Rudolf Diesel

{{Short description|German inventor and engineer (1858–1913)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox engineer | image = Rudolf Diesel2.jpg | caption = Diesel, {{circa|1900}} | birth_name = Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1858|3|18}} | birth_place = Paris, France | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1913|9|29|1858|3|18}} | death_place = English Channel | resting_place = North Sea | citizenship = German<ref group=note name=GEcitizen/> | other_names = Oscar Lintz | alma_mater = Technical University of Munich | occupation = {{hlist|Engineer|inventor|entrepreneur}} | known_for = Diesel engine<br>Diesel fuel | notable_works = Motor 250/400 | spouse = {{marriage|Martha Flasche|1883}} | children = 3 | awards = Elliott Cresson Medal (1901) | discipline = Mechanical engineering | employer = {{cslist|Sulzer|Linde|MAN AG|Krupp}} | significant_advance = Internal combustion engine | signature = Unterschrift Rudolf Diesel.jpg }} '''Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|d|iː|z|əl|,|_|-|s|əl}},<ref name="M-W-at-Diesel">{{Citation |author=Merriam-Webster |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |url=https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate/diesel |access-date=2022-04-13}}</ref> {{IPA|de|ˈʁuːdɔlf ˈkʀɪsti̯an kaʁl ˈdiːzl̩|lang|De-Diesel.ogg}}; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German<ref group=note name=GEcitizen/> inventor and mechanical engineer, best known for inventing the diesel engine, which burns diesel fuel; both are named after him.

==Early life and education== Diesel was born on 18 March 1858 at 38 Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth in Paris, France,<ref>{{Herring-Ultimate Train}}, p. 148.</ref> the second of three children of Elise (née Strobel) and Theodor Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris.<ref name="Moon 1974">{{Harvnb|Moon|1974}}.</ref><ref name="Grosser 1978">{{Harvnb|Grosser|1978}}.</ref> Theodor Diesel, a bookbinder by trade, left his hometown of Augsburg, Bavaria, in 1848. He met his wife, a daughter of a Nuremberg merchant, in Paris in 1855 and became a leather goods manufacturer there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 49.</ref>

Shortly after his birth, Diesel was given away to a Vincennes farmer family, where he spent his first nine months. When he was returned to his family, they moved into a flat at 49 Rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi. At the time, the Diesel family suffered from financial difficulties, thus young Rudolf Diesel had to work in his father's workshop and deliver leather goods to customers using a barrow. He attended a Protestant-French school and soon became interested in social questions and technology.<ref>{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 50.</ref> Being a very good student, 12-year-old Diesel received the Société pour l'Instruction Elémentaire bronze medal<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020|title=Société pour l'instruction élémentaire|url=http://www.inrp.fr/edition-electronique/lodel/dictionnaire-ferdinand-buisson/document.php?id=3647|access-date=23 February 2021|website=www.inrp.fr/edition-electronique/lodel/dictionnaire-ferdinand-buisson|language=fr}}</ref> and had plans to enter Ecole Primaire Supérieure in 1870.<ref name="Sittauer 1990">{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 51.</ref>

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War the same year, his family were deported to England, settling in London, where Diesel attended an English-speaking school.<ref name="Sittauer 1990"/> Before the war's end, however, Diesel's mother sent 12-year-old Rudolf to Augsburg to live with his aunt and uncle, Barbara and Christoph Barnickel, to become fluent in German and to visit the ''Königliche Kreis-Gewerbeschule'' (Royal County Vocational College), where his uncle taught mathematics. He was enrolled at the ''Technische Hochschule'' (Technical High School).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Diesel |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/internal-combustion-engine |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=Britannica. |language=en-GB}}</ref>

At the age of 14, Diesel wrote a letter to his parents saying that he intended to become an engineer. After finishing his basic education at the top of his class in 1873, he enrolled at the newly founded Industrial School of Augsburg. Two years later, he received a merit scholarship from the Royal Bavarian Polytechnic of Munich, which he accepted against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to begin working instead.

