2.9.1

Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was born in 1858. He died under strange circum­stances on a ship and he was last seen alive in 1913. He was a German inventor and

original designs. They are “heavy-duty” machines with a robust construction, and are used in submarines, ships, locomotives, passenger cars, large trucks, and in power plants generating electricity.

He gathered practical engineering experience at the Sulzer Brothers Machine Works in Winterthur, Switzerland. His life was full of big bangs and explosions because not all his experiments were a success. He first toyed with steam and his research into fuel efficiency induced him to build a steam engine using ammonia vapor. During tests, this machine exploded with almost fatal consequences. Rudolf Diesel had to stay in hospital for many months and he never recovered completely.

Ever since then he suffered from ill health and eyesight problems.

Soon after Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz had invented the motor car in 1887, Diesel published a paper entitled “Theory and construction of a rational heat — engine to replace the steam engine and combustion engines known today”. This study formed the basis for his invention of the diesel engine. Rudolf Diesel was almost killed by his engine when it exploded. However, his engine was the first that proved that fuel could be ignited without a spark. He operated his first suc­cessful engine in 1897.

His work in engine design was driven by the goal to generate much energy and increase the efficiency of the engine. Eventually he obtained a patent for his design. His engine and its successors are now known as “diesel” engines.

Diesel was interested in using vegetable oil as fuel and his first engine, in fact, ran on peanut oil at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, much to the aston­ishment of scientists and engineers. This was the first biofuel ever. Even then he could see the advantages in agriculture and for the environment. However, he died before his vision of vegetable oil-powered engines became a reality.

2.9.2