History of the Diesel

At the World Fair at the turn of the 20th century, Dr. Diesel first presented his diesel engine running on peanut oil, but was able to run on a variety of substances.  Dr. Rudolph Diesel was a mad genius that figured out how to make and engine run on viscous fluids that were not flammable at room temperature.  Before this, engines could only run using flammable fuels ignited by a spark plug.  This meant that farmers could grow their own fuel, Dr. diesel believe that his invention was going to create an agricultural revolution. 

Dr. Diesel unfortunately died by mysterious circumstances while aboard a ship.  Since “diesel” fuel was much cheaper than vegetable oils and easier to pump out of the ground, it replaced plant oils as the fuel burned in diesel engines.  It is important to note that at this point in time, we have the opportunity to carry out the Dr. Diesel’s initial vision, we can run our engines on the oil created by our farmers.  Since used vegetable oil is a local waste product created by our food industry, it is finally economic as well as environmentally friendly to burn used cooking oil instead of diesel fuel.

It is also important to note that the diesel engine was innovative for the following reasons:

• Diesel engines use a fuel that lubricates the top end of the engine, were-as gas engines use solvents that clean the top end.  Because of this, diesel will run much longer than gas engines in general and can often run a half million or over a million miles!
• Diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines.  Because they use a compression explosion rather than an ignition explosion, they are able to create more power and energy for the same volume of fuel.  This means that diesel engines will usually get much better miles-per-gallon than other engines.  They have small two and three cylinder diesel cars designed that will get over 100 mpg!
• Diesel engines are safer.  Because diesel engines can burn fuels that are less flammable, diesel vehicles are less prone to exploding.  When looking at Hybrid technology with batteries, it is important to note that batteries can create a major shock hazard and chemical hazard that is not present in diesel cars that get similar MPG.