Diesel engine and history

The steam engine is a type of internal combustion engine. It is a compression ignition engine, in which the fuel ignites as it is injected into the engine. By contrast, in the gasoline engine the fuel is mixed first and then ignited by a spark plug. Also, diesels generally have high compression ratios, to enable compression ignition, whereas in gasoline-burning engines, compression ignition is undesirable.

The engine operates using the diesel cycle.

The engine is named after German engineer Rudolf Diesel, who invented it in 1892 based on the hot bulb engine and received the patent on February 23, 1893. Diesel intended the engine to use a variety of fuels including coal dust and peanut oil. He demonstrated it at the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) using peanut oil.



Early history timeline

* 1862: Nicolaus Otto develops his coal gas engine, similar to a modern gasoline engine.

* 1891: Herbert Akroyd Stuart, of Bletchley perfects his oil engine, and leases rights to Hornsby of England to build engines. They build the first cold start, compression ignition engines.

* 1892: Hornsby engine No. 101 is built and installed in a waterworks. It is now in the MAN truck museum in Northern England.

* 1892: Rudolf Diesel develops his Carnot heat engine type motor which burnt powdered coal dust. He is employed by refrigeration genius Carl von Linde, then Munich iron manufacturer MAN AG, and later by the Sulzer engine company of Switzerland. He borrows ideas from them and leaves a legacy with all firms.

* 1892: John Froelich builds his first oil engine powered farm tractor.

* 1894: Witte, Reid, and Fairbanks start building oil engines with a variety of ignition systems.

* 1896: Hornsby builds diesel tractors and railway engines.

* 1897: Winton produces and drives the first US built gas automobile; he later builds diesel plants.

* 1897: Mirrlees, Watson & Yaryan build the first British diesel engine under license from Rudolf Diesel. This is now displayed in the Science Museum at South Kensington, London.

* 1898: Busch installs a Rudolf Diesel type engine in his brewery in St. Louis. It is the first in the United States. Rudolf Diesel perfects his compression start engine, patents, and licences it. This engine, pictured above, is in a German museum.

* 1899: Diesel licences his engine to builders Burmeister & Wain, Krupp, and Sulzer, who become famous builders.

* 1902: F. Rundlof invents the two-stroke crankcase, scavenged hot bulb engine.

* 1902: A company named Forest City [1] start manufacturing diesel generators.

* 1903: Ship Gjoa transits the ice-filled Northwest Passage, aided with a Dan kerosene engine.

* 1904: French build the first diesel submarine, the Z.

* 1908: Bolinder-Munktell starts building two stroke hot-bulb engines.

* 1912: First diesel ship MS Selandia is built. SS Fram, polar explorer Amundsen’s flagship, is converted to a AB Atlas diesel.

* 1913: Fairbanks Morse starts building its Y model semi-diesel engine. US Navy submarines use NELSECO units.

* 1914: German U-Boats are powered by MAN diesels. War service proves engine's reliability.

* 1920s: Fishing fleets convert to oil engines. Atlas-Imperial of Oakland, Union, and Lister diesels appear.

* 1924: First diesel trucks appear.

* 1928: Canadian National Railways employ a diesel shunter in their yards.

* 1930s: Clessie Cummins starts with Dutch diesel engines, and then builds his own into trucks and a Duesenberg luxury car at the Daytona speedway.

* 1930s: Caterpillar starts building diesels for their tractors.

* 1933: Citroën introduced the Rosalie, a passenger car with the world’s first commercially available diesel engine developed with Harry Ricardo.

* 1934: General Motors starts a GM diesel research facility. It builds diesel railroad engines—The Pioneer Zephyr—and goes on to found the General Motors Electro-Motive Division, which becomes important building engines for landing craft and tanks in the Second World War. GM then applies this knowledge to market control with its famous Green Leakers for buses and railroad engines.

* 1936: Mercedes-Benz builds the 260D diesel car. A.T.S.F inaugurates the diesel train Super Chief.

* 1936: Airship Hindenburg is powered by diesel engines.