In 1919, Clessie Cummins [pictured on right] founded the Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Ind, USA, with backing from banker William G. Irwin. Together, the two men built a company that was one of the first to take advantage of the groundbreaking technology developed by German engineer Rudolf Diesel in the late 1800s.

D.W. Onan establishes his own company to build light and power generators. Along with one full-time employee, Onan worked from his home at 1331 Penn Ave. North in Minneapolis, Minn., USA. The volume of business grew steadily as mechanics found Onan's tools invaluable in repairing motor cars.

The 104 Power Shovel from Northwest Engineering was one of the very earliest tracked earth movers available with diesel power as an alternative to steam. With a 50 horsepower 4-cylinder Model F, the shovel was the first mobile equipment powered by Cummins.

D.W. Onan starts manufacturing Ten-Lite, the first Onan Electric Generator Plant, commonly referred to today as a generator set. The intended use was for summer cottage.

The Cummins No. 8 Duesenberg racecar becomes the first diesel to break the 100-mph barrier on the hard sand at Daytona Beach, Fla., USA. Powered by a 100-horsepower Model U, the racecar was also the first to complete the Indianapolis 500 without stopping.

Cummins diesel power sets a New York to Los Angeles coast-to-coast record time when a truck runs 3,214 miles in 97 hours. The Marion truck chassis with a Model U engine used just S11.22 in fuel, demonstrating the economic benefits of using diesel instead of gasoline.

A Cummins 125-horsepower Model H powered bus sets a transcontinental record time when it drives 3,220 miles from New York to Los Angeles in slightly more than 91 hours. The bus reached speeds of up to 65 mph, achieving a faster travel time than an express train.

Purity Stores of San Francisco introduces the first diesel-powered commercial truck fleet in America with a 125-horsepower Cummins Model H 6-cylinder engine in a White Motor Company chassis. By 1936, more than 300 Cummins-powered trucks were operating on the West Coast.

Cummins enters two cars; the two-cycle No. 5 and the four-cycle No. 6 in the Indianapolis 500. As a result, Clessie Cummins and his engineers decided to continue working with the four-cycle engine.

The Cummins Model A is the world's first light diesel engine designed exclusively for a car. The aluminum 6-cylinder was featured in six Auburn 851 Sedans, demonstrating both 75-horsepower and 100-horsepower. In a cross-America tour, a remarkable 40 mpg and 90 mph was achieved, but the initiative ended when the Auburn company went out of business a year later.

With 300 horsepower from twin HBI Cummins engines, the Norfolk & Western 514923 is one of the first to replace steam with diesel power. Known as Big Hooks, the wrecking cranes of North America lifted derailed trains. Built by Industrial Brownhoist with a huge 250-ton lift, it was one of the world's largest mobile cranes.

Clessie Cummins files a patent for the first common rail fuel system.

Harsh winters and demands on power supplies at Petbow's new factory in Sandwich, Kent, U.K., influence a product shift from welding plants to back-up generators. The start on-demand generator was developed to 20 kW, and was the forerunner of today's huge prime power and standby units.

After competing in the Indianapolis 500, Cummins No. 61 Green Hornet goes on to become the world's fastest diesel at 165 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The 340-horsepower racing version of the JBS-600 engine with supercharging and new PT fuel injection set diesel speed records on 1-, 5- and 10-mile courses.

On March 29, with Mr. D M Henshaw as Chairman, and Mr. Paul J F Croset as the Managing Director, Holset forms as a Limited Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHD Engineering Limited Group. The name Holset was created from the names of HOLmes and CroSET.

Cummins Diesel Special No. 28 creates a sensation at the Indianapolis 500 by taking the pole position with a 139-mph track record. The streamlined racer had a 430 horsepower JBS-600 engine and was the first at Indy to include turbocharging. Damage forced the No. 28 to retire after running on pace with race leaders for the first 100 miles.

Cummins starts Cummins Filtration to meet the high-performance requirements of Cummins diesel engines. The company was originally known as the Seymour Filtration Company, because of its location in Seymour, Ind., USA. Production started with two employees who sewed cloth bag lube-oil filters.

