Though best known for his invention of the diesel engine, the French-born Rudolf Diesel was also an eminent thermal engineer, a connoisseur of the arts, a linguist, and a social theorist. 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 first 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 on improvements and on the last day of 1896 demonstrated another model with the spectacular mechanical efficiency of 75.6 percent. His engines were used to power pipelines, electric and water plants, automobiles and trucks and marine craft. It was also later used in applications including mines, oil fields, factories, and transoceanic shipping.
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Fact File: Diesel originally conceived the combustion engine as an alternative to the oversized, expensive, fuel-wasting steam engine which was being widely used in industry. |
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