The Buda Company

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This page was last updated on May 19, 2026.

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Buda Engine Company

(The focus of this page is to establish a timeline of The Buda Company, using sources not previously readily available. Sources include a wide variety of internet searches, online newspapers, and current websites and abandoned websites, and industry trade magazines at Archive.org.)

Buda Iron Works Company, Buda, Illinois (1881-1891)

Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company, Harvey, Illinois (1891-1909)

The Buda Company, Harvey, Illinois (1909-1953)

(Read the Wikipedia article about the Buda Engine Company)

The Buda Company of Harvey, Illinois, was a significant American manufacturer of industrial engines, both gasoline and Diesel, especially known for powering trucks, tractors, and marine vessels in the early to mid-20th century. The company was well-regarded for its reliable and innovative engines.

The company was founded in 1881 by George Chalender in the small town of Buda, Illinois. Before becoming a renowned engine maker, the company first focused on producing equipment for the railway industry, including handcars, switches, and other maintenance-of-way tools. The company's line of motorcars was eventually sold or licensed to Fairbanks-Morse.

Founded in 1881 as the Buda Iron Works, the company began with just 50 employees. The Chicago Tribune of December 5, 1890 reported that the Buda Iron Works Co. was incorporated in Illinois on December 4, 1890. Seeking better transportation access, the company moved to the Chicago-suburb of Harvey in 1891, renaming itself the Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company.

Sources consulted disagree on when Buda moved from Buda, Illinois, to Harvey, Illinois. The following newspaper accounts show the date to be August or September 1891. (Harvey, Illinois, is about 23 miles due south of downtown Chicago. Buda, Illinois, is about 139 miles west of Chicago.)

First located in Buda, in central Illinois, the Buda Foundry & Manufacturing Company moved 139 miles eastward to Harvey, Illinois, in suburban Chicago. Contracts for the company's new eight-building location had been awarded in November 1890, with the new factory being nearly completed by March 1891. By May 1891 the foundry was employing 100 men, expecting to grow to 500 men very soon. (Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1890; March 24, 1891; The Inter Ocean, May 24, 1891)

The following comes from Commercial Car Journal, November 15, 1920, page 80:

The Buda Company was organized in 1881 and was then known as the Buda Iron Works, at Buda, Illinois, employing about fifty men and engaged in the manufacture of railway appliances and material such as railway, hand and push cars and patented steel wheels for these cars; also switch stands, baggage and warehouse trucks, railway castings and forgings, and architectural iron work.

During the later part of 1890 and 1891 the company moved to Harvey, Ill., and became known as the Buda Foundry & Manufacturing Co., later purchasing the Paige Iron Works (1895) and erecting a large shop for turning out frogs, crossings and switches and all types of special track for both steam and electric railroads. In 1906 additional ground was secured adjacent to the plant and a large machine shop erected for the manufacture of jacks for all railroad purposes.

The next year (1907) additional buildings were secured and the company began manufacturing railroad gasoline motor cars, which were powered by a two-cylinder, opposed, air-cooled engine. In perfecting this engine the company became interested in the automotive industry and started the manufacture of the "Buda transmission" which was soon followed by building special automotive engines and in 1908 started building transmissions and gasoline engines for the Hudson Company, which were used in their first model, the "Original Hudson," as it was known at that time. In 1910 it was decided to wind up the transmission business and to concentrate upon the perfection and improvement of gasoline engines for automotive purposes. The firm then became known as the Buda Company.

In 1913 it was decided to discontinue the baggage and warehouse trucks and to substitute the Buda electric truck and tractor for warehouse and industrial use. Also during this year the Buda-Ross headlight generator for steam locomotives was brought out, giving the Buda Company a most complete line of railroad appliances and equipment as well as electric industrial trucks and automotive engines.

A large modern four-story structure of reinforced concrete and brick was completed in 1918 and it now houses the huge milling and grinding machines for finishing off crankcases and cylinder blocks as well as the many drilling, reaming and boring operations necessary in producing a heavy-duty automotive engine.
In normal times The Buda Company employs approximately 2400 men in the entire plant, about 1500 being engaged in the engine division alone, the other 900 being engaged in the other divisions.

