Every Monday, KANSAS STRONG shares brief biographies of individuals who have made significant contributions to energy and science. Rudolf Diesel was born in 1858 in France and began his career as a refrigerator engineer. For ten years he worked on various heat engines, including a solar-powered air engine. Diesels ideas for an engine where the combustion would be carried out within the cylinder were published in 1893, one year after he applied for his first patent. The diesel engines of today are refined and improved versions of Rudolf Diesels original concept. They are often used in submarines, ships, locomotives, and large trucks and in electric generating plants. Though best known for his invention of the pressure-ignited heat engine that bears his name, Diesel was also a well-respected thermal engineer and a social theorist. Diesels inventions have three points in common: They relate to heat transference by natural physical processes or laws; they involve markedly creative mechanical design; and they were initially motivated by the inventors concept of sociological needs. Diesel originally conceived the diesel engine to enable independent craftsmen and artisans to compete with large industry. By 1898, Diesel was a millionaire. His engines were used to power pipelines, electric and water plants, automobiles and trucks, and marine craft, and soon after were used in mines, oil fields, factories, and transoceanic shipping.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:00:00 +0000
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