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By 1940, company ranks had swelled to more than 1,700, up from 600 employees the year before. As the decade unfolded, the Division quietly entered the transmission business with the development of the CD-850 tank transmission. It was a move that foreshadowed revolutionary things to come in transmission design and development.
Allison Division's first employee publication, AllisoNews, debuted in 1941. Developments at the company made for much interesting reading.
The birth of Allison's Transmission Operations in 1946 launched a new era of diversification at the division. By 1949, Allison's flagship transmission, the CD-850 (Right), had reached production. This would soon give rise to a new family of off-highway products. There were other transmission-related developments as well. Led by Robert Schaefer, Allison delivered the first production units of the V-drive transmission in 1947. The transmission, which development of the torque converter made possible, would single-handedly revolutionize the transit industry. The V-drive freed drivers from shifting, permitting them to collect fares (and bus companies to operate more profitably by eliminating motor men). Throughout the 1950s Allison continued to refine the V-drive, making buses quieter, smoother shifting and more cost-efficient to operate.
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