Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85450
DRIVE TEST Equipment Editor Jack Roberts checks the oil in the ISX15 in this Peterbilt 386, which serves as a test vehicle at Cummins research facility in Indiana. ENGINE INNOVATION ENGINE As INNOVATION Cummins employs new tech and outside-the-box ideas to make next year's ISX15 smart, smooth and economical. BY JACK ROBERTS 40 | Overdrive | October 2012 a young man, Clessie Cummins worked as a chauffeur for a banker and gained a reputation for his mechanical aptitude. By 1919 he had founded a small-engine company in Columbus, Ind. His early efforts – small diesels for farm applications – fared poorly, and his engine sales to yacht makers dried up with the Depression. But once he struck a deal to convert a supermarket's fleet of trucks to Cummins diesels, his company's future was secured. Today, Cummins has more than 6,000 dealers in more than 190 countries. The company hasn't lost its founder's spirit of innovation. For example, it's taken a leading role in the development of heavy-duty natural gas engines for truck- ing. But the diesel truck engine is where the company's roots are, and Cummins' creative design continues there as well. Now that the drawn-out emissions war of the past few years is settled, Cummins Photos by Steve Sturgess