Diesel Odyssey of Clessie Cummins

Clessie Cummins was the father of the American truck diesel. His inventive genius generated 33 US patents over 56 years. He founded and was president for nineteen years of the diesel engine company bearing 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 honored him for pioneering achievements. He was an educated man, although his formal education ended at the eighth grade. A tireless individual, he paid a price in declining jealth for years of grueling effort yet, in his retirement, he created a new product which began a second industry. Azt 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 rememberances of his father while growing up, and later, as a practicing engineer who saw other sides of the man now his employer, mentor and colleague during seven of those productive sunset years.


Diesel Odyssey of Clessie Cummins, by Lyle Cummins.
Sewn Cloth, Hard Cover, Dustjacket, 400 text pages and drawings, 110 B&W glossy photos, 9 1/4” x 6 1/8”

$37.00