==Career== One of Diesel's professors in Munich was Carl von Linde. Diesel was unable to graduate with his class in July 1879 because he fell ill with typhoid fever. While waiting for the next examination date, he gained practical engineering experience at the Sulzer Brothers Machine Works in Winterthur, Switzerland. Diesel graduated in January 1880 with highest academic honours and returned to Paris, where he assisted Linde with the design and construction of a modern refrigeration and ice plant. Diesel became the director of the plant a year afterwards.

In 1883, Diesel married Martha Flasche, and continued to work for Linde, gaining numerous patents in both Germany and France.<ref>{{cite book | last = James| first = Ioan|title = Remarkable Engineers: From Riquet to Shannon| publisher = Cambridge University Press| date = 2010|page = 129| isbn = 978-1-139-48625-5| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0bwb5bevubwC&pg=PA129}}</ref>

In early 1890, Diesel moved to Berlin with his wife and children, Rudolf Jr, Heddy, and Eugen, to assume management of Linde's corporate research and development department and to join several other corporate boards. {{Anchor|Kaboom}} Since he was not allowed to use for his own purposes the patents he developed while an employee of Linde's, he expanded beyond the field of refrigeration. He first worked with steam, his research into thermal efficiency and fuel efficiency leading him to build a steam engine using ammonia vapor. During tests, however, the engine exploded and almost killed him. His research into high-compression cylinder pressures tested the strength of iron and steel cylinder heads. One exploded during a test run. He spent many months in a hospital, followed by health and eyesight problems. It was during this year that Diesel began conceptualising the idea of a diesel engine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early History of the Diesel Engine |url=https://dieselnet.com/tech/diesel_history.php |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=dieselnet.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Ever since attending lectures of von Linde, Diesel worked on designing an internal combustion engine that could approach the maximum theoretical thermal efficiency of the Carnot cycle. In 1892, after working on this idea for several years, he considered his theory to be completed. In the same year, Diesel was given the German patent DRP 67207.<ref name="Sass_383">Friedrich Sass: ''Geschichte des deutschen Verbrennungsmotorenbaus von 1860 bis 1918'', Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg 1962, {{ISBN|978-3-662-11843-6}}. p. 383</ref> In 1893, he published a treatise entitled ''Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-engine to Replace the Steam Engine and The Combustion Engines Known Today'', that he had been working on since early 1892.<ref name="Sass_394">Friedrich Sass: ''Geschichte des deutschen Verbrennungsmotorenbaus von 1860 bis 1918'', Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg 1962, {{ISBN|978-3-662-11843-6}}. p. 394</ref> This treatise formed the basis for his work on and development of the diesel engine. By summer 1893, Diesel had realised that his initial theory was erroneous, leading him to file another patent application for the corrected theory in 1893.<ref name="Sass_383" />

Diesel understood thermodynamics and the theoretical and practical constraints on fuel efficiency. He knew that as much as 90% of the energy available in the fuel is wasted in a steam engine. His work in engine design was driven by the goal of much higher efficiency ratios.

As opposed to outside ignition applied against internal air and fuel mixture, air was compressed internally within the cylinder whilst heating, in order for the fuel to establish contact the air immediately before the compression period would end, thus igniting on its own. Therefore, the engine was smaller and weighed less than most contemporary steam engines, not to mention the fact that further fuel sources weren't required. Fuel efficiency was measured 75% above the 10% theoretical efficiency for steam engines.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Diesel Internal-Combustion Engine |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/rudolf-diesel |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.lemelson.mit.edu|language=en-GB}}</ref>

In his engine, fuel was injected at the end of the compression stroke and was ignited by the high temperature resulting from the compression. From 1893 to 1897, Heinrich von Buz, director of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg in Augsburg, provided Rudolf Diesel the opportunity to test and develop his ideas.<ref name="Moon 1974"/> Diesel also received support from the Krupp firm.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/company/history |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.thysenkrupp.com|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Diesel's design utilised compression ignition as opposed to using spark plugs similar to gas engines, with the ability to be run on biodiesel, if not petroleum-originating fuels. Compression engines are circa 30% more efficient over conventional gas burning engines, being mixed through forced compressed air within the combustion chamber, leading to a higher internal temperature, expanding at a higher rate and placing further pressure over the pistons that rotate the crankshaft towards a quicker rate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Curious Case of Rudolf Diesel |url=https://www.capitalremanexchange.com/history-death-rudolf-diesel/ |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.capitalremensonexchange.com|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Biodiesel often composed of synthesis gas originating from waste cellulose gasification, as well as extraction of lipids from algae, most frequently used by consisting vegetable oils and algae together under methanol transesterification. Numerous firms have developed different techniques in order to achieve such.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Diesel |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/rudolf-diesel |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=www.sciencedirect.com|language=en-GB}}</ref>

