During the early 1900's, gasoline powered engines really came of age.  There were, however, oil seepage problems that were inherent to the design.  Oil would seep past the pistons into the firing chamber resulting in rough running, hard starting, and loss of power.

Mr. Doering, a farmer in Staten Island, New York, found that his tractor always seemed to have problems with misfiring cylinders or cylinders not firing at all as the day wore on.  In speaking  to his aquaintances, Mr. Doering found that this problem was widespread and not just limited to his tractor.  Each day he would re-tune the engine so it would start the next day.The problem was becoming very time consuming and costly as he constantly had to replace spark plugs.

In experimenting with his own tractor, Mr. Doering found that if he disconnected the spark plug wires and held them very close to the plug, the spark would bridge the gap resulting in more power to the engine.  Seeing the results of this, Mr. Doering would run his tractor with the spark to the engine.  As the engine would warm up, he would then connect the wire firmly to the plug.  Through his new system he found that his engine would run better for much longer periods and the plugs would not foul as often.

Mr. Doering tried his experiment on various engines with the same results.  At about this time an inventor named Mr. L. Anderson heard about Mr. Doering's invention and promplty formed a partnership with him.  In 1914 the A.L.Doering Spark Plug Company was formed.  Mr. Anderson's role in the company as mechanical engineer resulted in obtaining a U.S. Patent for the series gap spark intenisfying plug.  Many other patents followed.