This black & white film from the late 1930s details the creation of diesel engines. To explain how pistons work, the ancient fire syringe or fire piston is explained. It was invented by Southeast Asia natives who used a bamboo cylinder and plunger with tinder on it. Rapidly compressing the plunger created fire (1:57-2:52). A modern version is constructed with thermometers and a pressure gauge into which oil is sprayed as the fire mechanism (2:58-4:48). Another way of showing the effects of heated air involves stretching rubber over a glass container. When the glass is heated, the rubber sheeting puffs up (4:51-5:10). Combining the two principles into a piston creates a four-stroke or four-cycle (exhaust, intake, compression, power) diesel engine, which operates on a compression ratio of 16 to 1 (5:13-7:19). A closer look at the atomizer or injector oil unit is provided. It consists of a pump, an injection valve, and the injector nozzle (7:28-9:30). Each injector unit is tested up to millionths of an inch for accuracy, with a human hair for comparison (9:31-10:45). The first diesel engines had only one cylinder, growing to two cylinders, three cylinders, four cylinders, six cylinders, eight cylinders, and twelve cylinders (10:48-11:11). Shown is a Winton engine (11:14). Another advancement was to eliminate the extra two pump strokes, requiring moving the intake manifold down (compression, power) (11:41-12:56). A look at the pump is illustrated, showing how the rotors interact (12:59-13:47). In 1933, GM showcased this new two-cycle diesel engine at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago (14:05-14:29). It was put to the test when in May of 1934, the Burlington Zephyr train broke speed records (14:39-15:12). In October of that year, a Winston diesel engine powered a Union Pacific M-10001 train that broke records when it went from Los Angeles to New York in 57 hours (15:22-17:05). Public acceptance led to the August 1936 announcement that the Electro-Motive Corporation, a subsidiary of General Motors Corp, would open a new plant in La Grange, Illinois to build diesel locomotives. These trains are shown being built (17:06-18:00). GM Stylists create new designs (18:02-18:38). The demand for the two-cycle engine was expanded in 1937 when GM announced the formation of a diesel engine division to power trucks and buses (18:46-19:00). The Winton Engine Corporation continued as a subsidiary of GM, employing workers (19:02-19:24). Diesel power moved to Coast Guard cutters, tugboats, cruisers, and yachts (19:26-19:42). Footage is shown of December, 1937, when Charles F. Kettering, Director of General Motors Research, publicly addressed why two-cycle diesel engines were not yet available for automobiles (19:50-21:33). Laboratory research is shown (21:37-22:00). A Santa Fe diesel train passes the camera (22:01).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com