Fiddle

Major drawback of Diesel engines ever since Rudolf Diesel built the first in Germany 42 years ago has been their heftiness. Although the oil a Diesel burns is cheaper than gasoline and its principle of igniting fuel by heat developed through compression is more efficient than using a spark, the strength required to withstand high internal pressures has made Diesels expensive as well as heavy. Engineers have long tried to make fuel savings offset weight, size and cost, but noticeable success was achieved only in Germany, where Diesels light enough to power the Hindenburg were developed. Last week, however, famed Engineer Charles F. ("Boss") Kettering, who has long experimented with Diesels on his yacht, revealed that he too has found success. In Detroit, General Motors Corp., of which Boss Kettering is the inventive spark plug, opened the first factory in the U. S. for the mass production of light Diesel engines.

General Motors made most of the 200 U. S. Diesel locomotives. In its new $1,006,000 Detroit factory it will turn out a line of small (1 to 6 cylinders, 22 to 160 h. p.) lightweight Diesel engines at the rate of 50 a day, produce engines up to 1,200 h. p. at factories in Cleveland and La Grange, Ill. Secrets of GM economy are new light alloys and a production schedule using the same parts in engines of the same cylinder size. Suitable for direct drive operations on tractors, pumps, hoists and the like, the engines will also come in "packaged power" units (engine & generator teams) to power theatres, parking lots, small industrial enterprises. All engine units are designed to be connected in tandem when extra power is needed.

GM predicts that its Diesels will operate at half the cost of gasoline engines and with greater simplicity. Impatient prophets who interpret this as a sign that automobiles with Diesel engines are close at hand will have to burn while General Motors fiddles, according to Boss Kettering. Said he, opening the new plant: "You would not buy a Stradivarius violin and give it to a man to play in Carnegie Hall the same night. We have got a good fiddle, we know that, but we have got to do a lot of practicing."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.