In the late-'20s, Charles Kettering of General Motors embarked on a program to develop a two-cycle lightweight diesel engine for possible usage in automobiles. To cut development time, the faster route was to search for, and purchase, a successful diesel manufacturer. Mr. Kettering, always a step ahead, felt a combination of new GM subsidiary organizations, talent, along with GM capital and existing R&D facilities would surely produce a winner.
Narrowing his corporate search to three successful players, the company purchased the Winton Engine Company of Cleveland, Ohio. This established and highly profitable organization was the last owned venture of Alexander Winton, one of America's least known automotive pioneers.
The Winton Connection
Like others at the turn of the last century, Winton's initial claim to fame came from the bicycle business. Winton, a Scottish immigrant, came through Ellis Island in 1878. Upon arrival, the 19-year-old began a marine engineering program on steamships making the Atlantic crossings. Having his fill of continued saltwater vapors, he settled in Midwestern Cleveland, living with his sister and brother in law. Using his engineering background, he found employment in the city's iron ore processing industry. Steel was rapidly becoming the substance of choice in consumer products.
Bicycles, being the current rage, quickly drew his attention. And with his brother-in-law's modest financial support and assistance founded the Winton Bicycle Company. The horse and carriage was still the primary mode of travel, so the bicycle was a best-seller among the rich and well-to-do, for both its convenience and reinforcement of personal freedom.
Winton's rapid manufacturing success generated the cash flow necessary to enter his next area of interest, the fledgling horseless carriage market. In October of 1896, he introduced his first motorized platform, a motor-powered wagon. It is important to note that this was only a short three years after the Duryea brothers unveiled their gasoline-powered automobile, and the same year in which Ransom Olds and Henry Ford unveiled their automobiles in Lansing and Detroit , Michigan.
One year later, the new Winton Motor Carriage Company was in full production, establishing itself as one of the pioneers in the new automotive marketplace. Of the early automotive brands, the Winton was considered the most powerful and most technologically advanced. In addition, the company was one of the first American firms to sell automobiles through dealers on a retail basis.
Winton Loses to Ford
Winton automobiles were the first to cross America, coast to coast, and also one of the first to enter organized racing. A twist of fate enters here, as today Winton is more famous for the races he lost to Henry Ford. On October 10, 1901, an unknown Henry Ford, using a homemade platform, forced Winton to drop out of a 10-mile race, due to mechanical problems in front of 8,000 people. Ford turned his win into an investment opportunity and formed the Henry Ford Company.
Just a year and 15 days later, Ford again raced Winton for his first company was broke and in disarray. This time, Ford had a superior platform, the "999" with Barney Oldfield now as his driver. Ford wins the repeat event and immediately forms the Ford Motor Company. Winton, the loser, continues to build and successfully sell automobiles of superior engineering and advanced design. He went on to use his profits to form the Winton Engine and Manufacturing Company to build marine and diesel powerplants. Though his automotive production ceased in 1924, his successful marine and diesel business was sold to Mr. Kettering and General Motors in 1930. Winton's largest customer Electro-motive was also purchased by GM six months later.
The First Winton-GM Two-Stroke Diesels
Initially, both Winton in Cleveland and the General in Detroit worked in parallel on new powerplants. The companies decided that they could produce larger amounts of horsepower using a radical two-cycle diesel design. There were some problems with the new concept, however. The two-cycle units ran hotter, experienced more stress, and had a lower power to stroke ratio than the established four-cycle configuration. At this point in time, the other diesel builders were using four-cycle versions. In the four-cycle engines, each cylinder fired once for every two rotations of the crankshaft. The new Winton-GM design had the crankshaft making a single revolution between each expansion stroke, thus twice as many expansion strokes for each revolution of the crankshaft. Fuel consumption and longevity were not issues during this timeframe. The goal was to match the power output of the steam engines available in that same tile period.