First Functional Diesel Engine

10 August 1893. A loud bang in Augsburg’s engine factory announced the beginning of a new era: it was the day inventor Rudolf Diesel started his new engine. It took another four years to turn the pilot model into a functional 20 hp engine with an efficiency factor of 26 per cent – twice as high as that achieved by the then widely popular steam engine. Diesel had to thank the director of the Maschninenfabrik Augsburg Actiengesellschaft for the engine’s ultimate success. Heinrich von Buz was fully behind Diesel’s idea and invested the necessary funds in its development. The diesel engine – which draws air into the cylinder, compresses ist, causing it to heat up and ignite the injected fuel – was an instant sucess. An increasing number of more powerful models were developed.