Book Review | The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
Reviewed by Charles Gundersen, museum volunteer
Comments of the author are his and do not represent the policy or position of the U.S. Navy.
What caught my eye was the image of a submarine running on the surface at night in the middle of a storm. The submarine sure looks like a Type-VII, German U-Boat from the World War Two era, but never mind that little glitch. Instead, I was most interested in the mystery involving Mr. Rudolf Diesel — a mystery that had to be related to World War One. Even the Prologue states there is an upcoming mystery, and we are to wait until almost the end of the book to learn all the intriguing details.
I soon forgot about the glitch involving the front cover picture of a submarine and concentrated on what in the world could be so mysterious about a Diesel engine, as they have been around for over a hundred years. We sure didn’t cover anything that seemed mysterious in our thermodynamics classes. What could be so mysterious about compression ignition in the cylinder of a Diesel engine? But, it turned out the mystery surrounded Rudolf Diesel himself.
Do I have to wait until the end of the book? Do I first have to read about Rudolf Diesel’s initial quest to develop an engine by starting from the basic thermodynamic theory of a heat engine? Yes, and it’s worth it. The author makes it clear that Diesel was a very smart scientist; he even earned a Doctorate degree. The author then devotes much of the early part of the book to describing what a Diesel engine is, while at the same time describing how he came up with the various ideas leading up to the very successful Diesel engine design (i.e., how did he conceive of the idea that by just compressing “air” it could be made to burst into flames?).
Apparently, Diesel wanted to re-work the theoretically perfect heat engine efficiency cycle (developed by Sadi Carnot) into a real efficiency cycle for an engine specifically made for the masses, for small businesses, and for the local artisan. Essentially, Diesel wanted to skirt around the basic (although unofficial) thermodynamic law: “There is no free lunch” as on this Earth we have to live with the undesired heat loss in every heat engine we build.
Rudolf didn’t want to tinker around with the then-new Otto cycle gasoline engine being developed for the forthcoming automobile, but wanted to start his quest from a clean slate. Instead of Otto’s spark ignition concept Diesel favored a compression ignition system for his new engine design.
Both the Otto and Diesel cycles pertain to the internal combustion engines, but the only difference is the method used to ignite the fuel in the cylinder. Otto used an electric spark (hence, sparkplugs) and Diesel used the heat resulting from compressing the air in the cylinder as the piston rose to top dead center. Because of the high heat generated by the compressed air, the fuel, when sprayed into the cylinder, ignited spontaneously. An advantage of Diesel over Otto was the greater efficiency developed by Diesel engines of that time compared to Otto cycle gasoline engines. If Diesel’s concept worked, and there could be an engine with this capability, imagine how this could help mankind (so thought Diesel).
Now, the author begins to show what impact the introduction of the Diesel engine had on industry. The Diesel engine had better efficiency than any other existing engine plus it burned coal tar or vegetable oil as fuel. Imagine how it would disrupt the industries of Big Oil and Big Steam. John D. Rockefeller was particularly irked at the prospect of Rudolf Diesel cutting into his fuel oil business since Diesel thought he could use such crude material as coal tar and peanut oil. Clearly Rudolf Diesel posed a threat to these industries, while many other businesses waited anxiously for their new Diesel engines (a wise idea considering the fast approach of future events). Eventually, Diesel was ready to test an experimental one-cylinder engine.
This single cylinder test article soon grew into a 4-cylinder engine and became a working product sold world-wide, making Rudolf one rich man. He lived the good life during those years.
Note: All of this is not to be confused with the piston engines as displayed in several of the artifact torpedoes at the NUM (they are not internal combustion engines).
The author states the U.S. Navy got on the Diesel bandwagon using a Diesel engine from a captured German submarine. Those “submarine Diesel engines became the foundation of the U.S. Navy engine development.”
In 1912, the U.S. Navy put the first Diesel engines in submarines: USS E-1 (SS-24) and USS F-1 (SS-20), which began a long trend, only ending in 1955. The very next year a LT Chester Nimitz visited the Augsburg Diesel engine manufacturing plant. He probably enjoyed the tour but paid dearly for it by leaving part of his ring finger within the rotating gears of one of their test engines. Thus, ending all tours of Diesel engine plants in Germany.
By mid-book, the author has transitioned into a new subject: Marketing the new Diesel engine to a receptive world-wide audience. Diesel turned into a traveling repair man, installer, and educator. He wanted to bring other nations up to speed on the new engine, and along the way, he invented the ice cube.
Instead of finding craftsman, artisans, small businesses, and other “social” customers for his new engine, Diesel was surrounded by big industry (namely Anheuser-Busch with its Budweiser beer) and big governments such as Russia and Great Britain. The Diesel engine was selling itself. (Today we would call it a “game changer” and “a force multiplier.” However that may be true, it is not the main propulsion of submarines and aircraft carriers in today’s U.S. Navy.)
Rudolf Diesel visited America, twice, and had a lot to say about us. In one comment he said “the main characteristic of the Americans is the fear of fire.” This comment was made as he toured the country and noticed all the accidental fires and fire damaged houses. Then he comments about the “grannies with guns in the banks” — it almost reads like a travelogue. Diesel also visited, and gave a lecture at, the U.S. Naval Academy where he met with various admirals and submarine commanders.
Throughout the book the author includes aspects of European history (mainly the period just before the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. Plus, there is a bit about the politics of oil (Standard Oil), industry (steam power), and the effects of monopolies and crushing the competition; e.g., the beginnings of capitalism in America. Living in that time, one could almost slip on the oil as it greased the skids of capitalism. At this point in the book, the author goes into the “union busting” issue and the use of “predatory pricing” to weed out any competition, and usually this is done with the help of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (a private security guard and detective agency established around 1850 in the United States by Scottish-born American Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker).
How was Rudolf Diesel to survive in this climate? He posed a clear threat to the establishment. Does this have anything to do with the promised mystery? (Note: because of capitalism and the free market, a very strong industry base was established to build Diesel engines just when they were most needed.) Soon the Diesel engine attracted the attention of the national security apparatus and I can say no more.
I have reached the end of the review of this book about Rudolf Diesel. I can only write about half of the book, since the rest is supposed to be a mystery. Or is it something more nefarious?
This book is a very good mixture of history, economics, and ENGINES, and was written by a “bestselling author of novels.” It was very well researched and I strongly recommend this book.
The book is a little different from what I expected but it has a very good story to tell, a needed refreshing of thermodynamics, and best of all, a suspenseful ending. There is a bit of “engineer-speak” in this book but it all becomes clear since the author is a very good writer. The explanations are clear and understandable without the need to explain every detail — what’s left out will bother only engineers.
But, DO NOT READ AHEAD!!! WAIT FOR IT.