The heart of any vehicle is its engine, in the world of commercial vehicles, the engine is often made by a separate manufacturer and each one has different characteristics. The manufacturer can often be identified by the color of the engine block.

 

 

 

 

 

Cummins is probably best known for refining the nucleus for what was the first Diesel Engine invented 20 years before the company was founded. It achieved early success manufacturing engines for railroad applications. Cummins enters into partnerships with similar companies to jointly develop and refine newer technologies.

 

 

 

The best known partnership is between Cummins and Dodge Trucks. In the late 1980s the idea was explored that if diesel engines were made small enough to fit in pickup trucks, "the average working man" would have more than enough power to tackle jobs that would normally require much larger trucks. The partnership has lasted over 25 years because of its success. This prompted Dodge's rivals to develop similar engines for their trucks. (Ford Powerstroke, Chevrolet Duramax). Cummins builds engines for trucks and buses as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Holt was determined to find a way to make the steam tractors of the 1800s more practical and efficient. One idea was to put planks down ahead of the tractors to keep them from sinking into the ground. This was time consuming and difficult. He had the idea to put the planks onto the tractors eventually creating the first tracked steam tractor. A photographer remarked that Holt's Tractor moved like a "Caterpillar" and Holt used the name to market his tractors. Today Caterpillar has expanded and manufactures its own Diesel Engines which are sometimes used to power buses and trucks. Among many other new ventures Caterpillar has developed its own line of vocational work trucks for the first time.