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Ohio inventions and firsts · Invention · 1921-1928

Tetraethyl lead gasoline and Freon refrigerants

In December 1921 Thomas Midgley Jr. at General Motors' Dayton Research Laboratories found that tetraethyllead stopped engine knock; in the late 1920s he and Albert Henne at GM's Frigidaire division made the first chlorofluorocarbon, dichlorodifluoromethane (Freon).

At a glance

Year
1921-1928
By
Thomas Midgley Jr.
Company
General Motors Research / Frigidaire
Place
Dayton, Montgomery County ZIP 45402 · Dayton · Montgomery County

The story

Early car engines suffered from knock, a harmful pinging that wasted power and could damage the engine. Charles Kettering and his research team at Dayton wanted a fuel additive that would stop it.

Thomas Midgley Jr., working at the Dayton Research Laboratories, found in December 1921 that adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline prevented knock. Ethanol could also stop knock, but could not be patented, while tetraethyl lead could, so Kettering and his partners patented it and promoted it. General Motors and Standard Oil formed the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation in 1924.

The same team later looked for a safe refrigerant. Working with Albert Henne at General Motors' Frigidaire division, Midgley helped develop dichlorodifluoromethane, the first chlorofluorocarbon, sold as Freon. It was meant to replace toxic refrigerants such as ammonia and sulfur dioxide.

Both products later turned out to be harmful. At the New Jersey plant that made tetraethyl lead, the first two months brought many cases of lead poisoning, hallucinations and five deaths. Leaded gasoline was banned in the United States in 1996, and CFCs were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol because they damage the ozone layer. Midgley himself suffered lead poisoning and died in 1944.

Timeline

  • 1921-12: Midgley finds that tetraethyl lead stops engine knock. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1923: Kettering becomes first president of the Ethyl Corporation. source
  • 1924: General Motors and Standard Oil form the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation; Bayway plant sees lead poisoning and five deaths. (New Jersey) source
  • 1928-1930: Midgley and Henne develop Freon (the first CFC) at Frigidaire. source
  • 1944: Midgley dies. source
  • 1987: CFCs are phased out under the Montreal Protocol. source
  • 1996: Leaded gasoline is banned in the United States. (United States) source

What it changed

  • Leaded gasoline was used for about 75 years before the 1996 U.S. ban, according to the dates above (1921 discovery, 1996 ban).
  • Freon replaced toxic refrigerants like ammonia in home refrigeration.
  • CFCs were phased out worldwide under the Montreal Protocol (1987).

Why it matters

Hugely commercial inventions later found to cause lead pollution and ozone depletion.

Worth knowing

Freon is attributed to the Frigidaire division, and the source used here does not place that work in Dayton.

Places in Ohio to see

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.