Online Catalogue last updated 12th of November 2015
Clessie Cummins was the father of the American diesel truck engine. His inventive genius generated 33 U.S. patents over a 56 year period. He founded and was president for nineteen years of the diesel engine company that bears his name. Salesman and entrepreneur, he set world speed and endurance records in race cars and trucks. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Automotive Engineers posthumously honoured him for pioneering achievements. He was an educated man, although his formal schooling ended at the eighth grade. A tireless individual, he paid a price in declining health from years of gruelling effort yet, in his retirement, he created a new product which began a second industry. At almost eighty he designed, built and ran in his basement shop a new concept engine.
The Diesel Odyssey is more than a recitation of a unique individual's exploits and accomplishments. It also tells of successes and adversities through historical research and personal knowledge. The author adds remembrances of his father while growing up, and later, as a practising engineer who saw other sides of the man now his employer, mentor and colleague during seven of those productive sunset years.
The Author: Lyle Cummins follows his highly accredited Internal Fire and Diesel's Engines, with this enlightening account of his noted father's personal, technical and business life. He employs the same documented and readable style that has made his earlier writing so well received. In addition to several awards for his works on internal combustion engine history, Cummins holds five fuel injection-related U.S. patents. His successful career in mechanical engineering, product development and as an historian for over twenty-five years bring a critical objectivity to the incredible story he tells.
Code No. 008517, 400 pages, ISBN 9780615590158, $88.00