Perkins Engines Company Limited
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Perkins Engines, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. is a diesel engine manufacturer for several markets including marine and stationary power plant.
Worldwide, one in five tractors is powered by a Perkins engine. The French truck manufacturer ACMAT uses Perkins engines exclusively.
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[edit] History
Perkins Engines was formed as F. Perkins Ltd. on the 7th June 1932 in Peterborough, England by Frank Perkins, who had worked with Charles Chapman at an engineering firm; on founding his own company, Perkins brought Chapman in as technical director and the pair created a high-speed, lightweight diesel engine, producing 35 of them in 1933 (sold to truck company [Commer]). Sales were strong and by the time of World War II the company made two series of engines, P4 and P6. After the war, the company went public, and licensed its designs to numerous foreign companies for local manufacturing and sale.[1]
The company was sold to Massey-Ferguson Ltd. in 1959 and later became part of LucasVarity plc; development continued and Perkins updated its engines to meet stricter emissions rules, while developing new series for power generation and forklift trucks. In 1994, Perkins built its 15 millionth engine and signed agreements to supply Caterpillar and NACCO, the world's largest lift truck maker.
Caterpillar purchased the Perkins Engines Company from LucasVarity in 1998 for US $1.35 billion, creating what they claimed was the world's largest diesel engine manufacturer; Caterpillar had been one of Perkins' customers. Since then, Perkins has built a new factory in Georgia (U.S.) to produce its 400 series, and a new factory in Brazil. Perkins currently claims to be the leading supplier of engines in the under-2,000 kW market[2]
[edit] Products
Perkins engines have been made for diesel, industrial, and power generation use, but two engines stand out among the general public for their automotive applications.
Perkins' 1.6 liter (99 cubic inch) P4C engine, producing 45 or 60 hp, was extremely popular in Europe and Israel for taxis and commercially driven cars during the 1950s and early 1960s; many cars, including American imports, were retrofitted with these engines for taxi use, with kits made by Hunter NV of Belgium. Perkins engines were also used as standard factory equipment in Jeeps and Dodge trucks in the United States in the 1960s. They also continued to be popular in European trucks from their original customer, Commer, and other companies.[1]
The Perkins 6.354 medium duty engine was designed to be compact enough to replace gasoline V8 engines in trucks, despite its in-line six-cylinder design. Producing 112 horsepower in early years (later rising to 120 hp), it had a small jackshaft driven by the timing gears for the auxiliary drive, with the oil pump driven by a quill shaft so it could run auxiliary equipment at engine speed with simple couplings. It used a low camshaft so the timing case could be smaller, allowing space for the water pump. This engine had a one-inch smaller bore than the P6 and R6 that preceded it, also to make it more compact, lengthwise. It had direct fuel injection, adding a chamber in the piston crown rather than in the head, so that there was more power and better mileage; port casting was made more precise, and a new CAV pump and injectors were used to reduce pollution. A turbocharged version was denoted by a leading T, and with air-to-air charge cooling, it output 150 hp. The engine was not popular in the United States, where its uses were not as anticipated, leading to reliability issues, but it became a standby in Europe, appearing in (among other vehicles) the Dodge 100 trucks. A bored version of 372 cubic inches (6.372) was produced later.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Perkins diesel engines and the Perkins Ltd. company. Retrieved on 2008-5-16.
- ^ Perkins Timeline. Retrieved on 2008-5-16.
[edit] External links
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