The plant covers about twenty-five acres of ground and has a combined foundry capacity of 100 tons of poured metal a day.

The Buda Company has been under the same management since 1904, L. M. Miles, president, and F. E. Place, vice- president and general manager, having been connected with the firm for over 16 years. The personnel includes besides these men: Wm. P. Hunt, Jr., secretary and railroad sales manager; H. M. Sloan, treasurer; R. B. Fisher, general sales manager; S. Gordon Hyde, advertising manager; John P. Mahoney, sales manager; R, J, Broege, chief engineer, and E. D. Conant, general superintendent.

A general history of The Buda Company, from the May 1948 issue of Diesel Progress magazine.

The Buda Company was founded in 1881 at Buda, Illinois, the town from which the company takes its name. In the beginning, the company manufactured only railroad supplies. As the business expanded, the company was moved in 189l to its present site in Harvey, a suburb of Chicago, in order to gain the advantages of a more accessible location.

In 1910 it was decided to build a line of gasoline engines for the company's power track cars, for trucks, buses, taxicabs, and for marine, agricultural and industrial purposes. This line of activity prospered for years, but as the price of gasoline increased it became more and more evident that for stationary and industrial uses especially the cost of operation must be lowered. This led the company to consider the diesel engine.

In 1926, the Chief Engineer of The Buda Company went to Europe to investigate the various types of diesel engines. The M.A.N. type was selected as the most promising for use in this country. As a result, The Buda Company arranged for the manufacturing rights of the M.A.N. diesel and in 1926 they built the first high-speed diesel engine (built in this country) for industrial and marine service.

The first Buda diesel engine of the M.A.N. type was the Model D-630, which was shipped to the Harnischfeger Corp. for use on a drag line. This was the first high-speed diesel (so-called "high speed" was up to 900 rpm.).

The early models of Buda M.A.N. diesel engines were equipped with M.A.N. fuel injection pump with dual injectors; that is, where two nozzles are used per cylinder in opposed positions. Later, the design was improved and changed from the dual injection to the single injection with a flat top piston to eliminate the injection fuel plumes striking each other. Furthermore, the design was changed to a piston having a tear-drop depression on top. The advantages of these improvements were better fuel atomization, better combustion, and higher thermal efficiency. Later, the M.A.N. design of fuel injection pump was changed to American-Bosch.

In 1929 the Buda Company brought out a new design of diesel which permitted speeds up to 2000 rpm. Although the M.A.N. design was successful for the moderate speed application, it was found that compression pressures were abnormally high; therefore, it was desirous to perfect a design to give low combustion pressure in order to provide for longer life to bearings and wearing parts. To accomplish this desirable feature, The Buda Company adopted the Lanova type of "controlled turbulence" combustion system and was the first diesel engine manufacturer to adopt the Lanova system. The first Buda-Lanova diesel engines were built and released for commercial use in 1934 and 1935.

The original Lanova or controlled turbulence system engine was primarily set up for use with the American-Bosch injection system. However, at a later date the Navy, together with Buda, arranged the design for the use of the Ex-Cell-O injection pump. The first diesel for the Navy with this equipment was the Buda Model DD engine. The Navy produced small diesels following closely the designs of The Buda Company. The drawings were made so that the parts were interchangeable. The Navy's original designs for their DD, DADB, and DC engines were made from Buda diesels.

Buda In Harvey

After the move to Harvey, the Buda company continued to build hand cars, and all manner of track maintenance equipment, including rail jacks and tools. The company made many other products including railroad crossing gates, hand trucks, railbenders, and scales. They made handcar trailers, and walking beam handcars, under the Harvey brand name.

By the early 1900s, the company experienced an amazing 300 percent growth. It acquired the Paige Iron Works and expanded its Harvey footprint to produce specialized railway frogs, crossings, switches, and jacks.

In 1908, the Buda company expanded beyond trackwork and began manufacturing its first gasoline engines, starting with their Model E two-cylinder, air-cooled "pancake" engine. (A pancake engine is an engine that lay horizontal with the pistons and cylinders sharing a common crankshaft.)

(While many sources began using "The Buda Engine Company" name during this time, there was never a formal company by that name. Until late 1909, the company name was "The Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company."

