Mack turbine truck
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• Another American vehicle manufacturer has entered the gas-turbine "league-. Mack Trucks unveiled a prototype turbine-powered truck to its executive earlier this month.
The truck uses an industrial gas turbine engine made by The Garrett Corporation, a Mack associate; both Garrett and Mack are part of The Signal Companies Inc. In announcing the development Mack states that the prototype is intended to provide the firm's engineers with data needed before the introduction of pre-production test models. Data to be obtained includes acceleration rate, intake and exhaust silencing requirements and general performance information. No information is given on the turbine— such as output and type—but the unit is coupled to a modified Allison semi-automatic transmission in a standard Mack forwardcontrol chassis.
There is added interest in the Mack development when account is take of the agreement signed by Garrett and Cummins Engines at the end of last year. This covers a joint programme between these two companies to explore the feasibility of gas turbines for trucks and construction equipment. It was stated at the time that Cummins would handle marketing of such units.