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Old 17-02-18, 22:16
Lang Lang is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Brisbane Australia
Posts: 1,650
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Rob

Do you know if Onan has always been a Cummins product or was it a later company amalgamation? PS just found the story below.

I always thought Onan was an amusing choice of name for a stand-alone generator, the marketing man must have had the Sunday School version of Fred Onan's activities.

I am being unkind because it was a family name with a brilliant history not a play on biblical characters.

http://www.onanfamily.org/wp-content...STORY-1982.pdf

From the above link:

Onan's first major military customer was Great Britain, starting in 1939. Unable to find
dependable portable power plants either in their own country or in Europe, the British turned to
Onan for hundreds of small A.C. generator sets for military radio transmitters and other
communications operations. The British also needed a special direct current generator for
charging batteries. The British military had high praise for the equipment purchased from Onan,
especially because of its trouble-free operation and its durability. The word was passed on to U.S.
military authorities, who were making plans for a quick buildup of defense equipment in the very
likely event America would get involved in the war.

Lang

Last edited by Lang; 17-02-18 at 22:41.
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