It's highly unlikely that if you are an enthusiast of the RAM lineup or truck engineering that you haven't at the very least heart the name Cummins Turbo Diesel.
These innovative and highly-optimized engines have long been a highlight in an industry that strives for quality engineering that offer drivers truly impressive capabilities. The story behind the Cummins Turbo Diesel is one that follows, in parallel, the story of the automotive industry itself. Clessie Cummins , to whom the company owes both its name and success, was a mechanic from Indiana that focused on refining and optimizing the engine invented by Rudolf Diesel at the turn of the century and would eventually release the first commercial model in Originally used on railroad switchers, the events of the Second World War and the road building boom that followed it helped the Cummins name spread and its position of authority to gain the recognition that continues well into modern times.
In the '50s, the Cummins engines had taken up such an aggressive position in the market that more than half the heavy duty trucks on the road at the time were using various models of the Cummins engine. Focusing their sights on the mid-range, heavy-duty, and high-horsepower engine segments allowed Cummins to, effectively, monopolize their space and act as both the major player and the major innovator. The first real consumer model of the Cummins is often regarded albeit incorrectly as there have been numerous models available throughout the manufacturing history as the 5.
This was punctuated, some years later, by an additional 6. Hvid Company on tour in the United States. Cummins and Irwin were impressed with the new technology only invented 19 years earlier by Rudolf Diesel and sought a way to distribute Hvid engines to customers in America.
After traveling to the Netherlands, Irwin and Cummins were awarded a license to sell Hvid engines in the United States. Cummins produced a re-designed 8 hp Hvid engine with his own improvements. The company made enough money to cover the costs of operations. By Cummins had successfully secured 2 out of 33 submitted patents for improved fuel efficiency and manifold technology for the licensed Hvid engines.
Cummins Factory - Cummins Engine History Timeline By Cummins applied his new designs to his own Model F engine which was entirely designed on his own accord, thus ending the partnership with R. Hvid Company. Initially, business was booming for the new company.
They purchased the engines, used them for a single season, and then returned them for a refund. Engines were run at full load without regard for safety or maintenance.
It is said that the first limited engine warranty was born from these early trials and tribulations to protect manufactures from reckless consumers. Cummins Diesel Powered Packard - Cummins Engine History Timeline Cummins realized that industrial application engines were not the best route for the growing business considering the wear farmers did to their engines.
Dirt, mud and foliage particulate matter often clogged the engines, which were at the time often exposed to the elements on makeshift plows. Cummins was convinced the future of diesel engines was in over-the-road trucks and cars. To demonstrate the efficiency of diesel to the general public he installed one of his diesel engines in his Packard and drove from Indiana to New York. The event was not publicized but Cummins had in his mind to present the car at the New York Auto Show at the end of his journey.
The diesel engine averaged 26 miles per gallon which is an amazing feat which is still quite impressive today. When Cummins got to New York he was turned away from the auto show as he was not a registered exhibitor.
However, Cummins was determined to show the public his invention and he once again tried to display his car at the nearby Atlantic City Auto Show only to be turned away.
Cummins had a brilliant idea to rent the empty space across the street from the convention center. His perseverance paid off and it turned out his exhibit ended up being more of a major attraction than most of the cars at the actual auto show. Even though the country was in the midst of a Great Depression, Cummins had already decided to go ahead and market a strictly over the road diesel engine for the consumer market prior to The orders from his Model U engines poured in after his first auto show appearance.
However, Cummins had not anticipated the demand. The engine guzzled oil and he had made no provisions for an assembly line process in his factory back in Indiana. This first consumer diesel engine would be known as the Model U. Model U Cummins engine history is a bit blurry today but there are still a few left in the world which actually still work. First he had to prove his diesel engine was every bit economical and could compete with gasoline engines which were in the majority of automobiles.
A lot of interest in diesel dried up when the stock market crashed in but Irwin continue to support the company to stave off bankruptcy. In fact, many of his engines were used in luxury yachts and marine applications. However, after the depression set in all of that luxury market disappeared. William Irwin just so happened to own a controlling interest in Purity Supreme Supermarkets in California.