The first successful diesel engine Motor 250/400 was officially tested in 1897, featuring a 25 horsepower four-stroke, single vertical cylinder compression. Having just revolutionised the engine manufacturing industry,<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Rudolf Diesel's engine changed the world |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38302874 |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.bbc.com|language=en-GB}}</ref> it became an immediate success,<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of diesel engines |url=https://www.cummins.com/news/2023/04/04/history-diesel-engines |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.cummins.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> with royalties amassing great wealth for Diesel. The engine is currently on display at the German Technical Museum in Munich.

Besides Germany, Diesel obtained patents for his design in other countries, including the United States (1895,1898).<ref>{{US patent|542846}}</ref><ref>{{US patent|608845}}</ref>

{{expand section|the balance of Diesel's professional and business career, which skips from a sputter of patents to his disappearance immediately in the next section|date=March 2023}}

==Disappearance and death== thumb|''Dresden'' in Antwerp Harbour, 1913 On the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the Great Eastern Railway steamer SS ''Dresden'' in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m., but he was never seen alive again. In the morning his cabin was empty and his bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where it could be seen from the bed. His hat and neatly folded overcoat were discovered beneath the afterdeck railing.<ref name="pahl">Greg Pahl, "Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy", Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-933392-96-7}}</ref>

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 20,000 German marks in cash<ref>{{citation |url=https://time.com/4049401/diesel-disappearance/|title=Time Magazine:The Mysterious Disappearance of the Diesel Engine's Inventor |date=29 September 2015 }}</ref> (US$120,000 today) and financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=19880922&id=jZxOAAAAIBAJ&pg=5572,1837129|quote=It is alleged the cause of the loss of his fortune was due to unsuccessful stock market speculations and poor real estate deals.|work=Manila Standard|date=22 September 1988|title=Rudolf Diesel – A tragic end|author=Josef Luecke|page=24}}</ref> In a diary Diesel brought with him on the ship, for the date 29 September 1913, a cross was drawn, possibly indicating death.<ref name="pahl" />

Ten days after he was last seen, the crew of the Dutch pilot boat ''Coertsen'' came upon the corpse of a man floating in the Eastern Scheldt. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognisable, and they 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. On 13 October, these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1913-10-14/ed-1/seq-13/#date1=1913&index=12&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Diesel+Rudolf&proxdistance=5&date2=1913&ortext=&proxtext=Rudolf+Diesel&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |work=The Evening News Star|location= Washington, D.C.|title=Diesel's Fate Learned|date=14 October 1913|page= 13}}</ref><ref>''Cincinnati Enquirer'', 14 October 1913</ref> Five months later, in March 1914, Diesel’s wife, Martha, seemed to go missing in Germany.<ref>Brunt, Douglas, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, 2023; ISDN 9781982169909</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Is Dr. Diesel in Canada? Disappearance of His Widow |author=Berlin Correspondent |work=Daily Citizen |date=March 24, 1914}}</ref> Martha ultimately died in Brandenburg on 16 April 1944, at age 85.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1944-04-25/ed-1/?sp=10&st=image&r=0.663,0.027,0.34,0.167,0 |work=Evening Star |location= Washington, D.C. |title=Inventor Diesel's Widow Dies |date=25 April 1944}}</ref>

There are various theories to explain Diesel's death. Some, such as Diesel's biographers Grosser (1978)<ref name="Grosser 1978"/> and Sittauer (1978)<ref>{{Harvnb|Sittauer|1990}}, p. 122.</ref> have argued that he died by suicide. Another line of thought suggests that he was murdered, given his refusal to grant the German forces the exclusive rights to using his invention; indeed, Diesel had boarded ''Dresden'' with the intent of meeting with representatives of the Royal Navy to discuss the possibility of powering British submarines by diesel engine.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/06/diesel-engine-history-feature/|title=The tumultuous history of the diesel engine|work=Autoblog|access-date=3 September 2018|language=en}}</ref> Another theory is that his apparent death was a ruse staged by the British government to cover his defection to the British cause, and that he then went to Canada, worked for the Vickers shipyard in Montreal and was responsible for a sudden acceleration in its ability to produce a successful Diesel engine for submarines.<ref>Brunt, Douglas, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, 2023; ISDN 9781982169909</ref> Given the limited evidence at hand, his disappearance and death remain unsolved.

