The INSANE Invention of The Diesel Engine | The History and Evolution

[@jcoleburt]

Herbert Akroyd Stuart was born in 1864 in Halifax, the son of Charles Stuart, a Scotsman from Paisley. His father established the Bletchley Iron & Tin Plate Works and Herbert, after a short time working as a junior assistant in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the City & Guilds of London Technical College in Finsbury, joined his father’s business in Bletchley. There he started experimenting with oil engines. In 1886, seven years before the German filed his first patent in Berlin, and after four years of experimenting, Akroyd Stuart not only filed his first patent, but also built his first prototype ‘diesel’ engine at the young age of just 22. Dr Diesel’s later patent, filed in 1893 at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin, was for an engine that burned coal dust rather than oil, and it was not until 1887 that he made his first working prototype. This prototype blew up and nearly killed him. Akroyd Stuart’s engines predated Dr Diesel’s first working example by six years. In addition, Diesel’s design idea was based on the ‘isobaric combustion’ principal which had already been patented in 1874 by an American by the name of George Brayton, so it could be argued that Diesel’s first patent was plagiarised from an earlier invention. However, since the modern diesel does not function on this principal, this is largely irrelevant.

[@aliassmithandjones9453]

this story is all over the place chronologically 😄

[@johnhornblow4347]

Agree, we return to the same point sometimes twice or more. E.G. reliability or patents expiring.

[@frankroy9423]

Got educated in this field in mechanic school, how and who invented the diesel engine. Great storyline

[@gkdresden]

Rudolf Diesel was trying to invent an engine, which is capable to achieve the Carnot cycle. It was not logical to try this by use of an internal combustion engine. Sadi Carnots work was based on steam engine cycles. About 100 years after Diesel a team from a automotive R&D company IAV and some research instiutes in Germany tried again to achieve the Carnot cycle by use of a fast rotating 3 cylinder steam engine and they were quite successful. They used highly superheated steam at temperatures of about 900 °C. They used a two stage steam generator. In the first step saturated steam at a temperature of 350 °C and a pressure of 200 bar was prepared. This steam flows though one of three super heaters which were directly connected to the steam entrace of each cylinder at the beginning of the working stroke and brought to full expansion. The COP was 45% for a 1 liter engine providing about 75 kW of power. After development the engine, called ZEE03, was tested successfully in a modified Skoda car in the early 2000s.

[@thomeatsok]

Diesel died of mysterious causes. The engine was pretty darn efficient. But in 1912 he fell off a ship mysteriously. The first diesel engine ran on peanut oil. But then on the way to england he fell or was pushed into the sea. He was born in paris.

[@jerryw4471]

When I was a kid they used a stationary hay bailer to bail hay. This looks like one but not sure if same!

[@thevortex6754]

I strongly beg to differ about the efficacy boost in modern Diesel engines due to exhaust cleanliness. The catalytic converter really draws an incredible 100-200 horsepower in a Cummins 6.7 litre engine, only getting 8-11 miles to the gallon. Take the cat out, and you get 20+ miles to the gallon which increases performance and efficiency. Mentioning performance, the cat restricts airflow in the exhaust system, best way to imagine it is breath in through your nose and out through your mouth ONLY, just like an engine. Now cover your mouth with your hand and try to run or do heavy labor, you will get hot, tired, and out of breath wayyyyy sooner. Now do that same job but without your hand on your mouth, and you’ll do that task all day nomatter the conditions. Why?? Because you can BREATHE. And engine needs to breathe as well, otherwise it’ll get hot and has to do more work to push out exhaust gasses through a ba filter. By not having a catalytic converter in your engine, it significantly increases the engines performance and increases life. You will get more torque and horsepower out of your engine by doing so. And because Diesel engines have an incredibly high compression ratio of usually around 17:1, vs a gas engine which is usually around 7:1, and that diesel fuel has more power potential per once than gas, the combustion is very strong and very clean burning almost all the fuel in the cylinder, more than a gas engine. The efficiency of the engine can be up to 3-4 times more efficient than the same size gas engine. Why? Because you got rid of the catalytic converter. And my sources are myself and everyone that I’ve worked with, since I live in the oil field I’ve driven a lot of trucks and pickups that all have diesels in them. Our newest semi had a new Cummins X15 engine. Produced 2,050 foot pounds of torque, and 600 horsepower. I would only get roughly 10 miles to the gallon WITHOUT a trailer. So I took the cat out of the engine as well as the deff since deff is basically water and hurts the engines performance as well, (water methanol would be better) I have now gotten upwards of 20-23 miles to the gallon, around 2,200+ foot pounds of torque, and around 850 horsepower. The same goes for all the rest of the diesel vehicles we use. Needless to say, the benefits of taking out the catalytic converter overwhelms almost all arguments of keeping them in through numbers like these. The only possible argument to keep a car is if you have a small car with a small 4 cylinder Diesel engine that does no more than move the car around. That’s the only exception

