26. The Man Who Kept His Eye on the Ball

Short Stories
of Science and Invention

A Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering

Weekly, from September 1942 to July 1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the radio broadcasts of the General Motors Symphony of the Air.

Kettering invented the first automobile self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory for General Motors.

These radio talks are a fascinating legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the war-time period in which they were written.

These web pages now preserve some of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks. (Reprint, March 1959)

26. The Man Who Kept His Eye on the Ball
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering

   Today - according to the magazines and papers - we are standing on the threshold of a new world - a world of new furniture, new houses, new clothes, new cars with transparent tops, helicopters and airplanes - all to be made largely of plastics. The writers about the plastic industry may be too optimistic, yet no doubt many products will be changed by these new materials. But, since people in general seem to be much interested in this apparently new development, it might be worth while, this afternoon, to review the story and see how the whole thing started.

    To do this we must go back 80 years. At that time, billiards was the game of the day. But the one thing that kept it from being even more popular was a shortage of ivory which, as you know, comes from elephant tusks. In addition to making billiard balls, ivory was much used as the facing for piano keys. The shortage was so serious that one of the leading makers of billiard balls in the United States offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to the man who could make an acceptable substitute.

    In Albany, New York, a young printer and inventor, John Wesley Hyatt, saw in this prize a chance of a lifetime. For three years, principally at night and on Sundays, he made billiard balls out of wood, paper, glue, and hundreds of other things.