In 1950, Magokichi Yamaoka, the founder of Yanmar, the diesel engine manufacturer in Japan, visited West Germany and learned that there was no tomb or monument for Diesel. Yamaoka and people associated with Diesel began to make preparations to honour him. In 1957, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Diesel's birth and the 60th anniversary of the diesel engine development, Yamaoka dedicated the Rudolf Diesel Memorial Garden (Rudolf-Diesel-Gedächtnishain) in Wittelsbacher Park in Augsburg, Bavaria, where Diesel had undertaken his early technical education and original engine development.

==Legacy== 204 px|thumb|right|Rudolf Diesel on a 1958 German postage stamp

He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1978.

After Diesel's death, his engine underwent much development and became a very important replacement for the steam piston engine in many applications. Because the Diesel engine required a more robust construction than a gasoline engine, it saw limited use in aviation. However, the Diesel engine became widespread in many other applications, such as stationary engines, agricultural machines and off-highway machinery in general, submarines, ships, and much later, locomotives, trucks, and in modern automobiles.

Diesel engines have the benefit of running more fuel-efficiently than any other internal combustion engines suited for motor vehicles, allowing more heat to be converted to mechanical work.

Diesel was interested in using coal dust<ref>{{patent|DE|67207|Rudolf Diesel: "Arbeitsverfahren und Ausführungsart für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen" p. 4.}}</ref> or vegetable oil as fuel, and in fact, his engine was run on peanut oil.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://biodiesel.org/docs/ffs-basics/adm-fact-sheet-biodiesel-technical-information.pdf?sfvrsn=4 | title=Biodiesel Technical Information | publisher=biodiesel.org | access-date=27 December 2017 | archive-date=28 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428120650/http://biodiesel.org/docs/ffs-basics/adm-fact-sheet-biodiesel-technical-information.pdf?sfvrsn=4 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Although these fuels were not better replacements, in 2008 the rise in fuel prices coupled with concerns about remaining petroleum reserves, led to the more widespread use of vegetable oil and biodiesel.

The primary fuel used in Diesel engines is the eponymous diesel fuel, derived from the refinement of crude oil. Diesel is safer to store than gasoline, because its flash point is approximately {{convert|145|F-change|order=flip}} higher,<ref>{{cite web |title=Flash Point – Fuels |url=https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/flash-point-fuels-d_937.html |website=Engineering ToolBox |access-date=18 December 2018 |year=2005}}</ref> and it will not explode.

The asteroid 10093 Diesel in the main asteroid belt, discovered in 1990 by Eric Walter Elst at the European Southern Observatory, was named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Small-Body Database Lookup |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=10093&view=OPD |access-date=3 January 2026|website=ssd.jpl.nasa.gov}}</ref>

