An engineer by the name of McCorkill was the previous owner of Rolly Martin's house. He left behind a rich assortment of books from the steam and early diesel-electric era.
It would be very interesting to see Schreiber during this era as Mr McCorkill did. The books he left in Rolly's basement illustrate some of the history of the switch from steam to diesel.
Almost every week, I plan to take it easy for a change and a rest, and post something simple. This little booklet was going to be one such effort. My ride down the long, slippery slope of research happened when I looked up the author of the following booklet.
Who would stand like that in a three-piece suit and affix a facsimile signature to a little booklet on diesel oil?
Why would anyone feel they had to make the case that there would be adequate supplies of petroleum products in a booklet like this?
I should have remembered the name because Charles Kettering (1876-1958) had figured prominently in On Time, The History of the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation; Franklin M Reck; 1948; GM. I read that a year or so ago.
At a previous job, Kettering invented something which many of us use every single day of our lives.
And I already knew why petroleum product availability was a big deal in American society when that booklet was written (1948) because I'm currently reading Oil for Victory (1946).
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| from: Oil for Victory; Editors of Look Magazine; 1946; McGraw-Hill. |
The whole theme of this book is the extraordinary efforts made by the petroleum industry, and American industry in general, to produce, move and refine oil during World War Two.
German U-boats were lighting up coastal crude and product tankers on the US east coast, so Mississippi barges and the railroads became an interim solution. Eventually there was the 'Big Inch' Pipeline (24 inches in diameter) which went through ... without today's environmental assessment or consultation with property owners.
As an example of the resourceful use of alternate systems during this emergency ... the re-tasking of tank cars resulted in Upper New England residents freezing because their usual tank cars of heating and cooking kerosene had been reassigned. To solve this problem, oil drums of kero were loaded into boxcars for delivery to them instead.
No sooner had the delivery of petroleum been maximized across the Atlantic to support the D-Day Landings ... than the majority of it was redirected to flow west in August 1944 at the rate of 110,000 barrels per day to the Pacific Ocean - mainly through Texas and the southern tier of US states, by rail.
... So, after the war, American public opinion was sensitive to any 'lobby' which might want to exploit 'the shortage of petroleum products brought about by an unprecedented post-war demand'. The country had just made great sacrifices and experienced great shortages of civilian petroleum during wartime.
From the book: If you are ever in an exam asking which two innovative petroleum products won the war, your answers are: butadiene and 100-octane gasoline. New processes had to be developed in the labs to increase their production exponentially.
Back to the booklet ...
Charles Kettering was one of those great inventors who had that early-1900s genius for mechanical invention, the ability to increase the efficiency of existing systems, and the insight to innovate and create new systems.
He invented the automotive battery-powered 'self-starter' so car motors no longer needed to be manually cranked to start. He founded the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. You can work out the familiar acronym for the company name. It was bought by General Motors in 1920 as its research institute and Kettering served as the director of GM research for 27 years.
He was also involved with the idea of adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline for its anti-knock properties, and the hazards of lead were well-known back then. Um ... but did I mention that '100-octane' gasoline helped win the war?
... Uh ... maybe he was the co-inventor of Freon ... a little? ... [looking at my shoes, avoiding eye contact].
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Why did Engineer McCorkill have this booklet?
The Electro-Motive Company had developed gas-electric, then oil-electric self-propelled railcars. But gasoline was kind of a fire hazard and the distillate oil required a high-voltage spark plug system for ignition. The plugs were always getting fouled by the oil. These motors were manufactured by the Winton Engine Company, which had previously been an automobile manufacturer.
However, when EMC's cars were working, railroads loved them and these passenger railcars became popular as cost-effective yard switchers. With more money, EMC's founders might be able to develop a broader market with these vehicles.
Charles Kettering, formerly of Delco, now at General Motors (research) was looking for power for his new yacht. He was interested in the Winton engines and his yacht became a testbed for experimental Winton diesel engines so he could play with them.
In 1930, with The Great Depression beginning, General Motors purchased the Electro-Motive Company and the Winton Engine Company. Eugene Kettering (1908-1969) was the son of Charles Kettering and he went to work at Winton in 1930 at the head of a project to develop lighter, more powerful diesel engines.
Diesel engines were heavy 4-cycle motors whose weight was better suited to marine applications than any vehicle moving on land.
Circa 1930, in addition to Eugene's quest for a railroad diesel engine, the US Navy was looking for diesels suitable for use in their new submarines.
As Charles later described it, Eugene's work (perhaps with Charles watching over his shoulder) started with one cylinder. Components ... like valves, fuel pumps, injectors ... were added one by one with the view to having the lightest and most efficient engine possible.
A 2-cycle diesel engine had been conceived in 1899 by a German engineer but it wasn't particularly efficient and never went into production. The advantage of the 2-cycle diesel was that almost twice as much work was being done by the pistons, so you needed fewer of them.
This diagram from another of Engineer McCorkill's books illustrates the difference.
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| from: A Power Primer; 1944; General Motors Corporation. |
The hardest challenge to be overcome is how to exhaust the combustion gases ... AND ... introduce fresh air and fuel at the same time. This could eliminate a whole piston trip up and down the cylinder - 2 cycles eliminated. Here is the general solution ...
... Near the end of the power stroke, the piston uncovers vents surrounding the cylinder. High pressure air enters through these vents and quickly purges the exhaust gases and recharges the cylinder with air ... completing this entire function before the piston starts its trip up the cylinder with its compression cycle. So a total of 2 cycles.
... Precisely designed fuel injectors operate under high pressure and create a mist of fuel at the optimal time during compression so that the heat of compression ignites this fuel mist at the top of the piston's travel.
