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1892 Patent Application in Berlin

When: 1892
Where: Berlin
Part of: Rudolf Diesel applies to patent the compression-ignition engine

Rudolf Diesel applied for a patent in Berlin in 1892 for his compression-ignition engine, covering the theoretical method of converting heat into work.

Diesel filed for a patent in Berlin in 1892. The application covered 'Method of and Apparatus for Converting Heat into Work'. This legal action protected his theoretical concept of compression ignition, which differed from spark-ignition engines, before practical prototypes were built.

Sources

Diesel engine Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-08
Rudolf Diesel Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.