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A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotive have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels (drivers). ==Overview== Early internal combustion engine-powered locomotives and railmotors used gasoline as their fuel. Soon after Dr. Rudolf Diesel patented his first compression ignition engine〔Diesel, Rudolf. U.S. Patent No. 608,845, filed July 15, 1895, and issued August 9, 1898 ''Accessed via Google Patent Search at: (US Patent #608,845 ) on February 8, 2007.''〕 in 1892, it was considered for railway propulsion. Progress was slow, however, as several problems had to be overcome. Power transmission was a primary concern. As opposed to steam and electric engines, internal combustion engines work efficiently only within a limited range of turning frequencies. In light vehicles, this could be overcome by a clutch. In heavy railway vehicles, mechanical transmission never worked well or else wore out too soon. Experience with early gasoline powered locomotives and railcars was valuable for the development of diesel traction. One step towards diesel-electric transmission was petrol-electric vehicle, such as the Weitzer railmotor (1903 ff.) 〔References for Weitzer railmotor: : * Arnold Heller: ''Der Automobilmotor im Eisenbahnbetriebe'', Leipzig 1906, reprinted by Salzwasserverlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-86444-240-7 : * (Röll: ''Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens'' → ''Elektrische Eisenbahnen'', there go to ''VII. Automobile Triebwagen'' → ''zu b) Benzin-, Benzol- oder Gasolin-elektrischen Triebwagen'' ) : * http://www.us.archive.org/about/terms.php → Search: „Self-Contained Railway Motor Cars and Locomotives“ → GO! → Raymond S Zeitler, American School (Chicago, Ill.): ''Self-Contained Railway Motor Cars and Locomotives'', section ''SELF-CONTAINED RAILWAY CARS 57–59'' : * (Röll: ''Arader und Csanáder Eisenbahnen Vereinigte Aktien-Gesellschaft'' ) : * (Museal railcars of BHÉV and their history )〕 Steady improvements in diesel design (many developed by Sulzer Ltd. of Switzerland, with whom Dr. Diesel was associated for a time) gradually reduced its physical size and improved its power-to-weight ratio to a point where one could be mounted in a locomotive. Once the concept of diesel-electric drive was accepted, the pace of development quickened, and by 1925 a small number of diesel locomotives of 600 horsepower were in service in the United States. In 1930, Armstrong Whitworth of the United Kingdom delivered two 1,200 hp locomotives using engines of Sulzer design to Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway of Argentina. By the mid-1950s, with economic recovery from the Second World War, production of diesel locomotives had begun in many countries and the diesel locomotive was on its way to becoming the dominant type of locomotive. It offered greater flexibility and performance than the steam locomotive, as well as substantially lower operating and maintenance costs, other than where electric traction was in use due to policy decisions. Currently, almost all diesel locomotives are diesel-electric, although the diesel-hydraulic type was widely used between the 1950s and 1970s. The Soviet diesel locomotive TEP80-0002 lays claim to the world speed record for a diesel railed vehicle, having reached 271 km/h (168 mph) on 5 October 1993. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Diesel locomotive」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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