The Wagner TR becomes the first articulated tractor in production. It included four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering and was powered by either Cummins' 8.1-liter 90 horsepower engine or 12.2-liter 155 horsepower engine. With power to all wheels, high traction enabled faster work for larger farms. The TR was soon upgraded to the WA, which featured the 250 horsepower, 14-liter NH engine.

Onan officially starts the motor home genset industry with the production and delivery of 139 modified 3.5 and 5.0 CCK gensets to the Frank Motorhome Company in Brown City, Mich., USA. Onan's patented Vaccu Flo technology allowed the company to safely mount its generators inside RV compartments.

Boat 4 of the Los Angeles Fire Department is launched as the most advanced fireboat ever. It's able to pump 9,000 gallons per minute, while moving with precision. The 800 horsepower propulsion power came from two VT12 engines. Four other Cummins engines provided 1,300 horsepower for the three turret pumps and two waterline nozzles.

Cummins' horizontal NHH855 engine sets the power standard for underfloor pancake diesels in the largest ever, three-axle school buses. With the 220 horsepower, 14-liter flat engine installed mid-bus to free up space, the Gillig 733D and Crown Supercoach were able to increase capacity to as many as 97 passengers.

Two Hendrickson 360 super heavy duty trucks, known as Hulk 1 and Hulk 2 are custom built to haul huge oil production modules in Alaska. With 700 horsepower, V12 Cummins' engines, the 6x6 trucks weighed 100 tons with ballast and were able to haul 1,600 tons with a unique trailer equipped with 384 hydraulically spring wheels.

Years ahead of its time, the Kenworth T600 introduces aerodynamic contours to Class 8 trucks. Known as the "Anteater" because of its long, sloping nose, its shape greatly reduced air flow drag. Cummins' lightweight L10 engine proved an ideal power match, contributing up to 20 percent higher fuel efficiency.

The Cummins Turbo Diesel is introduced in the Dodge Ram 250 and 350, transforming the pick-up truck market. The 160 horsepower, 5.9-liter engine offered a huge advantage in torque, enabling owners to haul trailers two tons heavier than any other pickup. In the first year, orders for almost 20,000 Cummins-powered Rams came in, doubling the highest expectations.

Cummins' 19-liter engine powers the biggest forklift truck ever built. It has the capability to lift 99 tons, which is almost twice that of today's heavy forklift class. The trucks were custom built by Kalmar of Sweden to handle heavy pipelines in the Middle East.

Cummins Power Generation enters the generator rental business with Cummins Power Rent. Cummins Power Rent supplied rental customers with reliable, pre-integrated systems complete with engines, generators, monitoring controls, automatic transfer switches and switchgear equipment.

Beijing Public Transit launched a fleet of 300 buses with Cummins B5.9 natural gas engines to improve city air quality. This was the first clean, alternative fuel fleet in Asia and remains the largest in the world, with more than 3,500 Cummins Westport natural gas powered buses.

Powered by a Cummins 15-liter Signature 600 horsepower engine, an Australian Kenworth truck pulls the longest-ever roadtrain into the record books with 79 trailers at a length of 3,340 feet. With an all up weight of 1,181 tons, the roadtrain traveled more than five miles within one hour for a specially-staged event.

Powered by a Cummins QSK78, the 550-ton gross weight Komatsu 930 is the fastest of the ultra-class haul trucks designed for the world's biggest mines. The 78-liter engine was the first high-rpm speed diesel to reach 3,500 horsepower, enabling truck speed to increase by 30 percent up while traveling steel haul roads.

The Pit Viper 351 is the largest diesel-powered rotary blast hole drill rig for open-pit mining. The 197-ton Atlas Copco rig applied a 62-ton bit load to drill 135 feet deep for placing explosives. With a 1,500 horsepower Cummins QSK45 engine, the rig exceeded all records by regularly drilling more than 80,000 feet per month at a U.S. mine.

