CUMMINS A GLOBAL · engine company and today is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of...
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Cummins Engine Co was founded on February 3, 1919, with W.G. Irwin, a banker, supplying the starting capital. Irwin had hired Clessie Cummins in 1908 to drive and maintain his car and later set him up in business as an auto mechanic. Cummins, a self-taught mechanical genius, was convinced that the engine technology invented by Rudolph Diesel in the 1890s – while still unproven commercially – held great promise for its fuel economy and durability. Cummins started working fulltime on diesels in 1919 when he heard that giant American retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co would buy single-cylinder engines produced under license to Hvid. Clessie persuaded Irwin to negotiate a contract with Sears for 4,500 1.5 and 3 hp Hvid engines but the beginning was The rise of Cummins – 100 years old in February 2019 – from a tiny machine shop in Columbus, Indiana, USA, to a global power leader is a story rich in drama, a story of trials and triumphs. inauspicious. Sears said the engines were defective and the contract was cancelled in 1922. Clessie went back to the drawing board. Clessie continued to experience pain, his experimental engines ripping the sides out of fishing boats or tearing themselves to remnants. Then he made breakthroughs that solved critical problems of injection timing. He also created a fuel injector experts described as ‘simpler than a fountain pen.’ In 1924, emerging out of the swirl of innovation and problem solving, was the company’s first distinctive engine line, the Model F (for four-cycle), the early editions of which were installed in fishing trawlers. These were believed to be the very first diesel-powered fishing vessels in North America. Clessie Cummins (1888 -1968)… his inventive genius generated 33 US patents over 56 years. He co-founded the company bearing his name in 1919, was president from 1919 to 1947and chairman from 1947 to 1956. Cummins’ first venture, in 1919, was this single cylinder Hvid engine produced under a Dutch license. CUMMINS A GLOBAL power leader
Transcript of CUMMINS A GLOBAL · engine company and today is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of...
Cummins Engine Co was founded on February 3, 1919, with W.G. Irwin, a banker, supplying the starting capital. Irwin had hired Clessie Cummins in 1908 to drive and maintain his car and later set him up in business as an auto mechanic.
Cummins, a self-taught mechanical genius, was convinced that the engine technology invented by Rudolph Diesel in the 1890s – while still unproven commercially – held great promise for its fuel economy and durability.
Cummins started working fulltime on diesels in 1919 when he heard that giant American retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co would buy single-cylinder engines produced under license to Hvid. Clessie persuaded Irwin to negotiate a contract with Sears for 4,500 1.5 and 3 hp Hvid engines but the beginning was
The rise of Cummins – 100 years old in February 2019 – from a tiny machine shop in Columbus,Indiana, USA, to a global power leader is a story rich in drama, a story of trials and triumphs.
inauspicious. Sears said the engines were defective and the contract was cancelled in 1922. Clessie went back to the drawing board.
Clessie continued to experience pain, his experimental engines ripping the sides out of fishing boats or tearing themselves to remnants. Then he made breakthroughs that solved critical problems of injection timing. He also created a fuel injector experts described as ‘simpler than a fountain pen.’
In 1924, emerging out of the swirl of innovation and problem solving, was the company’s first distinctive engine line, the Model F (for four-cycle), the early editions of which were installed in fishing trawlers. These were believed to be the very first diesel-powered fishing vessels in North America.
Clessie Cummins (1888 -1968)… his inventive genius generated 33 US patents over 56 years. He co-founded
the company bearing his name in 1919, was president from 1919 to 1947and chairman from 1947 to 1956.
Cummins’ first venture, in 1919, was this single cylinder Hvid engine
produced under a Dutch license.
CUMMINSA GLOBALpower leader
The Model F proved so economical that its popularity spread to other applications – generator sets, drills, shovels and air compressors. The engine had one or two pistons, bolted as separate units to a common base, and developed 12.5 hp at 600 rpm from a 5.5-inch bore and a 6-inch stroke.
On Christmas Day, 1929, Clessie took WG Irwin for a ride in America’s first diesel-powered automobile – a Cummins marine engine-driven Packard.
With his diesel engine and unique fuel injection system finally coming together and being used to repower trucks originally fitted with petrol engines, a dramatic leap forward in the evolution of diesel technology was realised.
With a new infusion of Irwin capital, Clessie Cummins set out to prove that his diesels could conquer the road and he began to capture world attention through a series of creative, headline-making events in diesel-powered trucks, buses and cars.
In one celebrated run, Clessie piloted a Cummins-powered truck coast-to-coast – New York to Los Angeles – on $11.22 worth of furnace oil. The truck travelled 3,214 miles and averaged 43.02 mph.
