Colonial Viper

The Colonial Viper is the primary fighter spacecraft type used by the human protagonists in the Battlestar Galactica fictional universe. Appearing in both the 1978 original series and the 2003 reimagined series, as well as various derivative works, the single-pilot spacecraft are carried aboard Battlestar Galactica and are the humans' main tools of defense against the fictional universe's antagonists - the cybernetic Cylon race.

The popularity of the original Battlestar Galactica series resulted in United States Air Force pilots nicknaming F-16 Fighting Falcons "Vipers".^[1][2] When the reimagined series was created, the Viper was one of the elements that the designers wanted to carry through with minimal alteration.

Original series (1978, 1980)

Viper (1978, 1980)

Original-series Vipers in flight.
First appearance	"Saga of a Star World"
Affiliation	Colonial Fleet
General characteristics
Armaments	Lasers

In the original run of Battlestar Galactica, the Colonial Viper is the only known fighter flown by Colonial Pilots, referred to as "Colonial Warriors". There is only one known model of Viper seen in the series. Some materials list the Viper as a "Starhound Viper" or "Starhound Class" fighter, based on information in the novelization of "Saga of a Star World".^[3]

The Vipers are launched from a long tube in one of a Battlestar's landing bays, assisted by a powered catapult mechanism. It appears that a Battlestar can launch at least three Vipers from each bay at once. Vipers are loaded into the launch tubes atop rails which engage recesses in the bottom of the fuselage between the lower wings. The rail system ensures that the Viper remains on the centerline of the launch tube.

Vipers typically use all three of their engines for powered flight, and can use a "Turbo" boost for greater speed, analogous to a modern fighter plane's afterburner. A pilot can turn on or off each engine by a push button, as seen in the startup sequence anytime a Viper is preparing to take off. Vipers can also reverse thrust for rapid deceleration, a useful tactic when being pursued by enemy ships that would then tend to overshoot the Viper, placing them in a vulnerable position. Vipers are capable of atmospheric as well as space flight, and can land and take off from a planetary surface. Viper engines are designed to collect commonly occurring gases in planetary atmospheres and in space to power the ship's fusion reactor. Vipers are also capable of supporting the pilot for up to two weeks in a form of "suspended animation" for extremely long missions.

The main flight control of a Viper is a three buttoned joystick, similar to a jet fighter. The three buttons are labeled FIRE, TURBO and IM, with the fire button being red. The IM button is the reverse thruster. Notably in "Saga of a Star World" and "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero (Pt. 2)" some Vipers have STORES on the joystick instead of FIRE.

Armament consist of two directed energy weapons (referred to as "lasers" and "laser torpedoes" at separate points in the series, "The Long Patrol" and "Saga of a Star World" respectively) that are linked together to fire simultaneously. They can also be modified to carry fire suppression equipment, as shown in the "Fire In Space" episode where they are used to battle a fire on theGalactica after the Cylons crash explosives-laden fighters into the launch bays.

In the event of a crash landing, a Viper's cockpit can also be used as an escape pod, separating from the ship and parachuting to the ground. This system does not provide a soft landing—in fact, it can knock the pilot unconscious—but it is effective.^[4] A G-suit is worn under the pilot's uniform for protection against gravitational forces, as seen in "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I". The flight helmet worn by the Warrior pilots resembles an ancient Egyptian headdress and has no faceplate. Viper pilots from each Battlestar have differing forehead ornamentation on their helmets:Pegasus pilot helmets feature a flying horse, while Galactica pilot helmets have a bird design. According to some sources, the Universal wardrobe department came up with designs for other helmets if they had ever been needed-pilots from battlestar Cerberus would have had a three-headed dog on their helmets, pilots from the Prometheus would have had a hand holding a flaming torch, and those from the Solaria would have featured a burning sun.

Gear

Each Viper contains spacesuits for its pilot(s). While not normally worn, they can be brought out and donned if an EVA is necessary (e.g. for emergency repairs).^[5] Vipers also contain emergency survival kits, which include a backpack with rations and a reflective blanket, a parka, and (following the capture and reverse-engineering of Cylon Centurions)^[6] a manual with schematics of Cyloncircuitry.^[4]

Variants

A "Recon Version" was piloted by Starbuck in "The Long Patrol". It possessed "nearly double the speed of a regular fighter", along with improved maneuverability, but lacked any armament due to the removal of the laser pumps. It also possessed C.O.R.A. (Computer, Oral Response Activated), a sultry female-voiced, voice-activated computer which doubled as an autopilot.

In the Galactica 1980 series, Vipers are shown to be newly capable of invisibility, which is explained in the episode "Galactica Discovers Earth". Other 1980 episodes indicate that a Colonial Warrior's uniform is meant to protect against the crushing effects of gravity, similar to an inertial damper. All Vipers also appear to be able to accommodate a passenger in the Galactica 1980series, as hinted at in the first episode of the TV series. This is seen with Jamie Hamilton swapping between Troy and Dillon's Vipers throughout the series, and with Xavier tricking Troy & Dillon to fly his (sabotaged) Viper in "Spaceball". Vipers also appear to have largish cargo bays for their size as each one carries the Colonial equivalent of a motorcycle.

