More than one generation of scientists struggled to increase the efficiency of machine engines. But submitting an idea and substantiating it theoretically does not mean inventing something new. It is those people who managed to practically confirm what hundreds fought over, and can proudly bear the title of "inventor". It was Rudolf Diesel who brought the internal combustion engine, ignited by air compression, into the world.
Biography of the great inventor
Rudolf Diesel was born in 1858 in Paris. My father worked as a bookbinder, the family had enough money to live on. Nevertheless, the move to England was inevitable, since the Franco-Prussian war made its own adjustments. And the Diesel family, as you know, belonged to the Germans by nationality, and in order to avoid a chauvinist reaction, they had to decide to move.
Soon, 12-year-old Rudolph was sent to his native Germany to study with his mother's brother, Professor Barnikel. The family received him very warmly, and a lot of books, studying at a real school, and then at the Augsburg Polytechnic School, conversations with a smart uncle benefited the future world-famous inventor. Since 1875, an outstanding student Rudolf Diesel continued his studies at the Munich Higher Technical School, where he was inflamed with the idea of inventing an internal combustion engine. In a conversation with Professor Bauerfeind, he told the student about the greatest interest of the modern world in such a technical field as mechanical engineering.
Only then did he find out that the boy had been dreaming for a long time and was working on replacing the steam engine with an internal combustion engine. After studying, professor at the Munich School, Karl Linde, called Diesel to work at a refrigeration plant, where the young man served as director for 12 years. Despite the main employment, Rudolf Diesel did not leave work on the main goal of life - an invention that would later be named after him. Only here we, modern people, knowing about the diesel engine, have already forgotten the name of its inventor.
First combustion diesel engine
Many years of hard work put Rudolf Diesel to fulfill his dream. With the help of Karl Linde, the Society of Augsburg Engineering Works saw the theoretical calculations, which became interested in his work and provided a room for experiments. Rudolf improved his invention for a long two years, and during one of the experiments an explosion occurred, the scientist himself almost suffered.
Soon justice prevailed and hard work was rewarded - the first diesel internal combustion engine turned the world of mechanical engineering upside down. Diesel decided to try to ignite using a compressedair, and then inject fuel into it, as a result of which a flame broke out. Despite the recognition of the scientist's work all over the world, an invitation to Russia and America, native Germany remained adamant before his invention, declaring that such an engine had existed for a long time. Perhaps other German inventions existed in development, but the world does not stand still, it develops, and the winner is the one who came to the finish line first.
Rudolf Diesel could not put up with such a reaction from Germany, and on September 29, 1913, he, having gone by steamer to London, did not arrive at his destination. At night, only the scientist remained in the wardroom, and in the morning it was empty, and the night suit was not touched. Whether this was suicide due to non-recognition by Germany or a tragic accident is unknown. After some time, the fishermen fished out the corpse of a decently dressed man, but a raging thunderstorm forced them to throw the body back into the sea. Superstitious fishermen considered that the human soul asks to stay in the water element. Cold water and sandy bottom became the last home of a brilliant inventor, whose memory still lives in his diesel engine.
