May 16, 1979
World Awaits Inventive Genius
Rudolph Diesel
Courtesy Wikipedia
The Alchemists' ancient quest for a formula to turn lead into gold has never ceased, though the ingredients are updated periodically.
These days the attention of home-grown inventors dwells on the fantastic potential of auto fuel - how to make it from an abundant resource such as water, or how to obtain a ten-fold increase of energy from the now precious substance.
The search seems a little nearer following a demonstration to Congressmen last week of a modified diesel car that gets 84 miles to a gallon of No. 2 oil.
It was a diversion of Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum who has a thing about oil companies. He asked inventors Ralph Moody and Michael Shetley to drive their "Moodymobile" from Oak Hill, Fla., to Washington on 11.5 gallons of diesel fuel.
The distance of 840 miles works out to 73 miles per gallon - less than touted but still impressive. The inventors are working on a model they expect will churn out 140 MPG.
Rudolf Diesel would have been proud!
The German inventor was, himself, something of an off-beat genius. His goal was to capture in an internal combustion engine the energy locked up in coal dust.
When he started up his first engine the coal dust exploded with such force it destroyed the laboratory and very nearly Diesel.
Diesel was elated. He now knew he could release enormous energy. However, he switched to oil which could be more easily contained by the simple steel then available.
The Diesel engine potentially was more efficient because it operated at higher temperatures and pressures. It could be adjusted to about any burnable fuel, but the engine was ignored for two decades because gasoline was so plentiful.
By 1913 the World War I armament race was roaring along. Germany, France, England, and the United States became interested in Diesel's engine for warships.
While negotiating with the various governments, Diesel boarded a ship to cross the English Channel and meet with the British Admiralty. He never reached shore. During the trip he disappeared from his stateroom.
Murder? Suicide? Accident? History has no clues. It was speculated that German agents tossed the inventor overboard in the conviction Diesel was about to sell his engine to the Allies.
The sensational death of Diesel was the first inspiration for many stories about thwarted inventors of energy improvements.
According to popular theory, some amateur discovers an engine or fuel that threatens the existing power establishment. The mighty moguls of the auto industry or the oil industry buy up the invention to keep it off the market, or have the hapless inventor rubbed out if he refuses to play ball.
The best known such story involves John Andrews, an inventor from McKeesport, Pa., who once convinced the U.S. Navy he could turn water into fuel.
He drove a Packard automobile into the New York Navy Yard in 1916 just a few months before America declared war on Germany. With him was John Carney, a Pennsylvania banker who had encouraged Andrews. They said they had driven all the way from Philadelphia on water and secret chemicals.
Skeptical, but intrigued, the Navy invited Andrews to demonstrate his claim with a motor boat engine.
Andrews produced an empty gallon can and asked the yard's senior engineer to bring him a bucket of tap water. The inventor turned his back on the observers and busied himself with chemicals from his satchel.
Soon he turned and handed over the can, now half filled with liquid, and a half bucket of water.
The contents of both containers were poured into the engine's fuel tank.
Finally Andrews produced a small vial of green liquid from his vest pocket, shook six or seven drops into the mixture and started the engine.
The motor sputtered at first, but Andrews adjusted the carburetor, and the engine ran smoothly at 75 percent of rated power until the fuel was consumed.
Impressed, the Navy invited Andrews back the next day for a more stringent test. This time they required him to make his preparations in a small room with no furniture or drain pipe; and they gave him a bucket of sea water to work with.
The results were the same as the day before.
A special demonstration was arranged for Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels in Washington. But Andrews never showed up. Navy Intelligence reportedly conducted an unsuccessful search for the inventor. They discovered only that Andrews purchased chemicals familiar to high school chemistry students.
It was supposed that Andrews had been bought off or killed, his formula suppressed.
Shortly after U.S. entry into World War II, and oil became vital, an International News Service reporter tracked down the elusive Andrews living on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Andrews said he had given up trying to promote his fuel because neither the United States nor Britain was interested. He had not asked for money, nor wanted any.
He had forgotten the formula, he said, but would reconstruct it if the government wanted it. No one approached him so the formula went to the grave with him in 1953.
Was it an alchemist's triumph wasted, or a gigantic hoax?
No matter now. The field is still open for a revolutionary breakthrough. The motivation is great. Fame and fortune await.
We may yet be saved by some unorthodox genius tinkering in his basement with coal dust and bicarbonate of soda.
Author: Lindsey Williams
