53 Series Detroit Diesel engines

What was the first year that the in-line 53 Series Detroit engines were manufactured? Anybody have a GOOD site for Detroit Diesel History Information? Thanks in advance. J.

I thought i had that ,so looked in a 58 book and it says 71 series 1938,451 series 1951 and the 53's are not listed??

J., I believe the 53 series was introduced in 1957. You might try searching the archives of the "Classic Truck" forum on this site. If your 53 still has the option plate on the valve cover, copy down all the data there and give W.W. Williams a phone call, ask for tech. help. They should be able to tell you everything about that particular engine, i.e., injector size, year produced, HP, rotation, application, etc.
Best Regards,
Charlie

1957.

Here's a link on discussing the 51 engines and they said the 53 series was started in 1957. Hal
Untitled URL Link

I assume you already know that the Detroit Diesel two-stroke-cycle supercharged engine is based on the first know successful diesel ever built. This was done 15 years before Rudolph Diesel invented his design. Makes you wonder why we call it "diesel" fuel. It should be "Clark" fuel. I also why the four-stroke-cycle is claimed to be based on the Otto Cycle when Mr. Otto did not invent that either. He used a design created by a Frenchman years earlier.

53 came out in 1957. You can find patent information with more details on-line, from the US Patent office. Also many primary documents related to it in the Library of Congress.

I have engine-spec books for most years, but not all.

My specs books show the first year for each GM engine. 71 (2,3,4, and 6) came out in 1938. 6-110 came out in 1950.

1942 for General Motors shows a 1-71, 3-71, 4-71, and 6-71.

1950 for General Motors only shows the 71 series, 2-71,3-71, 4-71, and 6-71.

1952 for General Motors only shows the 71 and 110 series. 2-71,3-71, 4-71, and 6-71 and the 6-110.

History:
1878 Dugald Clark demonstrated, successfully, his two-stroke-cycle diesel engine. It was patented in 1881. Used a compressor to created forced-induction (a supercharger).

1893 At Augsburg, on August 10, 1893, Rudolf Diesel's prime model, a single 10-foot iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time with 26% efficiency, remarkably more than double the efficiency of the steam engines and in 1894, he filed for a patent for his new invention

1930 Winton Engine Company became the Winton Engine Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors on June 20, 1930. It produced the first practical two-stroke-cycle diesel engines in the 400 to 1,200 hp (300 to 900 kW) range, which powered early Electro-Motive GM locomotives and US Navy submarines . That part of Winton devoted to the manufacturing of diesel became part of Electro-Motive in 1935 became part of the General Motors —later a division of.

Ingersoll-Rand jumped right in on the first 4-53s. I used to have a 250 cfm vane-type compressor that had a 1957 tag on the air receiver. The 2 valve 80hp engine serial number was between 300 and 400.