All of the high pressures and high temperatures created in a working diesel presented considerable engineering challenges for the designers to overcome.
The result of the first design which Eugene Kettering accomplished with his team was the Winton 201A engine. It was a 12-cylinder, 2-cycle diesel which entered production in 1934.
In General Motors' 1948 EMD history, this engine is downplayed as being designed mainly for submarines, but too light for railroad service.
We'll revisit the main application of the short-lived Winton 201A in a moment.
First, here is the revolutionary EMD 567B engine illustrated in a variety of cutaway views. This design flowed from the lessons learned from the 201A. It provided dependable high power, while weighing as little as possible. It ensured the success of GM EMD as it captured most of the diesel locomotive market during and after World War Two.
(Except for the Fairbanks-Morse opposed-piston designs, I believe that the other First Generation diesel locomotives of other companies used 4-cycle engines. The F-M engines were apparently an unlicensed design, adapted from a German submarine engine.)
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| from: Locomotive Cyclopedia; 1950; Simmons Boardman. |
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Here is a handy summary of key dates in EMD's evolution,
which provides additional details of events and dates ...
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| from: Electro-Motive: Young Giant, article; David P Morgan; November 1948; Trains, Kalmbach. |
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Here is an image which demanded some extra research ...
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| from: Kettering Digest; Various Authors; 1982; Reflections Press. at archive.org |
There is absolutely no detail in Kettering Digest or in On Time (the EMD self-history from 1948) or in Kettering biographies at archive.org to suggest who might be in the photo with Kettering. I read Douglas Brunt's 2023 biography of Rudolf Diesel a few months ago.
Diesel Data
Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) married Martha Flasche (1860-1944) in 1883 in Munich.
They had three children:
- Rudolf Jr. (1884-1944) Married New Yorker Daisy Weiss in Manhattan in 1911.
- Hedwig (1885-1968)
- Eugen (1889-1970) Writer on subjects like the effects of technology on society.
There are photos of Eugen as he travelled in the US and that doesn't look like Eugen. I could not find a single photo of Rudolf Jr.
A letter from an acquaintance in Missouri was sent to Rudolf Jr early in World War One expressing both concern and best wishes as Rudolf Jr spent time at the Front. I could find no indication what he was doing there or how long he was in the war zone.
He seems to have inherited aspects of his father's psychological challenges and through his life he often seemed depressed and withdrawn. After the War, he is described as being a recluse.
Knowing Kettering's passion for engineering innovation and his intense involvement in diesel-electric development, what could be better than having the person closest to the original inventor in your newest diesel as you change history with it. Even if it meant cajoling him out of contented isolation for a few moments.
In the photo above, Kettering is 61 years old and - if it was Rudolf Jr - he would be 53.
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| from: Our GM Scrapbook; 1971; Kalmbach Publishing. |
The image above is from May, 1937 and it shows B&O 51, the first EA to be delivered to that railroad.
That would be the locomotive in the previous photo with the two men.
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| from: The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide; Jerry A Pinkepank; Kalmbach Books. |
The EA (x6) and EB (x6) units which the B&O received (12 units total) were each powered by two 201-A engines, putting out a total of 1800 horsepower. They rode on A-1-A trucks. They were built between May 1937 and June 1938. Above, Engine 56 is shown at Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1941.
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Diesel Update
Until reading Brunt's 2023 biography, I hadn't read about Rudolf Diesel at all since I was 7 or 8 years old, perhaps. Here is what I would have blogged at that age:
"Rudolf Deisel invented the deisel. This is kind of boring because he didn't do the steam engines at Turcot Yard or fantrips or any of the Canadian deisels at 40th Avenue. He lived in Germany all the time. One day he escaped from Germany on a boat so he could give the deisel secret to England. But a German spy threw him off the boat. Getting thrown off a boat at night is scary so be careful and don't let this happen."
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| from: Iron Horse to Diesel; Paul Snow; 1961; Whitman. |
Clearly, all of the historical explanations about Diesel's disappearance (except the most 'obvious' at the time: suicide) are presented in the book, above. However, some facts are more salient to the young mind than others, and they are therefore retained.
In fact, Diesel was very well travelled throughout Europe, including the UK ... and through North America. He spoke French, German and English. During his lifetime, the diesel engine was successful in its efficiency in a variety of uses (particularly submarines). There was significant interest in its potential - even before the widespread use of gasoline in 'Otto Cycle' engines, particularly in automobiles. Diesel had lots of potential work with technical consulting, lecturing/teaching, or continuing to develop his invention and make money from its sale.
One of Diesel's initial hopes was that the diesel could provide cheap power across the globe by using waste petroleum or vegetable oils as fuel. (Our modern thinking is constrained about engines and fuels. For example, some of the warplanes of World War One burned castor oil.)
In The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel (2023), Douglas Brunt lays out all the known facts preceding, and at the time of Diesel's disappearance. His speculation on the inventor's possible destinations are quite plausible, given the facts.
... Once a person has experienced life in other countries, some of them may offer certain attractions and freedoms that your native country does not. And, for some, there can be a certain happiness in newfound anonymity, or at least in being able to leave your past life behind.
Brunt thinks that Winston Churchill - in 1913, Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty - had a hand in facilitating Rudolf Diesel's disappearance. And it links to the following photo which I had often wondered about in one of my second-hand books ...
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| from: Canada's Five Centuries; W Kaye Lamb; 1971; McGraw-Hill. |
Above:
"Building submarines in Montreal. Twenty-four submarines - the only ones ever built in Canada - were constructed by Canadian Vickers for Britain, Russia, and Spain. When the first of them were delivered, they became the first submarines ever to cross the Atlantic under their own power."
This is an interesting account of the activities which Brunt elaborates on at the end his book.
Additional photos can also be seen at this site.