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> Where did all of that wealth go?

According to "The secret history of lead" [1]:

> With a legal monopoly based on patents that would provide a royalty on practically every gallon of gasoline sold for the life of its patent, Ethyl promised to make GM shareholders–among whom the du Ponts, Alfred Sloan and Charles Kettering were the largest–very rich. (...) In April 1923, (...) the General Motors Chemical Company was established to produce TEL, with Charles Kettering as president and Thomas Midgley as vice president.

So it seems most of it went to GM, Du-Pont, and Standard Oil. As for who inherited his personal fortune, he had a wife and two children [2].

[1] https://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead/

[2] https://www.nndb.com/people/727/000205112/



Well, I suppose there was value for some people in these atrocious inventions.




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