He also set a new world diesel powered record of 100.362 mph in a race car at Daytona Beach. In yet another stunt in a diesel passenger car, Clessie drove his Cummins-powered Auburn from New York to San Francisco in 1935 on $7.63 worth of fuel. The Cummins Model A aluminium 6-cylinder engine in the Auburn was the world’s first light diesel designed exclusively for a car.
J. Irwin Miller, great-nephew of WG Irwin, became general manager in 1934 and went on to lead the company to international prominence over the next four decades. In 1937 Cummins earned its first profit.
As Cummins continued to grow its business in the US, the company also began looking beyond its traditional borders. Cummins opened its first foreign manufacturing facility in Shotts, Scotland, in 1956 and by the end of the1960s, Cummins had expanded its sales and service network to 2,500 dealers in 98 countries.
Today, Cummins serves customers in more than 190 countries through a network of over 500 distributors and around 7,500 dealer locations.
In 1931, Clessie Cummins drove this diesel-powered truck coast to coast – from New York to Los Angeles – on $11.22 worth of furnace oil. The truck travelled 3,214 miles and was powered by the 4-cylinder Model U engine.
Above: Clessie entered this Duesenberg race car in the 1931 Indianapolis 500. It was the first diesel entry in any world racing event and became the first car to run the famous Indy 500 non-stop. In this photo, it is shown with the Cummins workforce in 1931.
Clessie drove this Cummins-powered Auburn from New York to San Francisco in 1935 on $7.63 worth of fuel.
Led by the visionary leadership of J. Irwin Miller, Cummins forged strong ties to emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil, where Cummins had a major presence before most other US multinational companies. Today, Cummins has grown into one of the largest engine makers in both China and India.
Cummins is no longer just an engine business, but a global power leader with more than US$20.4 billion in sales in 2017. Around half those sales were generated outside North America. With 58,000 employees worldwide, the company serves customers in a multitude of markets. In fact, Cummins powers more types of equipment in more markets than any other engine company and today is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of diesel engines with a range spanning 2.8 to 95 litres. The company also produces a wide range of gas engines from 5.9 to 91 litres.
With engine development taken for granted today, it’s easy to overlook the incredible engineering challenges Clessie Cummins faced to create a mechanically reliable engine and set the standards for a company that is now the only survivor in a once crowded field of independent engine makers. Not only that, Cummins is a technology leader, working relentlessly to provide cutting-edge solutions to the increasingly difficult challenge of producing cleaner-running engines.
Clessie Cummins’ spirit of innovation and commitment to quality certainly lives on nearly a century later.
COLUMBUS, IND. U.S.A.
• MADE BY •
SINCE 1918 ... PIONEER OF PROFITABLE POWER THROUGH HIGH SPEED DIESELS
COLUMBUS, IND. U.S.A.
• MADE BY •
SINCE 1918 ... PIONEER OF PROFITABLE POWER THROUGH HIGH SPEED DIESELS
The ‘Cummins Diesel Special’ astounded the Indianapolis 500 crowd in 1952 by capturing the coveted pole position at 138.010 mph.
The original logo used by Cummins from the founding of the company in 1919 to early 1944.
The ‘red ball’ logo was used from 1944 through to January 1953.
The ‘iron cross’ logo was used from 1953 to January 1975.
The biggest diesel engine ever developed by Cummins, the 95-litre QSK95, was unveiled in late 2012.
QSK95 marine engine was unveiled in Singapore in 2016.
In 2018, Cummins was named one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by the Ethisphere Institute for the 11th year in a row. The institute evaluates companies’ commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate responsibility.
For the ninth straight year, Cummins Inc. was awarded a perfect score in the 2014 Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as part of its Best Places to Work initiative.
For the 12th consecutive year, Cummins was placed in DiversityInc’s Top 50 list in 2018.
In 2014, Cummins was named to Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies for the construction and farm machinery sector. The magazine calls its list “the definitive report card” on corporate reputations.
Cummins was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the ninth consecutive year in 2013. The index represents the top 10 percent of the world’s largest companies rated by Dow Jones across a range of environmental, economic and corporate responsibility measures.
Cummins was named by Corporate Responsibility magazine in 2012 as one of the world’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens.
In Newsweek’s 2017 Green Rankings of Business, Cummins was ranked No. 25 among the 500 largest public companies in the US for corporate sustainability and environmental impact.
Cummins Inc. is preparing to deliver electrified powertrains to customers in 2019 in an effort to reach commercial vehicle electrification.
NOTABLE:
Cummins Head Office2 Caribbean DriveScoresby Vic 3179 AustraliaPhone 613 9765 3222Fax 613 9763 0079www.cummins.com.au © 2018 Cummins South Pacific Pty. Ltd.
COLUMBUS, IND. U.S.A.
• MADE BY •
SINCE 1918 ... PIONEER OF PROFITABLE POWER THROUGH HIGH SPEED DIESELS