Cummins convinced Irwin to install his diesel engines in his fleet of trucks used to transport food goods from the warehouses to the stores. It was the perfect fit for the two companies. The diesel engines performed better on the steep mountain roads, were less prone to maintenance issues than gasoline engines are were more fuel efficient. The word spread about the benefits of using diesel engines in heavy duty trucks and the over-the-road truck industry was born.
Cummins would become synonymous with truck engines from that point on. Truck engines would keep the company going but Cummins still had his sights for something bigger. He envisioned diesel engines in every car in America. That dream would never fully take off; it took a while but the majority of Cummins' customer base would be involved in the trucking industry vs. Cummins Test Bus - s Cummins Engine History Timeline Cummins was determined to keep moving forward and in he staged a smaller road trip to Daytona Beach, Florida to meet up with famed British racer Kaye Don who was attempting to set a new land speed record.
He got 40 miles per gallon with a top speed of The reporters were amazed with the efficiency of the engine and the wire reports went out all over the world. Cummins was gaining traction despite tough economic times. The second great exhibition Cummins staged happened in where he drove from New York to Los Angeles. Unlike the first road trip Cummins embarked upon a year earlier, this one was high publicized. The journey was made in a Marion Truck outfitted with a Model U engine.
The trip would cover over 3, miles over a network of dirt roads and poorly paved thoroughfares. Cummins managed to complete the journey in only 97 hours; more than 25 years before the construction of the national interstate highway system instituted by President Eisenhower. The success of the second exhibition led to some notoriety nationally for Cummins. He followed his success with another cross country trip however this time with a bus.
That journey from, New York to Los Angeles, took 91 hours and achieved top speeds of 60 to 65 mph. The speed of this cross country journey proved to be faster than many of the passenger train routes of the day.
Cummins saw the future of the automobile in America and put all of his eggs into the over-the-road basket. He envisioned a day when all cars would be run with diesel engines. Cummins Early Race Car Prototype - s Cummins History Timeline Cummins realized that speed tests and more importantly the sport of racing was becoming big business. He wanted the inside track on gaining access to the racing demographic.
These tests further cemented Cummins as a notable name in the automotive community, so much so that on the advice of fellow enthusiasts Cummins decided to race himself. Cummins entered a diesel-powered Model A Duesenberg in the Indianapolis and finished 13th.
The most remarkable feat is that car finished the entire race without a single pit stop and only used 1 tank of fuel and reached an outstanding 86 mph! Cummins Diesel Race Car - Cummins Engine History Timeline Cummins hoped that his racing and trial runs would help him land a major automaker however he could never put a deal together with longtime muse, Packard Motor Company.
In , for his third cross country trip, Cummins decided to seek out other automotive partners. Cummins sought out to make diesel engines a luxury item despite market conditions. In turn he sought out partners that produced higher end luxury automobiles. Cummins swapped in a new lighter weight six-cylinder diesel engine, dubbed the Model H, into an Auburn Sedan. The trip proved to be the best one yet as the car reached top speeds of 90 mph and reached an impressive 40 mpg.
Cummins thought he was on the right track with Auburn however the company went out of business the following year. It is important to note that a this time in the company history that, Clessie Cummins, in some respects, had tunnel vision.
He would not give up his dream of trying to promote his engine for the commercial automobile market. If the company had one failure it would be not recognizing what they were good at truck engines and focus solely on that. Still Cummins would push on with more and more test runs and races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first car was a two-stroke engine and the other a revolutionary new four-stroke engine.
Both engines were turbocharged with Roots-Type superchargers that were blazing fast. Although the two-stroke engine finished ahead of the four-stroke engine it was smoking horribly from overheating.
In fact the engine got so hot that the pistons melted into the block. It was this event that spurred Cummins to abandon two-stroke engines and solely make four-stroke engines. With greater speed came greater pressure on the pistons which facilitated the need to have four cycles. Four cycle engines consist of four separate parts to generate power: intake, compression, power creation and exhaust.
World War I flying Ace Eddie Rickenbacker owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the time, and was eager to hold exhibitions and speed tests with Cummins to keep his track afloat during the Great Depression. Cummins' tests grew great crowds!
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