ABSTRACT
In particular, Rudolph Diesel had put forward in 1890 the idea that an engine might work through the simple expedient of compressing air in a cylinder until it became very hot, and then injecting heavy oil into the hot air. But that would not work with Dr Diesel's system given that, at the time the fuel had to go in, the cylinder would already be full of highly compressed air. Diesel, it seems, had originally been working with coal-dust as a fuel and had tried an air-blast to inject it. Diesel himself had tried to produce a suitable engine for road transport right up until his death in 1913, when he was lost overboard from a cross-channel steamer. There was only one chassis displayed with a diesel engine. Commercial Motor, a long-time advocate of diesel for road transport, had been equally enthusiastic when their staff had an opportunity to witness tests back in the summer of 1928.
