[thackney]

The first diesel engine was built before there was such a thing as diesel fuel.

What?!? An engine was built before there was any fuel to run or test it? Care to support that claim?

[P-40]

An engine was built before there was any fuel to run or test it?

Good one. :)

That should be a capital D in the first use of the word.

[Oberon]

I didn't say there wasn't any fuel...I said there wasn't diesel fuel. The original prototype was designed to burn coal dust.

From the web:

"Baron von Krupp and Machinenfabrik Augsburg Nurnberg Company in Germany backed Rudolf Diesel financially as well as providing engineers to work with him on the development of an engine that would burn coal dust, because there were mountains of useless coal dust piled up in the Ruhr valley. The first experimental engine was built in 1893 and used high pressure air to blast the coal dust into the combustion chamber. This engine exploded and further developments of using coal dust as a fuel failed, however a compression ignition engine that used oil as fuel was successful and a number of manufacturers were licensed to build similar engines."

You can also read the following here:

"Diesel demonstrated his engine at the Exhibition Fair in Paris, France in 1898. This engine stood as an example of Diesel's vision because it was fueled by peanut oil - the "original" biodiesel. He thought that the utilization of a biomass fuel was the real future of his engine."

[IamConservative]

The first diesel engine was built before there was such a thing as diesel fuel.

What?!? An engine was built before there was any fuel to run or test it? Care to support that claim?

A "diesel" engine, technically a compression ignition engine, can run on straight vegetable oil, kerosene, coal oil, etc.