Bio: Rudolf Diesel

Next time you're stuck in bed recovering from injury or sickness and are looking for something to relieve the boredom, you might consider designing a new kind of engine. That's what Rudolph Diesel did.

During his early research into fuel efficiency he experimented with an ammonia vapor based steam engine. While he was in the hospital recuperating from that experiment he studied the technical papers of one Nicolaus Otto (the German inventor of the internal combustion engine).

From his studies Diesel realized that Otto had severely limited his engine's efficiency by premixing the fuel in the air.

Diesel's solution was both simple and elegant. He only added the fuel when he wanted to ignite it, thus eliminating any mechanical limit to theoretical efficiency.

Born to Bavarian immigrant parents on March 18, 1858 in Paris; Rudolph Christian Karl Diesel is of course most famous for the invention of the engine that bears his name, but he did have several other accomplishments to his credit. He was also a well respected thermal engineer, lecturer and social theorist. He toured the US as a lecturer in 1904 and self-published two volumes of his social philosophy.

Diesel's social philosophy was actually the impetus for the creation of his engine. His father was a craftsman and Diesel hoped that his engine would allow independent artisans and craftsman like his father to compete with large industry.

In some instances those who accomplish brilliant things later on in life show either no signs of their genius when young, or even appear backward. This was not the case with young Rudolph Diesel. At fifteen he entered Augsburg Technical College; three years later not only was he the youngest person to ever graduate from there, but he also had the highest final exam score in German history.

His success earned him a scholarship to The Polytechnic High School in Munich. Don't let the name fool you, it was the equivalent of an American university. There he met and studied under the distinguished Professor Carl Von Linde. Von Linde was so impressed with Diesel that upon graduation he helped Rudolph get a job with the Gebrder Sulzer Maschinenfabrik, a factory that made Linde ice makers.

While there he came up with a process for producing crystal clear ice. The company wasn't interested, so he took it to a German firm who were and this led him back to Paris where he sold the machines to brewers. This fortuitously brought him into contact with Martha Flasche, who soon became his wife.

Diesel's invention catapulted him to both fame and fortune, making him a millionaire several times over in just a few years.

There were problems however. There were similarities between his engine and one designed by Herbert Ackroyd Stuart in 1890. Though Diesel successfully defended his engine's priority in the patent disputes that followed; the pressure lead to a series of breakdowns.

Nonetheless he was successful in being awarded patent #608,845 by the US patent office in 1898.

Other pressures followed from the engine itself. The engine was so advanced it was actually beyond the manufacturing capabilities of the day. For several years Diesel was kept busy running all over the world trying to solve the manufacturing difficulties that kept cropping up. This took a significant toll on both his mental and physical health. This lead to nearly constant migraine headaches, that wore him down.

Though he was aptly financially rewarded for his efforts he was unable to enjoy it because he lost most of the money to mismanagement. Unfortunately his brilliance in engineering did not carry over into financial matters.

On September 29th, 1913 this brilliant man's life came to an end in the icy waters of the English Channel. He'd boarded the SS Dresden to cross the channel so he could be the guest of honor at the opening of a new diesel factory in London. In the morning the cabin steward found Diesel's cabin empty. Several days later his body was found by another ship. It's unclear whether it was suicide, accident or murder. The German military was starting to use diesels in their subs; Rudolph was vehemently opposed to this. His family says that he committed suicide because of the theft of his invention and that a cross in his journal on the day of his death indicates this.

Others believe the Germans were worried that Diesel might help the Royal Navy to equip their subs with his engine and wanted to stop it.

Whatever the truth of his death, Diesel's legacy is very much with us today in the many machines that continue to use his engine. With the rise of biodiesel fuels that legacy only promises to grow as time goes on.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C006011/english/sites/diesel.php3?v=2

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/42.html