Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
Internal Fire symbolizes the billowing release of fuel's energy. It breeds the expansive force that is transformed into productive work in a machine called an internal-combustion engine.
This is the story of how the engine came to be and the creative people whose lives were so entwined with the fruits of their labours. From gunpowder to diesel engines, these early powerplants are described in a down-to-earth manner as are the factors that shaped the course of their development. Interactions from other technologies, a consequence of patents, obtainable fuels and a new understanding of the very nature of heat itself are all explored.
Internal Fire is not intended to be a textbook, but a well-researched and readable chronicle of a mechanical servant so strongly influencing life in the twentieth century.
The author has lived with engines all his life. (His father, the late Clessie L. Cummins founded the diesel engine company which bears his name.) A graduate mechanical engineer, Lyle Cummins spent fifteen years on engine related projects and was granted five U.S. patents for inventions resulting from that work. Beginning with the initial patent applications through the contractual relations with licensees, his broad experience allows him to bring a unique perspective to bear on this subject, particularly in its relationship to engine history. Prior to his research on early engines he taught courses in mechanical design at a university school of engineering.
This book stems from his own quest for a more complete story of early engines. His industrial and academic background make him well qualified to tell the story.
Code No. 001710, 380 pages, ISBN 9781642340532, $80.00