Introduction
“The automobile engine will come and then I will consider my life’s work complete” – Rudolf (izquotes, n.d.)
Now common place everywhere, automobile engines are small achievement on the list of accomplishments for Rudolf Diesel. The inventions he made helped shape the world we live in today and possible our future. Rudolf Diesel, his name is now synonymous with the invention he made but also engineering itself. Diesel was the first man to patent the diesel engine and the first to practically demonstrate the engine’s efficiency. Through licencing his patent, Diesel became rich. Although he was not able to see his life’s work complete as he died before the first large scale production automobile with a diesel engine was produced. …show more content…
Diesel aided in establishing a production plant producing ice. One year later he had risen to the director of the plant, aged 23 insert citation from famousscientists.
Even though Diesel was the director of the ice plant he continued to study and educate himself. Whilst employed by von Linde he became interested in the work of French Physicist, Nicholas Carnot. Carnot is often referred to as “the father of thermodynamics” (Crawford, 2012), his theories paved the way for the internal combustion engine. Diesel believed by implementing Carnot’s theoretical ideas he could create an engine that was four times more efficient than those currently available. In 1885, Diesel began to think and design his engine and to complete his ambitious idea (Jaaskelainen, …show more content…
Some seemed impossible, such as taking huge strides towards an engine reaching near the Carnot Limit (Springer, 2008). In this pursuit he almost died several times, one most notably when one of his prototype combustion engine exploded in the lab leaving Diesel injured (thoughtco.com, n.d.). The personal qualities that got Rudolf through these obstacles were his self-belief and obsession with his work. These in the end would be his downfall.
1898 would be the pinnacle for Diesel as he was granted the patent of the internal combustion engine. Cemented in the belief that he had created a finished product, Diesel set out marketing his product. He was disillusioned by his own self belief, it is thought he saw himself as the “sole progenitor of the diesel engine” (Lienhard, 2003) and “the James Watt of the late nineteenth century” (Lienhard, 2003). With his naive outlook, he would scoff at improvements made by other engineers to his engine. So confident of his own invention that he did not look to improve his design further to make it more marketable as he believed it was
“The automobile engine will come and then I will consider my life’s work complete” – Rudolf (izquotes, n.d.)
Now common place everywhere, automobile engines are small achievement on the list of accomplishments for Rudolf Diesel. The inventions he made helped shape the world we live in today and possible our future. Rudolf Diesel, his name is now synonymous with the invention he made but also engineering itself. Diesel was the first man to patent the diesel engine and the first to practically demonstrate the engine’s efficiency. Through licencing his patent, Diesel became rich. Although he was not able to see his life’s work complete as he died before the first large scale production automobile with a diesel engine was produced. …show more content…
Diesel aided in establishing a production plant producing ice. One year later he had risen to the director of the plant, aged 23 insert citation from famousscientists.
Even though Diesel was the director of the ice plant he continued to study and educate himself. Whilst employed by von Linde he became interested in the work of French Physicist, Nicholas Carnot. Carnot is often referred to as “the father of thermodynamics” (Crawford, 2012), his theories paved the way for the internal combustion engine. Diesel believed by implementing Carnot’s theoretical ideas he could create an engine that was four times more efficient than those currently available. In 1885, Diesel began to think and design his engine and to complete his ambitious idea (Jaaskelainen, …show more content…
Some seemed impossible, such as taking huge strides towards an engine reaching near the Carnot Limit (Springer, 2008). In this pursuit he almost died several times, one most notably when one of his prototype combustion engine exploded in the lab leaving Diesel injured (thoughtco.com, n.d.). The personal qualities that got Rudolf through these obstacles were his self-belief and obsession with his work. These in the end would be his downfall.
1898 would be the pinnacle for Diesel as he was granted the patent of the internal combustion engine. Cemented in the belief that he had created a finished product, Diesel set out marketing his product. He was disillusioned by his own self belief, it is thought he saw himself as the “sole progenitor of the diesel engine” (Lienhard, 2003) and “the James Watt of the late nineteenth century” (Lienhard, 2003). With his naive outlook, he would scoff at improvements made by other engineers to his engine. So confident of his own invention that he did not look to improve his design further to make it more marketable as he believed it was