A predecessor of Allison Engine Company, the
Concentrated Acetylene Company, was founded in September 1904 by James Allison, Percy Avery and
Carl Fisher. Avery was the holder of the patent for the product. This company was the predecessor of
Prest-O-Lite, a manufacturer of
acetylene headlights. An explosion at the acetylene gas works in downtown Indianapolis caused the company to relocate out of town, near the race track in
Speedway, Indiana. Allison and Fisher raced automobiles at that track, each owning a race car team. This hobby resulted in Allison building a shop at the track in Speedway where he maintained his fleet of race cars. This shop became the site for Allison Plant #1. Fisher and Allison sold their interest in Prest-O-Lite to
Union Carbide for $9 million.
Allison Speedway Team Company Allison started as an engine and car "hot rodding" company servicing the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway in
Indianapolis. James Allison was the owner of the
Indianapolis Speedway Team Company, a race car business in Indianapolis, Indiana. While it was founded as the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company, its name changed numerous times, first to the Allison Speedway Team Company, then the Allison Experimental Company and last as the Allison Engineering Company before becoming a division of
General Motors. and became the
Rolls-Royce North America subsidiary.
Hyper engine In the late 1920s the
United States Army funded the development of a series of high-power engines, as part of its
hyper engine series, which it intended to produce on
Continental Motors' production lines. Allison's manager, Norman Gilman, decided to experiment with his own high-power cylinder design. Allison's engine became Manufacturer Serial No. 1, AAC S/N 25-521. It was the X-4520, a 24-cylinder air-cooled 4-bank “X” configured engine designed by the Army Air Corps and built by the Allison Engineering Company in 1925. The result was presented to the Army in 1928, which turned down the development proposal. In the 1980s Allison collaborated with
Pratt & Whitney on demonstrating the
578-DX propfan. Unlike the competing
General Electric GE-36 UDF, the 578-DX was fairly conventional, having a reduction gearbox between the LP turbine and the propfan blades. Noise considerations, plus a significant reduction in the real cost of aviation fuel, brought the
NASA funded program to a halt. In 1995, Allison tested a prototype
lift fan for the
Joint Strike Fighter Program and a LiftFan nozzle was tested in 1997 at NASA's Lewis facility. By 1997, a complete prototype had been demonstrated by the Rolls-Royce owned but American-controlled Allison Advanced Development Company.
Acquisition by Rolls-Royce In 1992 General Motors tried to sell Allison to concentrate on rebuilding automobile market share. Rolls-Royce attempted to buy the company in 1993, but General Motors opted for a management buyout instead for $370 million. In 1995 US authorities approved, with restrictions on
Joint Strike Fighter Program, the purchase of Allison by Rolls-Royce. The price was $525 million. In the year 2000, some of these restrictions were alleviated, and in 2001 the US government chose the
F-35 with Rolls-Royce LiftFan and
Pratt & Whitney F135 engines. Allison was also a partner with General Electric and Rolls-Royce on the
F136 Fighter Engine Team. ==Products==