===Use of vegetable oils as diesel engine fuel=== {{main|Vegetable oil fuel}} In a book titled ''Diesel Engines for Land and Marine Work'',<ref name="Chalkley1912">{{Citation |last=Chalkley |first=Alfred Philip |year=1912 |title=Diesel engines for land and marine work |edition=2nd | page=3 |publisher=D. Van Nostrand |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLM3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PR3}}</ref> Diesel said that "In 1900 a small Diesel engine was exhibited by the Otto company which, on the suggestion of the French Government, was run on arachide [peanut] oil, and operated so well that very few people were aware of the fact. The motor was built for ordinary oils, and without any modification was run on vegetable oil. I have recently repeated these experiments on a large scale with full success and entire confirmation of the results formerly obtained."<ref name="Chalkley1912pp4-5">{{Citation |last=Chalkley |first=Alfred Philip |year=1912 |title=Diesel engines for land and marine work |edition=2nd |publisher=D. Van Nostrand |location=New York |pages=4–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLM3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA4}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist|group=note|refs= <ref name=GEcitizen>Until 1913, German citizenship was acquired through citizenship in a constituent state (whose requirements varied); from 1913, uniform citizenship requirements were set at the national level. As Diesel was born to parents from the Kingdom of Bavaria, he held Bavarian (and thus German) citizenship; in his US patent application (No. 608,845) from the 1890s, Diesel stated: "Be it known that I, Rudolf Diesel, a subject of the King of Bavaria, and a resident of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany...".</ref> }}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Works== * Rudolf Diesel: ''Theorie und Konstruktion eines rationellen Wärmemotors zum Ersatz der Dampfmaschine und der heute bekannten Verbrennungsmotoren.'' Springer, Berlin, 1893, {{ISBN|978-3-642-64949-3}} ({{Google books|QHV_BwAAQBAJ|Theorie und Konstruktion eines rationellen Wärmemotors}}) * Rudolf Diesel: ''Die Entstehung des Dieselmotors.'' Springer, Berlin 1913. {{ISBN|978-3-642-64940-0}} * Rudolf Diesel: ''Solidarismus: Natürliche wirtschaftliche Erlösung des Menschen'', Oldenbourg, Berlin/München 1903. ([https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/ulbtirol/content/titleinfo/3785404 PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510071715/https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/ulbtirol/content/titleinfo/3785404 |date=10 May 2021 }})

==Bibliography== * {{Citation | last = Cummins. | first = C. Lyle Jr. | year = 1993 | title = Diesel's Engine: Volume 1: From Conception To 1918 | publisher = Carnot Press | location = Wilsonville, OR | isbn = 978-0-917308-03-1 }}. ''(C. Lyle Cummins, Jr. was the son of Clessie Cummins, founder of the Cummins Company).'' * {{Citation | last = Grosser | first = Morton | year = 1978 | title = Diesel: The Man and the Engine | publisher = Atheneum | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-689-30652-5 | lccn = 78006196}} * {{Citation | last = Moon | first = John F. | year = 1974 | title = Rudolf Diesel and the Diesel Engine | publisher = Priory Press | location = London | isbn = 978-0-85078-130-4 | lccn = 74182524 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/rudolfdieseldies00moon }} * {{Citation | last = Sittauer | first = Hans L. | year = 1990 | title = Biographien hervorragender Naturwissenschaftler, Techniker und Mediziner, issue 32: Nicolaus August Otto Rudolf Diesel (4th edition) | publisher = Springer (BSB Teubner) | location = Leipzig, DDR | isbn = 978-3-322-00762-9 }} * {{Citation | last = Brunt | first = Douglas | year = 2023 | title = The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel | publisher = Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster | location = United States | isbn = 978-1982169909 }}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://www.thoughtco.com/rudolf-diesel-diesel-engine-1991648 Rudolf Diesel] at ThoughtCo * [http://casbiorant.influence.pro Historical background of R Diesel mystery ] * {{cite web |url= http://www.hempcar.org/diesel.shtml |title= Rudolf Diesel |website= Hemp Car |archive-date= 3 August 2005 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050803084614/http://www.hempcar.org/diesel.shtml |access-date= 3 August 2005 }} * {{US patent|542846}} * {{US patent|608845}} * {{Wikisource-inline|list= ** {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Diesel, Rudolf |short=x |noicon=x}} ** {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Diesel, Rudolf |short=x |noicon=x}} ** {{Cite EB1922 |wstitle=Diesel, Rudolf |short=x |noicon=x}} }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diesel, Rudolf}} Category:1858 births Category:1910s missing person cases Category:Missing German people Category:1913 deaths Category:Immigrants to the German Empire Category:19th-century German engineers Category:19th-century German inventors Category:20th-century German engineers Category:Businesspeople from Augsburg Category:German automotive pioneers Category:Engineers from Bavaria Category:Formerly missing German people Category:German fluid dynamicists Category:People associated with the internal combustion engine Category:People lost at sea Category:People who died at sea Category:Technical University of Munich alumni Category:Unsolved deaths

Rudolf Diesel

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