Rudolf Diesel: 1858 - 1913

In 1893, German inventor Rudolph Diesel published a paper entitled

"The Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Engine," which

described an engine in which air is compressed by a piston to a very

high pressure, causing a high temperature. Fuel is then injected and

ignited by the compression temperature.

 

Diesel built his first engine based on that theory the same year and,

though it worked only sporadically, he patented it. Within a few

years, Diesel's design became the standard of the world for that

type of engine and his name was attached to it.

 

Diesel thought that the United States was the greatest potential

market for his engine. The first diesel built in the United States was

made in 1898 by Busch-Zulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co. The

president of that company was Adolphus Busch, of Budweiser

brewing fame, who had purchased North American manufacturing rights.

 

Diesel's Humanitarian Vision:

 

Diesel originally thought that the diesel engine, (readily adaptable in size and utilizing

locally available fuels like vegetable oil) would enable independent craftsmen, artisans, farmers and small industry

to endure the powered competition of larger industries that then virtually monopolized the predominant

power source-the oversized, expensive, fuel-wasting steam engine. During 1885 Diesel set

up his first shop-laboratory in Paris and began his 13-year ordeal of creating his distinctive

engine. At Augsburg, on August 10, 1893, 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. Diesel spent two

more years at improvements and on the last day of 1896 demonstrated another model with

the spectacular, if theoretical, mechanical efficiency of 75.6 percent, in contrast to the

then-prevailing efficiency of the steam engine of 10 percent or less. Although commercial

manufacture was delayed another year and even then begun at a snail's pace, by 1898 his

engines wereused to power pipelines, electric and water plants, automobiles and trucks, and

marinecraft, and soon after were used in applications including mines, oil fields, factories, and

transoceanic shipping.

 

A Mystery:

 

Diesel died under mysterious circumstances in 1913, vanishing during an overnight crossing

of the English Channel on the mail steamer Dresden from Antwerp to Harwich. Diesel's

death might have been suicide, accidental or an assassination. Proponents of the

assassination theory point out that shortly after Diesel's death, a diesel-powered German

submarine fleet became the scourge of the seas. Diesel had been friendly with France, Britain

and the United States and was known for his willingness to share his invention with the world.

 

What's To Come?

 

Volkswagen was the only manufacturer to offer passenger cars with diesel engines in

the U.S. , other then that the diesel car is basically dead in the USA, killed off by cheap gasoline.

However, the diesel engine is being reconsidered by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The future CAFE

(Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards (40 miles per gallon +) could be met with

highly efficient diesel engines as are currently built and marketed in Japan. Electric cars are

another possible solution but Diesel powered vehicles have many advantages when compared

to electric-vehicles. The development and implementation of biofuels in conjunction with small diesel engines could greatly reduce air pollution and be just as friendly to the environment as the invention of electric cars.

In the near future cleaner burning synthetic Diesel fuels made from solar hydrogen and grow organic matter would also be a CO2 neutral fuel for the world to enjoy.

 

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