Diesel

The name diesel is given to an engine invented by a German named Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) in the late 19th century.

Rudolph Diesel had the idea to develop an engine which relied on a high compression of the fuel to ignite it. He took his inspiration from watching a lecture where there was a demonstration of a Malaysian fire starting technique called the 'fire piston' which creates flames through air compression.

Diesel first came up with a design for his engine in 1892 and, subsidized by the Krupp company, constructed a ‘rational heat motor’, demonstrating the first compression-ignition engine in 1897. Diesel was granted US Patent No. 608,845 on August 9, 1898, for his engine.  He unveiled his engine at the World Fair in 1900

Diesel's original 1897 engine on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. Photo by Chris Thomas 

A diesel engine can also be made to run on vegetable oil made from old cooking oil. This type of fuel is called biodiesel. This is not a new idea. Rudolf Diesel demonstrated his diesel engine in the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) using peanut oil fuel.

Rudolf Diesel was lost overboard from the steamer Dresden while on his way to London on September 29, 1913. His disappearance and death remain a mystery to this day. There are several theories about what happened to Diesel. One theory is that he fell overboard accidentally, perhaps while pacing the deck at night. Another theory is that he committed suicide. Diesel was known to have been struggling with financial problems at the time, and he may have been feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. Shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 German marks in cash.

On October 10, 1913, a Belgian sailor aboard a North Sea steamer spotted a body floating in the water; upon further investigation, it turned out that the body was Diesel's. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and the crew did not retain it aboard because of heavy weather. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, I.D. card, pocketknife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. Three days later, these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.

Rudolf Diesel

The first diesel locomotive took to the rails in Germany in 1912.

The first US diesel-power passenger car, a Cummins powered Packard, was built in Columbus, Indiana in 1930.

To promote the diesel engine, Cummins Engine Company owner Clessie Cummins mounted a diesel engine in a used Packard Touring Car and set out from Indianapolis, Indiana for New York's National Automobile Show. The first diesel-engined automobile trip was completed on January 6, 1930.
The 800-mile trip used 30 gallons of fuel, which cost $1.38, and showed that diesel was a viable option as an internal combustion engine.

The world's largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, which produces a peak power output of 84.42 MW (113,210 hp) at 102 rpm.

When he invented the Diesel engine, Diesel envisioned local communities growing crops to run their engines and making themselves entirely self-sufficient. Today, virtually all diesel engines run on petroleum from the ground by multinational oil companies in a globalized market.

Each year, National Biodiesel Day on March 18th commemorates the birthday of Rudolf Diesel on March 18, 1858.

Heating oil is diesel fuel. It is dyed red to indicate that it is not legal to burn in a diesel vehicle because the red dye indicates that there were no road taxes paid with it.

A gallon of diesel will carry a tonne of freight 246 miles by rail, or 88 miles by road.

Source Edn.com