Cummins Engine Co. was founded on Feb. 3, 1919, with William 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 horsepower (hp) Hvid engines, but the beginning was inauspicious.

The rise of Cummins – 100 years old in February 2019 – from a tiny machine shop in Columbus, Indiana (USA), to a global power leader offering a broad portfolio of products, is a story rich in drama, a story of trials and triumphs.

Sears said the engines were defective and the contract was cancelled in 1922. Clessie went back to the drawing board.

The critical breakthough.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 some 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 geniusgenerated 33 US patents over 56 years. He co-founded

the company bearing his name in 1919, was presidentfrom 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 W.G. 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.

Capturing world attention.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, Florida. 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 aluminum 6-cylinder engine in the Auburn was the world’s first light diesel designed exclusively for a car.

J. Irwin Miller, great-nephew of W.G. 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 U.S., the company began looking beyond its traditional borders. Cummins opened its first foreign manufacturing facility in Shotts, Scotland, in 1956 and by the end of the 1960s, 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 racecar in the 1931 Indianapolis 500. It was thefirst diesel entry in any world racing event andbecame the first car to run the famous Indy500 non-stop. In this photo, it is shown withthe Cummins workforce in 1931.

Clessie drove this Cummins-powered Auburnfrom New York to San Francisco in 1935 on$7.63 worth of fuel.

Focus on emerging countries.Led by the visionary 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 U.S. multinational companies. Today, Cummins has grown into one of the largest engine makers in both China and India.

Cummins, however, is no longer just an engine business, but a global power leader manufacturing diesel and natural gas engines, hybrid engines, generators and soon electrified power transmissions. The company pledges to have an electrified powertrain for urban buses on the market by the end of 2019.

Cummins had more than $20.4 billion (U.S.) in sales in 2017. Around half those sales were generated outside North America. With about 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 with its diesel engine 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 an 11th year in a row. The institute evaluates companies’ commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate responsibility.

For a 12th consecutive year, Cummins in 2018 was placed on DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. In 2018, more than 1,800 companies participated in the review. Cummins was ranked No. 12.

Cummins has pledged to have electrified powertrains for urban buses ready for market by the end of 2019.

In Newsweek’s 2017 Green Rankings of Business, Cummins was ranked No. 25 among the 500 largest public companies in the U.S. for environmental sustainability.

In 2018, Cummins finished No. 49 on Forbes magazine’s list of America’s Best Employers for Women, No. 62 on its list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity and No. 132 on its list of America’s Best Employers.

Cummins received a perfect score for a 13th consecutive year in the 2018 Corporate Equality Index from HRC, the largest U.S. civil rights organization for LGBTQ employees.

In 2018, Cummins was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North American Index for a 13th consecutive year, missing the minimum score for inclusion on its world index by a single point.

Cummins was rated No. 60 in Barron magazine’s first-ever list of America’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies in 2018. The company finished just behind Macy’s department stores and Just ahead of Apple.

In 2018, Cummins received the highest ranking possible for its environmental and social performance from Institutional Shareholder Services, a key source of information for institutional investors.

Cummins was No. 82 on the Wall Street Journal’s 2018 Management Top 250, which recognizes U.S. based companies navigating complex business environments to “serve their workers, customers and shareholders.” The ranking is based on five categories. The company received five out of five possible stars for Social Responsibility.

The Cummins Powers Women program was honored in 2018 by New York Moves magazine for its efforts to empower women around the world. Cummins is investing $10 million in the initiative to support programs advancing exponential change in the lives of women.

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