Technology and the Human Experience

1. Technology and the Human Experience Seminar Presentation July 22, 2005 Greg Buggé

2. Read the Machine

3. A Different Perspective

4. The First Diesel Engine

5. The Inspiration • Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796 - 1832) • Thermodynamic Principals • Heat Engine • Foundation of Diesel’s Ideas

6. Heat Engine • An ideal engine that transforms heat into work • Goal was to make the engine as efficient as possible • Early engines wasted more heat than they used

7. Watt’s Steam Engine

8. Steam’s Efficiency • Although the steam engine helped revolutionize the industrial process it was only about 7% efficient Lynwood Bryant “Rudolf Diesel and His Rational Engine,” Scientific American August 1969, 116

9. Diesel’s Idea • Use Carnot’s idea of the Heat Engine • Envisioned it would replace steam for everything from sewing machines to battleships

10. Problems to Overcome • Compress air to a very high pressure and temperature • Choose the right fuel • Inject the fuel into the high-pressure air • Control the timing and amount of fuel injection • Mix the fuel in the time available • Ignite the mixture Lynwood Bryant “The Development of the Diesel Engine,” Technology and Culture July 1976: 437-438

11. Diesel’s Calculations Diesel’s Patent Drawings Carnot’s Work

12. Diesel’s Patent

13. Fuel Ideas • Diesel believed he could obtain more work from fuels such as “coal, or almost any other combustible” to an efficiency of 73 Percent Lynwood Bryant “Rudolf Diesel and His Rational Engine,” Scientific American August 1969, 116

14. Diesel’s Thinking • Knew that as air was compressed it also rose in temperature • Introduced fuel at just the right moment • Explosion of fuel and air mixture drove the piston down providing the work • Hi Efficiency=Economy, even in small engines • This would enable industry to decentralize Lynwood Bryant “Rudolf Diesel and His Rational Engine,” Scientific American August 1969, 119-124

15. Diesel’s First Engine 1897

16. System Introduction • Two-Cylinder, 60HP Engine • Match Factory in Kempten • First Realistic Trial - Required a Support Base

17. Support and Learning • Two Mechanics to Maintain and Overhaul • Types of cooling and lubrication required • Engine control under varying loads • Fuel Injection Problems Lynwood Bryant “The Development of the Diesel Engine,” Technology and Culture July 1976: 443

18. Early Diesel Engine Use • 1904 Four diesel engines in the Kiev Municipal Transport Authority, the first  power plant of its kind.

19. Public Acceptance • “Wonderful New Motor…An Oil Engine Without Smoke, Smell or Electric Ignition…New York Times April 7, 1901 • “Oil Burner Sure to Replace Steam Engine”…Chicago Tribune April 2, 1905 Newspaper articles found in ProQuest Historical Newspapers

20. Mankind’s Gratitude “If the Diesel frees the streets from the smell of the motor car and yacht decks and ladies’ dresses from the cinders of a steamer funnel, the German inventor will have claim on the gratitude of mankind.” “German Oil Engine, It Uses the Crude Oil Without Smell or Dirt-Is Being Introduced into England and France,” Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1901. ProQuest Historical Papers

21. Economics *In Pounds Sterling **Based on Borneo Oil at 3.75 Pence per gallon ***Illuminating Gas “The Diesel Oil Engine, A Comparison of Working Expense,” The Wall Street Journal, June 9, 1902, ProQuest Historical Papers.

22. Replacement of Steam • Gradual Shift in Industry from Steam to Diesel • Maritime Industry • England worried about the shift from Coal to Oil • World’s Largest Producer of Coal

23. Now…or Then? “No New Oil Oceans in Sight; Rapidly Increasing Demand” “Thorough Survey of the Whole World’s Petroleum Conditions Leads to Conclusions of the Greatest Import”

24. Now…or Then? “No New Oil Oceans in Sight; Rapidly Increasing Demand” “Thorough Survey of the Whole World’s Petroleum Conditions Leads to Conclusions of the Greatest Import” Los Angeles Times May 4, 1913 ProQuest Historical Newspapers

25. Rudolf Diesel 1858 - 1913