Clessie Cummins

Clessie Cummins
Born	December 27, 1888
Died	August 17, 1968
Occupation	Businessman

Clessie Lyle Cummins (December 27, 1888 - August 17, 1968) was the founder of the Cummins Engine Co. He was an entrepreneur who improved on existing diesel engines, created new diesel engine designs, was awarded 33 United States patents for his inventions, and set five world records for endurance and speed for trucks, buses and race cars.

Clessie Cummins was born on December 27, 1888.

Cummins began his career as a rural Indiana farm boy, and had no formal higher education beyond the eighth grade. In the 1920s Cummins went to work for a banker named William Irwin in Columbus, Indiana, as a chauffeur and mechanic.

In 1919, Clessie Cummins founded the Cummins Engine Co, Inc (now Cummins, Inc). At the time of its founding, Cummins developed the first engine as licensee of R.M. Hvid Co. This engine was a 6 horsepower (4.5 kW) model designed for use on the farm.

Cummins' former employer, Irwin, invested a great deal of money in Cummins' company. However, Irwin was not satisfied with the company's profits and threatened to cease investing. Sales of diesel engines to farmers through the Sears-Roebuck catalog were not generating significant profits, partially because farmers would purchase and use the engines during the harvest period and then return them to Sears.

Clessie Cummins secured a Packard limousine (a vehicle with a large engine compartment) and fitted one of his best engines into it with 3/8-inch to spare. He and an assistant drove the vehicle to the 1929 auto show in New York City using $1.39 ($19.01 USD2013) worth of diesel fuel. The pair arranged for publicity along the way, but when they arrived at the show they found that they had been banned from any presentation. Cummins proceeded to rent space across the street from the Auto Show, and the "$1.39 for fuel, Indy to NYC" auto become a popular feature of the show (despite not technically being included in it).

During the 1920s, many of the company's engines were used in yachts—a market that vanished during the Great Depression of the 1930s. At that time, his employer and patron, Will Irwin, owned a controlling interest in the Purity Supreme supermarket chain, in California. Cummins convinced Irwin to install diesel engines in the fleet of trucks used to deliver food and staples to the stores. The diesel trucks were far better at managing the California mountains than the gasoline engines of that time, and were much more durable and economical to run. The success at Purity Supreme attracted considerable attention, and the over-the-road diesel truck industry thus came into being. Thereafter, the growth of Cummins Engine came mainly from supplying high-speed, high-torque engines, which buyers specified for installation in semi-trailer tractors from most of the major manufacturers.

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