Happy Birthday, Rudolf!

Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, was born on March 18, 1858 in Paris, France.   He attended engineering school in Germany and, in 1885, established a workshop in Paris to develop a compression ignition engine.  The process took 13 years and resulted in Diesel receiving several patents for his efficient, slow burning, compression ignition internal combustion engine.  

In 1900 an unmodified diesel engine was tested using vegetable oil.  It ran so well on vegetable oil that observers could not tell which fuel was being used.  Diesel later said that, “I have recently repeated these experiments on a large scale with full success and entire confirmation of the results formerly obtained.”

Today’s diesels, much like the original versions, are designed and warrantied to run on biodiesel blended with petro-diesel.  Biodiesel blends can provide the same power output as petro-diesel but offer greatly improved combustion that results in cleaner engine components.  Check for future posts about using biodiesel blends or call Clean Green Energy for information.