Ask Joe Mechanic - Diesel Engine Historical Timeline

A Historic Timeline of significant developments pertaining to diesel engines:





1890s

• 1891: Herbert Akroyd Stuart invents the first internal combustion engine to use a pressurized fuel injection system.
• 1892: February 23, Rudolf Diesel obtained a patent (RP 67207) titled "Arbeitsverfahren und Ausführungsart für Verbrennungsmaschinen".
• 1892: Akroyd Stuart builds his first working Diesel engine.
• 1893: Diesel's essay titled Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-engine to Replace the Steam Engine and Combustion Engines Known Today appeared.
• 1893: August 10, Diesel built his first working prototype in Augsburg.
• 1897: Adolphus Busch licenses rights to the Diesel Engine for the USA and Canada.
• 1899: Diesel licensed his engine to builders Krupp and Sulzer, who quickly became major manufacturers.

1900s

• 1902: Until 1910 MAN produced 82 copies of the stationary diesel engine.
• 1903: Two first diesel-powered ships were launched, both for river and canal operations: Petite-Pierre in France, powered by Dyckhoff-built diesels, and Vandal tanker in Russia, powered by Swedish-built diesels with an electrical transmission.
• 1904: The French built the first diesel submarine, the Z.
• 1905: Four diesel engine turbochargers and intercoolers were manufactured by Büchl (CH), as well as a scroll-type supercharger from Creux (F) company.
• 1908: Prosper L'Orange and Deutz developed a precisely controlled injection pump with a needle injection nozzle.
• 1909: The prechamber with a hemispherical combustion chamber was developed by Prosper L'Orange with Benz.

1910s

• 1910: The Norwegian research ship Fram was a sailing ship fitted with an auxiliary diesel engine, and was thus the first ocean-going ship with a diesel engine.
•  1912: The Danish built the first ocean-going ship exclusively powered by a diesel engine, MS Selandia. The first locomotive with a diesel engine also appeared.
• 1913: U.S. Navy submarines used NELSECO units. Rudolf Diesel died mysteriously when he crossed the English Channel on the SS Dresden.
• 1914: German U-boats were powered by MAN diesels.
• 1919: Prosper L'Orange obtained a patent on a prechamber insert and made a needle injection nozzle. First diesel engine from Cummins.

1920s

• 1922: The first vehicle with a (pre-chamber) diesel engine was Agricultural Tractor Type 6 of the Benz Söhne agricultural tractor OE Benz Sendling.
• 1923: The first truck with pre-chamber diesel engine made by MAN and Benz. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft testing the first air-injection diesel-engined truck.
• 1924: The introduction on the truck market of the diesel engine by commercial truck manufacturers in the IAA. Fairbanks-Morse starts building diesel engines.
• 1927: First truck injection pump and injection nozzles of Bosch. First passenger car prototype of Stoewer.

1930s

• 1930s: Caterpillar started building diesels for their tractors.
• 1930: First US diesel-power passenger car (Cummins powered Packard) built in Columbus, Indiana (USA)
• 1933: First European passenger cars with diesel engines (Citroën Rosalie); Citroën used an engine of the English diesel pioneer Sir Harry Ricardo. The car did not go into production due to legal restrictions on the use of diesel engines.
• 1936: Mercedes-Benz built the 260D diesel car. AT&SF inaugurated the diesel train Super Chief. The airship Hindenburg was powered by diesel engines. First series of passenger cars manufactured with diesel engine (Mercedes-Benz 260 D, Hanomag and Saurer). Daimler Benz airship diesel engine 602LOF6 for the LZ129 Hindenburg airship

1940s

• 1942: Tatra started production of Tatra 111 with air-cooled V12 diesel engine.
• 1943-'46: The Common-rail (CRD) system was invented (and patented by) Clessie Cummins
• 1944: Development of air cooling for diesel engines by Klöckner Humboldt Deutz AG (KHD) for the production stage, and later also for Magirus Deutz.

1950s

• 1953: Turbo-diesel truck for Mercedes in small series.
• 1954: Turbo-diesel truck in mass production by Volvo. First diesel engine with an overhead cam shaft of Daimler Benz.

1960s

• 1960: The diesel drive displaced steam turbines and coal fired steam engines.
• 1962-'65: A diesel compression braking system, eventually to be manufactured by Jacobs (of drill chuck fame) and nicknamed the "Jake Brake", was invented and patented by Clessie Cummins.
•  1968: Peugeot introduced the first 204 small cars with a transversally mounted diesel engine and front-wheel drive.

1970s

• 1973: DAF produced an air-cooled diesel engine.
• 1976 February: Tested a diesel engine for the Volkswagen Golf passenger car. The Cummins Common Rail injection system was further developed by the ETH Zurich from 1976 to 1992.
• 1978: Mercedes produced the first passenger car turbo-diesels (Mercedes 300 SD).
• 1978: Oldsmobile introduced the first passenger car diesel engine produced by an American car company.

1980s

• 1985: ATI Intercooler diesel engine from DAF. European Truck Common Rail system with the IFA truck type W50 introduced.
• 1986: Electronic Diesel Control (EDC) of Bosch with the BMW 524td.
• 1986: The Fiat Croma was the first passenger car in the world to have a direct injection turbodiesel engine in (1986).

1990s

• 1991: European emission standards Euro 1 met with the truck diesel engine of Scania.
• 1994: Unit injector system by Bosch for diesel engines.
• 1995: First successful use of common rail in a production vehicle, by Denso in Japan, Hino "Rising Ranger" truck.
• 1997: First common rail in passenger car, Alfa Romeo 156.
•  1998: BMW made history by winning the 24 Hour Nürburgring race with the 320d, powered by a two-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine. The combination of high-performance with better fuel efficiency allowed the team to make fewer pit stops during the long endurance race.

2000s

• 2002: A street-driven Dodge Dakota pickup with a 735 horsepower (548 kW) diesel engine built at Gale banks engineering hauls its own service trailer to the Bonneville Salt Flats and set an FIA land speed record as the world's fastest pickup truck with a one-way run of 222 mph (357 km/h) and a two-way average of 217 mph (349 km/h).
• 2004: In Western Europe, the proportion of passenger cars with diesel engine exceeded 50%. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system in Mercedes, Euro 4 with EGR system and particle filters of MAN. Piezoelectric injector technology by Bosch.
• 2006: Audi R10 TDI won 12 hours running in Sebring and defeated all other engine concepts. The same car won the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.
• 2006: JCB Dieselmax broke the FIA Diesel Land speed record from 1973, eventually setting the new record at over 350 mph (563 km/h).
• 2008: Subaru introduced the first horizontally opposed diesel engine to be fitted to a passenger car. This is a Euro 5 compliant engine with an EGR system.
• 2009: Volkswagen won the 2009 Dakar Rally held in Argentina and Chile. The first diesel to do so. Race Touareg 2 finished 1st and 2nd.

2010s

• 2010: Mitsubishi developed and started mass production of its 4N13 1.8 L DOHC I4, the world's first passenger car diesel engine that features a variable valve timing system.

Next week; How diesel engines work, types of diesel engines and if space permits, advantages and disadvantages of diesel engines.

Some information obtained from Wikipedia.org.