Oliver K. Kelley

Kelley was born Olavi Koskenhovi in Salo, Finland, on June 28, 1904. He immigrated to the United States from Finland in 1921 at age 17 and changed his name to Oliver K. Kelley.https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/152851635/person/212025526206/facts {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}} He was educated at Chicago Technical College, where he received B.S. and M.E. degrees graduating in 1925. Kelley worked for Nash Motor, Milwaukee, as a draftsman. In 1929 Kelley began working for the G.M.C. Truck and Coach Division, where he worked on transmission problems, including air-shift synchromesh bus transmissions, hydraulic torque-converter bus transmissions, and infinitely variable friction drives. In June 1936, Kelley joined Earl A. Thompson's engineering group at the General Motors (GM) Engineering Department. This group combined a fluid coupling with a unique hydraulically controlled, automatically shifting four-speed planetary transmission, introduced as an option on 1940 Oldsmobiles as Hydra-Matic, the world's first mass-produced fully automatic transmission.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/ECL-147|title = ECL 147: Automatic Transmission Development|year = 1970}}

In 1957, after 17 years as head of the transmission group, Kelley became chief engineer at Buick Motor Division.{{cite web |url=http://archive.btpl.org/newsletters/1957/September%201957/Sep%205,%201957%20sectionD%205.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-07-24 |archive-date=2018-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033648/http://archive.btpl.org/newsletters/1957/September%201957/Sep%205,%201957%20sectionD%205.pdf |url-status=dead }} In 1960 Kelley went into GM's newly created Defense Systems Division as director of military vehicular systemshttp://wildaboutcarsonline.com/members/AardvarkPublisherAttachments/9980581700320/1962-02_MT_Buick_Engineering_1904-1962_Discussed_1-6.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}} In 1966–1967 Kelley was the E. S. executive assistant to the V.P.){{cite web|url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012028450.html|title = Kelley, Oliver K. - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies | Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)}}

Kelley Retired 1 Sept 1967{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/98898006/?terms=Oliver%2BK.%2BKelley |title=16 Aug 1967, Page 12 - Detroit Free Press at |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=1967-08-16 |accessdate=2022-06-05}} after 40 years with GM. Kelly died March 28, 1987{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/99567601/?terms=Oliver%2BK.%2BKelley |title=31 Mar 1987, Page 5 - Detroit Free Press at |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=1987-03-31 |accessdate=2022-06-05}} at the age of 82 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

In 1940, upon the departure of Earl A. Thompson, Kelley became the head of the GM transmission group{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/281019992/Ferndale-1918-1943-25-Years-of-Progress|title=Ferndale 1918-1943 25 Years of Progress | PDF | M 1 (Michigan Highway) | Forging}} where he was involved in developing, the Buick Dynaflow, Chevrolet Powerglide, Chevrolet Turboglide, and Buick Flight Pitch Dynaflow and Triple Turbine transmissions.

• Recipient of a Citation{{cite web|url=http://www.dvwd.org/earlthompson.html|title = Earl Thompson}} at the awarding of Earl A. Thompson with the Elmer A. Sperry Award in 1963 for his part in the design and development of the first successful automatic automobile transmission

Image:1953_Hydra-Matic_Transmission_Tag.jpg

• Kelley received over 82 U.S. and Canadian patents from 1929 - 1971 related to fluid couplings, torque converters, transmission designs, etc.{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Oliver+K+Kelley|title = Google Patents}}

1. 1937/1939 US Patent US2176138{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2176138|title = Combination fluid turbo clutch and variable speed gearing}} for Combination fluid turbo clutch and variable speed gearing
2. 1939/1940 US Patent US2211233 {{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2211233|title = Fluid flywheel gearing arrangement}} for Fluid flywheel gearing arrangement
3. 1941/1945 US Patent US2377696{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2377696|title = Transmission drive}} for Transmission drive

• Kelley also published several SAE Technical Documents on fluid couplings, torque converters, and planetary gear set design.

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Category:20th-century American engineers

Category:American automotive engineers

Category:General Motors people

Category:Torque converters

Category:1904 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:20th-century American inventors

Category:Finnish emigrants to the United States