Heat engines

Rudolf Diesel: inventor of the diesel engine

Rudolf Diesel: inventor of the diesel engine

Rudolf Cristiano Karl Diesel, was born in Paris on March 18, 1858 and died on the English Channel on September 30, 1913. Diesel was a German engineer.

Rudolf Diesel made a place for himself in engine history by inventing the high-performance combustion engine that bears his name, the diesel engine.

The diesel engine is applicable to locomotion. This engine was presented at the international fair in Paris as the first engine that used mineral oil as fuel and later called a combustion engine, later it would bear the name of its inventor.

The diesel engine works according to the diesel cycle. It is also called a compression ignition engine. The diesel engine was a great improvement over the steam engine.

Biography of Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel cycle

Rudolf Diesel was the son of Bavarian immigrants, he was born in Paris. In 1870, the family had to leave France at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, and Diesel was sent to Augsburg.

Diesel was a disciple of the inventor of the refrigerator Carl von Linde from 1875 in Munich. He returned to Paris as a representative of his master's refrigeration machine company.

Between 1893 and 1897 MAN (belonging to the Krupp group) built the world's first engine to burn vegetable oil (palm oil) under working conditions.

The Institute of Mechanical Engineers awarded the Order of Merit for their research and developments in engines with peanut oil, then they used oil for being cheaper.

He considered himself a social philosopher, although his book  Solidarity , where he describes his vision for the company, only sold 200 copies.

How did Rudolf Diesel die?

Rudolf Diesel is supposed to have died on September 29 and 30, 1913 and (supposedly) drowned because he disappeared from the ship that covered the route from Antwerp to Harwich in which he was traveling. A couple of days later his body was found by a coast guard boat. As was common back then, they only took his belongings (later identified by his son) and the body was thrown back into the sea.

Several hypotheses about his death are handled, the first one indicates that he committed suicide to be bankrupt, although his family believed that they killed him and stole his ideas. Another hypothesis indicates that German agents assassinated him to prevent the spread of his inventions, given that the war was near and he was determined to allow anyone (France and England among them) to use the diesel engine by buying licenses on their patents. .

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Publication Date: December 6, 2017
Last Revision: December 6, 2017