Back around the 1890's, Rudolf Diesel developed a motor that still
bears his name today. He dubbed it the "Black
Mistress". In 1893 he was granted Patent
No. 67207 for a "Working Method & Design for Combustion Engines, a new
efficient, thermal engine." This first model was a single 10-foot iron cylinder
with a flywheel at its base. During 1898, Rudolf Diesel was granted the
patent #608,845 for an "internal combustion engine" that today we know as the
Diesel engine.
This motor was based on the principles that the air would be compressed so much that the temperature would far exceed the ignition temperature of the fuel. Rudolf Diesel spent several years making improvements & in 1896 demonstrated another model with the theoretical efficiency of 75% which was vastly superior to the 10% efficiency of the steam engine. He wasn't the first to try this method, but was the most successful. Some say that he got inspired while on a previous trip to Africa & saw some of the natives using a primitive fire by friction method called the "Fire Piston".
But
even way back then, he developed it to run on
various fuels, including plant based oils. When he showed his motor at the World Fair in Paris in 1898
(or some sources say it was 1900), he
started it up, let it run for a few minutes & then simply said "Peanut Oil"
while pointing at the motor. He had dreams of providing a motor for the average
person, the "common folk", who could grow their own fuel, & never have to leave the farm to buy
fuel for it. The farmer could simply grow extra Corn, Peanuts, Sunflowers,
Soybeans, Coconuts, Cohune Palm (or many other naturally oil rich produce) &
easily press the fuel from them to run their tractors, vehicles, & even the
same presses that squeeze out the oils! His "Black Mistress" could also run off of
whale oil & coal dust. Diesel's first motor ran on gasoline vapors, but
that one ended in disaster when it blew up nearly killing him. He switched to
coal dust & finally decided that plant base vegetable oils were the best,
safest & easiest for the common folk to make.
Sadly, around 1913, after Mr. Diesel had just finished outfitting the French Navy Submarines with his motor, after which he then boarded a ship going to England to do similar work for the British. Somewhere along this journey, he simply disappeared. Some claim it was foul play, & he was thrown overboard. Some think it might have been accidental. Some considered political motivation. Diesel did not agree with the politics of Germany & was reluctant to see his engine used by their Naval fleet. With his political support directed towards France & Britain, he was on his way to England to arrange for them to use his engine when he disappeared over the side of the ship somewhere in the English Channel. Some also theorized that he committed suicide. Soon afterwards, with petroleum fuel being extremely less expensive, it appeared at the local gas stations bearing his name "Diesel". Since then, everyone with a Diesel motor has been buying petroleum diesel. It was not what he would have wanted.
We feel that Mr. Diesel would be proud of our BELIZEL conversion kit!