The earliest reference to "The Buda Company" name replacing the previous "Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company" was in the Indianapolis News of December 21, 1909.

In 1910, Buda expanded to build heavy-duty four-cylinder gasoline engines. These became highly favored by early truck, tractor, and marine manufacturers.

Buda became known for several technical innovations in engine design. The company was a pioneer of the "cast-in-block" construction method, a more durable and efficient way of manufacturing engine blocks. Early Buda engines were water-cooled, inline four, six, or eight-cylinder gasoline models, featuring long strokes and self-contained oiling systems. Early 4-cylinder gasoline models produced 30 to 60 hp.

Buda engines were used to power over 100 different North American vehicle manufacturers, including early Kenworth trucks (1922-1925), buses, and tractors. (See the list on the Wikipedia page)

William J. Watson, founder of the reorganized Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company after its move to Chicago in 1890, passed away on October 1, 1926, at age 83. Watson had also organized the Hewitt Manufacturing company, and the Fort Madison Iron Works company. (Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1926)

Buda inspection cars were known as Model 619, which Buda started building in 1928. It appears that these Buda inspection cars were used as a high-end speeders, used by managers and supervisors. They were considerably more comfortable than the average track maintenance handcar or motorized speeder. In later years, UP apparently used them with rail detection equipment before they converted OSL M-66 to track test car DC-2 in November 1951.

(Read more about the Buda Model 619 inspection cars)

Buda-Lanova

In response to the growing popularity of diesel power in the 1930s, Buda introduced a diesel line using the Lanova combustion system. These high-output diesel engines, known as "Buda-Lanova," exceeded 200 hp.

The Buda company's Lanova small diesel engines had a variety of industrial and transportation applications. Buda licensed the Lanova cylinder design from the American subsidiary of the original German company. The earliest applications appear to be boats and yachts as early as the mid 1930s. The installation of a Buda-Lanova 150 hp Diesel in a 38-foot boat in Portland, Oregon, was reported as being the largest of the type in marine service on the Pacific Coast. Installation of a Buda-Lanova Diesel in a new Mack truck for Cushman Bakeries in Portland, Maine, in April 1939 was reported as being the first installation of a Buda-Lanova Diesel in a truck.

The Lanova combustion chamber was a major development in Diesel engine technology, and was developed by the Lanova company, which was founded in 1929 by Franz Lang, and brothers Gotthard and Albert Wielich. The Lanova name was derived from Lang's name, and Latin for "new."

An advertisement in the Salt Lake Tribune, March 31, 1940, promoted the Buda-Lanova Diesel engines as a re-power alternative to replace a truck's gasoline engine. Buda-Lanova engines were in use as "stationary power for municipalities, mills, shops and garages, and for conversion units for trucks now powered with gasoline." In April 1940, the Reo Motor Car company began offering a line of trucks powered by Buda-Lanova Diesel engines.

A review of Diesel Progress magazine found that the last issue to include any mention of the Lanova combustion system in a Buda Diesel engine was the February 1941 issue. Prior to that time, the two names were mentioned regularly, as "Buda-Lanova," when describing a particular feature of a Diesel engine installation.

The Buda Company was acquired by the larger industrial giant Allis-Chalmers in 1953. Allis-Chalmers purchased the company to secure a line of diesel engines for its tractors and other heavy equipment. After the acquisition, the Buda-Lanova engines were rebranded as "Allis-Chalmers diesel".

September 11, 1953
"Chicago, Sept. 11 [AP] — Stockholders of Buda company have authorized sale of the material handling equipment manufacturer to Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., R. K. Mangan, president of Buda, announced today. All of Buda’s assets will be transferred to Allis-Chalmers, heavy equipment producer. Buda stockholders will receive one share of Allis-Chalmers common stock for each two and one-sixth shares of Buda stock held." (Illinois State Register, September 11, 1953)

At the time of its sale to Allis-Chalmers, "The Buda Company was founded in 1881, originally building railroad equipment. The Buda Company today manufactures an extensive range of diesel and gasoline engines, fork lift trucks, industrial plant tractors, lifting jacks, earth drills and maintenance of way equipment. Buda employs approximately 2200 people in their two plants at Harvey, Illinois. (Diesel Progress, Vol. 19, October 1953)

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