Harry Lindsey, was
the jerkiest driver Teetor ever rode with. If it
had not been for Harry, Teetor always joked, he
might not have had his greatest idea--cruise control.
It took ten years of tinkering in his basement before
he applied in 1945 for a patent on the device, a
safety mechanism (as he saw it) that would allow
drivers to keep their eyes on the road and conserve
gas consumption. But it was not until 1958 that
the first auto company, Chrysler, started offering
it on their cars.
The best description of Teetor came from a correspondent
for the Rocky Mountain News, who met Teetor and
his wife on a European cruise and was compelled
to tell his readers of the experience.
"I would like you to meet Ralph R. Teetor,
one of the passengers on this cruise," he wrote.
"He has participated in all the shore trips--including
the two day one to Rome. He has enjoyed every minute
as much as any one and more than most, and it strikes
me he has seen more than the majority of the passengers.
"What makes this all so unusual is that the
world would call Teetor blind. I only wish I could
see as much with two good eyes as he does with none.
"I don't believe he missed a museum, a cathedral,
or a palace," the reporter continued. "And
I'd risk a small wager that he could describe them
better than any other one among us...."
Anyone seeking inspiration, regardless of whether
they can see, may benefit from reading about Teetor's
life. He was a man who not only rejected self-pity
but embraced with unbridled enthusiasm the enjoyment
of everything in life. |
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