Significant Trends in Diesel Engine
By Robert F. Lay |
diesel engine sales in the United States have grown from 85,000 horsepower in 1915, and 350,000 in 1925, to 1,200,000 horsepower in 1935. Production for 1936 approximated 1,830,000 horsepower, This may be doubled in 1937 if the present trend of business activity is maintained. The trend toward diesel power in recent years is emphasized by comparison of the sales of 1,830,000 horsepower in 1936 with the total previous sales of some 8,000,000 horsepower in the United States since 1898. An analysis of diesel engine sales in the United States during 1936 as published in Diesel Power shows that about 1,172,00 horse- power or about 64% of the total were applied to portable or automotive equipment and con- sisted largely of units of less than 100 horse- power. Of this amount, 840,000 horsepower, or 46% of the total sales were applied to trac- tors. General contracting equipment, such as power shovels, compressors, etc. absorbed |
152,000 horsepower, and 180,000 horsepower were applied to trucks. Stationary engines, for industrial and munic- ipal installations, acounted for 386,000 horse- power, or 20% of the 1936 diesel engine sales in the United States. Marine engine sales to- talled 205,000 horsepower, or 11%, and rail- road applications totalled 64,000 horsepower, or 3.5%. The rapid growth of the market for small diesel engines is most forcibly brought out by the records of the past year. The foregoing analysis indicates that units of less than 100 horsepower constituted the majority of the gross sales. This size range covers the tractor and truck fields and represents considerable volume in stationary, contracting equipment and marine fields. The majority of sales in the marine field were for engines of less than 200 horsepower Development of successful engines in the smaller horsepower and higher speed ranges has been slow and costly, due principally to difficulty in solving fuel injection and combus- tion problems. The majority of the small engine builders, after considerable experimentation, |
 De La Vergne, 660 Horsepower, Model "VO", Diesel Engine Installed in the New Baldwin Diesel-Electric Switching Locomotive. |
|
|