Cummins Emission Solutions begins in February with 11 employees. The business was launched after strategy work identified the need for an emission solution that would help engines meet future regulations. The first products were aimed at the retro-fit market.

The world's highest altitude railcars perform inspection work during the building of the Qinghai to Tibet line in China, which is known as the "Roof of the World." Twin QSK19 Cummins underfloor engines provided 900 horsepower, specially adapted to operate under extreme conditions at 16,600 feet.

The Oshkosh HEMITT A3 becomes the first production-ready diesel-electric hybrid heavy truck. The ProPulse drive system features a Cummins 9-liter ISL 400-horsepower engine that runs at constant rpm, and an electrical generator that drives four-wheel motors. The 30-ton tactical truck has a 65 mph road speed with 20 percent improved fuel efficiency and delivers 200 kW power for external use.

The New Cummins branding strategy unites all businesses and products under the Cummins brand name and leverages the power of the colors of red and black to give the traditional Cummins logo a bolder look and feel. This provides a stronger, more recognizable Cummins brand identity that will be applied globally and across all business units.

More than 1,000 vehicles in North America enter service with Cummins ISB-H and ISL-engines during a breakthrough year for the diesel-electric hybrid transit bus. Ultra clean and quiet, the buses met 2010 emission levels and reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gases by more than 30 percent.

The XPI system is a jointly-developed and manufactured system with a joint venture between Cummins Inc. and Scania. This common rail system provided the highest injection pressure of any other common rail system. Primarily targeted for Cummins midrange and heavy-duty applications, the XPI system is the result of Cummins market-leading technology.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), together with the Department of Energy (DOE), recognizes the 2007 Dodge Ram Heavy Duty as the cleanest mass-production diesel engine pickup truck on the market.

The Chetra Heavy 511 is the world's most powerful pipelayer with 104-ton lift capacity. It's powered by a Cummins 500 horsepower QSX15 engine. The Russian-built crawler is designed to operate in the extreme conditions of Siberia and Central Asia, laying oil and gas pipes in temperatures as low as -50 degrees C or as high as 50 degrees C.

TIV-2 is the armored Tornado Intercept Vehicle featured on Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers." The vehicle is built on a Dodge Ram 4x4 chassis with the 6.7-liter Cummins engine uprated to 625 horsepower. TIV-2 features a filming turret, wind speed mast and hydraulic skirts to direct wind around the truck.

Cummins QSK19 engine powers the largest self-propelled forage harvester ever built by John Deere. The 7950 SPFH uses the 800-horsepower (597 kW) rated output of the 19-liter engine to significantly increase productivity with a wider working width and reduced working time.

Beijing Foton Cummins Engine Company Limited (BFCEC) officially begins production of Cummins light-duty, high-performance ISF diesel engines. The ISF 2.8 and ISF 3.8 have a power range from 109- to 170-horsepower and were developed to produce high performance with low weight, making them well-suited for light commercial applications.

Using the Genset Emulator Lab, engineers can see how an engine or generator worked in different scenarios, allowing them to use the system to solve problems or to see benefits.

Two Cummins-powered transit buses with M11 engines, operated by TheBus, located in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, become the first of their kind to earn recognition in the Cummins Million Mile Club.

Cummins reveals the QSK95 engine, which has more than 4,000 horsepower (2,983 KW) output, making it the world's most powerful high-speed diesel.

Cummins Power Generation announces a major leap forward in power capability when the C3000 Series generator set family offers up to 3.5 megawatts. The C3000 Series incorporated the Cummins QSK95 engine and set a new industry standard as the most powerful high-speed diesel genset on the market.

Cummins Filtration offers an all-new NanoNet line of fuel filtration products that use nanotechnology in the filtration media. NanoNet marks the first time that a nanotechnology-based filtration media has been commercially developed for fuel filtration products within the industry.

Cummins Inc. and Peterbilt Motors Company released test results today showing their demonstration tractor-trailer achieved a 54 percent increase in fuel economy, averaging nearly 10 miles per gallon (mpg) under real-world driving conditions.