> What the heck is a "delco light plant"?
Roy,
 Old Man Kettering, who invented the electric starter for automobiles (or at 
least developed it into something practical), started a company called 
"Dayton Electric Company" or "DelCo" for short. His mother lived on a farm 
that didn't have electricity, so he developed the DelCo Light Plant. A D.L.P. 
was an engine/generator combination, using a 2-stroke engine and a DC 
generator direct-coupled to the engine. They came in various configurations, 
ranging up to 120 Volts if I recollect; more common were the 24 and 36 Volt 
units. I think that some had automatic voltage sensors and would use the 
generator to start the engine when the batteries became low. This was fairly 
sophisticated stuff for the farms of the '20's and '30's. My mother's stepdad 
had a DelCo Light Plant or equivilant, and she told me that he'd have to go 
out and start it if her Mother was going to iron clothes.
You'll still see DelCo Light Plants at the antique engine meets. Along with 
the Maytag engines, used to run Maytag clothes washers. Little 2-stroke 
kick-start jobs that hung under a typical wringer washer. I'll bet that 
Grandma was real glad to get factory electricity to the farm!
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