Rudolf Diesel

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Tue 31 May 2011 10:04
Rudolf Diesel - Bobbin Threadbare

I do believe it was today in 1893 that Rudolf Diesel tested out his first diesel car.

We should all be grateful that we no longer have to wind up a car with a crank handle, or have a runner in front waving a warning flag! I am also too young to remember cars with chokes as well :-))

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Tue 31 May 2011 10:19
Rudolf Diesel - Collos25

Yesterday at Lausnitz the Shell "How far can you travel on a litre" ended - if someone had said 900km I would have said thats something but the winner was 9000+kilometers.

Things have progressed a lot since Herr Diesel first rolled his first car out .

Chokes were devised for ladies to hang their handbags on.

Edited by Collos25 on 31/05/2011 at 10:20

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Tue 31 May 2011 14:05
Rudolf Diesel - unthrottled

Our own Herbert Akroyd got there first! The esential features of a compression ignition engine (HP fuel injection etc) were apparent in Akroyd's design.

Diesel's contribution was really just to bump up the compression so the hot bulb was no longer required. While Akroyd's engine ran on heavy oil right from the start, diese's early CI engines rran on coal dust which was hopelessly impractical.

That's why I call them compression Ignition engines and not diesel engines!

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Tue 31 May 2011 15:45
Rudolf Diesel - Bobbin Threadbare

I knew I was missing a handbag hook in my car...!!

I know that Diesel and Akroyd had a patent dispute - I wonder how Diesel won that one? Their designs were a little bit different - one's isochoric and one isobaric, something like that?

I'm just not sure that nipping to the garage to fill up with akroyd has the same ring as diesel!

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Tue 31 May 2011 16:12
Rudolf Diesel - unthrottled

Akroyd's was isochoric since the fuel was premixed at the onset of combustion

Diesel's was isobaric since the combustion is diffusion controlled. In reality neither condition adequately describes the diesel cycle. At idle, it's pretty much isochoric, but at full load it's a mixture of isochoric and isobaric with combustion contiueing long into the expansion stroke.

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Tue 31 May 2011 15:45
Rudolf Diesel - Sofa Spud

QUOTE:...""I do believe it was today in 1893 that Rudolf Diesel tested out his first diesel car.""

Not quite right. Rudolf Diesel never built a car. He pioneered the pure compression-ignition engine but his designs were stationary engines intended for use in workshops and small factories.

It wasn't until the 1920's that diesel engines found their way into motor vehicles.


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Tue 31 May 2011 15:52
Rudolf Diesel - Collos25

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine

All you needed to know

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Tue 31 May 2011 15:54
Rudolf Diesel - Bobbin Threadbare

Thanks - this'll be a good read before hometime...

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Tue 31 May 2011 16:07
Rudolf Diesel - unthrottled

Not sure 'wikipedia' and 'all you need to know' should ever appear in the same clause!

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Tue 31 May 2011 16:13
Rudolf Diesel - dieseldogg

On the basis that one should never let facts interfere with a good argument.

An axiom bytimes my father appeared to adhere to.

Wiki is an excellent source.

Edited by dieseldogg on 31/05/2011 at 16:14

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Tue 31 May 2011 16:32
Rudolf Diesel - Bobbin Threadbare

Indeed not. Just use wiki for the links...

It's very easy to get alterations published, such as if you want wikipedia to inform people that the song 'Halo' by some awful boyband is actually an ode to Master Chief...

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