Rudolf Diesel Born March 18, 1858.

[injin man]

And 100 years later to the week I was born. 

I don't know if they celebrated St Patricks Day in  Paris then?

His legacy is right there with Tesla, Edison, Faraday, Henry, and the
others.

A small blurb for those who don't know his name:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldiesel.htm

[cgwymp]

Interesting video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdLbPS9R20

[quinnf]

If you're really interested in the development of the Diesel engine, keep your eyes open for a copy of this book http://www.amazon.com/Diesels-Engine-From-Conception-1918/dp/0917308034/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332343557&sr=8-3

It's gone way expensive now.  I picked it up a few years ago for about $30 and just about couldn't put it down.  A great book with wonderful detail showing the progress of the development of the engine and the gradual toll that success and the pressure to remain relevant extracted from Diesel who ultimately died (or was he murdered?) under mysterious circumstances.

Quinn

[injin man]

If you're really interested in the development of the Diesel engine, keep your eyes open for a copy of this book http://www.amazon.com/Diesels-Engine-From-Conception-1918/dp/0917308034/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332343557&sr=8-3

It's gone way expensive now.  I picked it up a few years ago for about $30 and just about couldn't put it down.  A great book with wonderful detail showing the progress of the development of the engine and the gradual toll that success and the pressure to remain relevant extracted from Diesel who ultimately died (or was he murdered?) under mysterious circumstances.

Thanks for the info my amex points almost covered it.

Quinn

[LowGear]

Interesting:

Ebay $124   (new)
Ebay $45     (used)

Amazon $88 (new)

I wonder if Lyle Cummins is related to "The" Cummins?

Casey

[fabricator]

I wonder if Rudys original fully functional engine survives? Probably not, probably melted down for bullets and bombs.

[cgwymp]

I wonder if Lyle Cummins is related to "The" Cummins?

Casey

Yes -- Lyle Cummins is Clessie Cummins's son.

[fabricator]

One of my pet peeves is people posting about their "Cummings" engines, I always chime in and ask what do Cummings engines come in, the reply is always they come in Dodge trucks dumb a$$, I'll come back with "Wow I could have sworn those came with Cummins engines, my bad" it usually gets pretty quiet on the other end.

[LowGear]

Bad is such a diverse word.  Sorta like silence saying so much.

Isn't it interesting that if you or I fell off a boat it would be a terrible accident but when a successful person does it there is intrigue and other such innuendo.

Wasn't mineral oil Rudolph's first choice and not vegetable oil?

Didn't Cummins used to ride in GMs?  Too bad Dodge doesn't put a four banger Cummins in their small PU.

Casey

[fabricator]

I could never understand the mysterious conditions thing, at the time he met his fate the engine was developed right? What possible machinations would have lead to his being murdered? It seems to me like he could have felt like his life's work had come to fruition and there was nothing left to live for and went for a swim.

[BioHazard]

Wasn't mineral oil Rudolph's first choice and not vegetable oil?

Didn't Cummins used to ride in GMs?  Too bad Dodge doesn't put a four banger Cummins in their small PU.

I thought the original diesel was designed for peanut oil, but I could be wrong. I don't think GMs ever had Cummins, they use detroit (GM) diesels.

[fabricator]

Bad is such a diverse word.  Sorta like silence saying so much.

Isn't it interesting that if you or I fell off a boat it would be a terrible accident but when a successful person does it there is intrigue and other such innuendo.

Wasn't mineral oil Rudolph's first choice and not vegetable oil?

Didn't Cummins used to ride in GMs?  Too bad Dodge doesn't put a four banger Cummins in their small PU.

Casey

Too true, if they did that I'd have one tomorrow, I know a guy who put a four cylinder Cummins in an F150 with an Allison transmission, the thing gets 35mpg on the highway, I have a 7.3 power stroke, but will readily admit the Cummins diesel engines are the best on this rock bar none, and now the new ones have the Allison transmissions behind them, it's just too damn bad they are still wrapped in a Dodge, I have a friend who has an 06 and the rear wheel wells are already rusted through.

[quinnf]

I just read the comments since my post.  It seems that mineral oils were then a cheap byproduct of distillation of petroleum for gasoline, for which there was already a demand and a corresponding high price.  Rudy was a fair dinkum (technical term) engineer who was obscessive about not deviating from his intended course.  From Carnot heat engine theory, which was well understood even in that day, he envisioned attaining high thermal efficiency by combusting fuel in an extremely high compression engine into which fuel and air were inducted.  However, mechanical losses dogged his every step.  His idea fit the theory, but at the end of the day friction losses made his goal, while not unattainable, simply without merit.  The ultra-high compression engines that were built didn't perform as well as he had hoped they would.   Diesel's landmark 1892 patent was based on an extremely high compression engine, and he was thereafter constantly defending his idea and his considerable ego.  

With equally talented engineers challenging his patents with their own innovations he wasted a lot of time and financial backers' capital pursuing his dream.  Living a lavish lifestyle, yet always on the brink of financial ruin and evidently plagued by periods of self-doubt and depression, Diesel ended up joining the others' development pathway and settled on a lower compression ratio such as we have with modern Diesels.  The goal was always to develop an engine with the lowest specific fuel consumption figures.  

Pressurized air induction fell by the wayside in favor of pressurized fuel injection.  Coal dust induction was tried, but as you might expect, its abrasive nature and ash deposits made that idea unpractical.  I seem to recall the author mentioned that vegetable oils were tried but mineral oils were much less expensive for most applications.

The book is fascinating reading when you consider the amount of work that it took to build each test engine from castings.  But that was the cutting edge of technology at the time, and the benefits of having a source of high power with low capital and operating costs were recognized by everyone involved.  

Those of us who have 'roids own a piece of history.  The engine was designed within recent memory of the Diesel Wars, yet it has been in continuous production, virtually unchanged, since 1930.  Is there any other engine about which one can say the same?  

Quinn

[injin man]

Quinn

I bought the book on Amazon and have started reading it. Very interesting
man. Next up is Cummins.

[SteveU.]

Great summary brief Mr Quinnf
Always the most fascinating to me is the story behind the man who pushed through to a useable machine and why.
Idealism always bows sooner or later to real world realities. All of 'em. Sometimes stated as "Form follows function".
Or my favorites: "Pretty IS as Pretty DOes". Best yet; "Good enough Pig. Good enough."

Regards
Steve Unruh