[@rand49er]

I think you're confusing spark ignition engines with Diesel engines. Diesel engine powered cars and trucks do not have catalytic converters. Diesel engines burn very lean air-fuel mixtures and produce very little hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. Modern Diesel engines do, however, have particulate traps. These do not cause appreciable amounts of exhaust backpressure.

[@peterpocock9062]

The facts quoted in this film while often true are not in chronological order! Mr Diesel did try to run his first engines on Amonia gas. Then later coal dust and that fuel is what caused his engine to explode! He knew his high compression engine was on the right track then. One could argue he knew of Ackroyd's lower compression oil engine and that prompted Diesel to try "oil" This is my hypothesis and I've not read that theory before! Anyway, Ackroyd's oil engine (often referred to as a Semi-Diesel) needed a external heat source on a bulb on the cylinder head to get hot enough to get his engine started. Now on modern lower compression diesels glow plugs are used to help the engine start from cold! The High Compression Engine that Diesel patented did not need any external heat source to start from cold. There you have the defining difference between the two very clever mens' patents.

[@sacitkoc2544]

Rudolf Diesel, poor fella.. They took him down

[@neddyladdy]

Who took him down ?

[@sacitkoc2544]

@@neddyladdy I don’t know 🤷‍♂️🙃

[@neddyladdy]

@@sacitkoc2544 Why do you say it in that case? It is not helpful nor it is informative in any way. If it was meant to be funny ...

[@sacitkoc2544]

@@neddyladdy is it a crime?

[@johnbehneman1546]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. A TOTALLY AWSOME HISTORY LESSON. THANKS FOR SHARING. I LEARNED SO MUCH.

[@Psycandy]

so is diesel - the hydrocarbon - also named after Rudolf Diesel? What did Rudolf call the stuff his engines ran on? Generally, the fuel is discovered first - petroleum, hydrogen, LPG, electricity... and the engine that developed named for the fuel it uses. Did Diesel get to name the fuel, too?

[@bilderbeargroup4217]

The oil company that killed him took his designs and named a product refined from crude oil after him as a headstone, similar to the presidents that on US money, they didn't want a central bank, Rudolph wanted a petroleum alternative.

[@roberthatfull3816]

Propper intresting and informitive . I enjoyed the history .

[@JP-sw5ho]

Clean Diesel is and always has been a lie though. Burning diesel will always produce particulates and NOx emissions, and likely always produce SOx emissions too. Steps have been taken lately to mitigate these somewhat, but not completely; and many of the vehicles which claim to be cleaner have been simply lying about it, because clean diesel is too expensive and difficult.

[@peterpocock9062]

This is an interesting line of criticism! I've worked in restricted spaces with diesel motors many times, and I'm 72 and still alive to tell about it. But I've never worked on a gasoline powered engine in anything other than very open spaces. Now convince me Diesel combustion is dangerous?

[@BasementEngineer]

The Diesel engine is under attack for political reasons. Do you ever wonder why no one speaks up publicly about all the dust in the atmosphere and your lungs caused by wear and tear from car and truck tires and brake linings?

[@marguskiis7711]

Actually diesel exhaust gases are less harmful than petrol engine ones. Diesel exhaust just look ugly due the black smoke but the black components are harmless, they just fall down like earth dust doing nothing.

[@garymartin9665]

And the people of power murdered him

[@neddyladdy]

Why do you say it is of unsound mind? Is it simply a pathetic attempt at getting more views to soothe a bruised ego or boost an inadequate self esteem ?

[@uruguaycarlos]

Born in Paris,France in 1858 or german ingineer ???

[@sinisatrlin840]

Tesla was American inventor, born in Croatia (then Austria) and of Serbian nationality. What is your problem?

[@westelaudio943]

Born in France to German parents.

[@grahammcclelland181]

Cannot beat the sound and feel of diesel power. Be it tractor, machinery or truck. Gets in your blood.

[@timeunitytime]

True!

[@machobunny1]

Might be good info, but the highly affected narrator voice is like crackling sheet metal to my ears. I doubt if insanity had anything to do with the invention, but the narrator might qualify. Out of here.