The 1988 film Space Mutiny, which used special effects shots from the original Battlestar Galactica, referred to the ships as "Stingray Vipers".

More advanced, upgraded versions, the Azure class and Scarlet class, appear in Richard Hatch's re-launch novel series and in his attempted revival trailer "Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming". The Scarlet class features swept forward wings much like the X-29 experimental fighter plane.

In the 2003 Reimagining of the series, an Original Series Viper can be seen in the starboard flight pod "museum".

Deployment

While Vipers can operate from land and (according to the novel) have some refueling bases, they are mostly deployed from Battlestars. Each Battlestar is known to carry 75 Vipers. The Galacticahosted four squadrons named Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Members of Silver Spar squadron later joined from the Pegasus after the Battle of Gamoray.

Reimagined series (2003)

Colonial Viper

A pair of Mark II Vipers flying low (from "The Hand of God").
First appearance	Mini Series, Part 1
Affiliation	Colonial Fleet
General characteristics
Armaments	Kinetic energy weapons Conventional missiles

In the 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica, the Viper series of starfighters are the Colonial Defense Force's primary space superiority fighter/attack craft. Capable of atmospheric flight, the Viper is a single-seat sub-light speed craft mounting two kinetic energy weapons (3 on at least one later design), as well as having hardpoints beneath the wings for mounting missiles, munitions pods and other ordnance. There are at least seven versions of the Viper design at the point in history depicted by the reimagined miniseries.

Richard Hudolin, the production designer for the miniseries, has stated that "The only things that we wanted to carry through (from the original filmand series) were the Mark II ships." ^[7]

Background

The Viper (Mark I) was introduced into Colonial service shortly before the outbreak of the first Cylon War. However, it was the Mark II Viper series, designed specifically for use with the new Colonial Battlestars, that is best remembered. The Mark II was used during the Cylon War, proving a capable fighting vehicle. It is regarded as one of the reasons the Twelve Colonies did not suffer defeat at the hands of the Cylons. The Mark II remained in service after the end of the war, with William Adama commenting that he last saw one, likely one of the last of its type, roughly twenty years after the end of the war.

The Mark II was superseded by newer models, with the Mark VII serving in front-line duties forty years after the end of the Cylon War, as seen inBattlestar Galactica: The Miniseries. By this time the Viper design had progressively evolved, retaining the basic structural configuration (essential for use with Colonial Battlestars), but with variations in length, equipment, and capability. No information is provided about the intervening designs, but by the time the Mark VII was introduced the Viper design incorporated software-based controls and fully networked systems, providing superior agility, battle management, and flight information for the pilot.

The Mark VII was later upgraded to include Dr. Gaius Baltar's navigational software. Along with the majority of the Colonial Fleet, this software allowed the Cylons to remotely disable the Vipers during the renewed attack on the Twelve Colonies. The few Mark VIIs that survived the disaster were later stripped of this software. The older Mark II fighters, not equipped with the "fly-by-wire" systems of newer Vipers, were unaffected by the Cylon modifications to Dr. Baltar's program. Two squadrons of Mark IIs were present in the Galactica's starboard flight pod in preparation for the Battlestar's new role as a museum ship, and after the Galactica's Mark VII squadron was destroyed by the Cylons, the display of Mark II's were refitted for combat by Galactica's deck crew.

Along with a handful of surviving Mark VII's, the older vipers made up Galactica's fighter wing during the Cylon sneak attack, the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, and most of the Galactica's action prior to the arrival of Battlestar Pegasus in Season 2 episode "Pegasus", when her ability to manufacture more Mark VIIs was added to the fleet. When the Pegasus was destroyed in Season 3 episode "Exodus: Part 2", her nearly intact squadrons, all of them composed of Mark VIIs, were transferred to the Galactica 's air wing. At the time of the episode "He That Believeth in Me" (season 4, episode 3), more Vipers were available than qualified pilots, and trainee pilots were used to fly the extra fighters.

During the Battle of the Resurrection Hub, Vipers of both types were deployed from the Rebel Basestar against the Resurrection Hub and its two basestar escorts. The Vipers were towed into battle with their engines and electronics cold, allowing them to get the element of surprise in the attack. In that battle, both Colonial Vipers and Cylon Heavy Raiders fought side-by-side against the Cylons and once D'Anna Biers was unboxed and rescued, the Vipers, each equipped with at least one nuclear missile, lined up and launched their nuclear missiles into the Resurrection Hub, destroying it.

How our solar system was created ?

Solar System

The Solar System^[a] consists of the Sun and its planetary system of eight planets, their moons, and other non-stellar objects. It formed4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets, called the gas giants, are substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus andNeptune, are composed largely of substances with relatively high melting points (compared with hydrogen and helium), called ices, such as water, ammonia and methane, and are often referred to separately as "ice giants". All planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic plane.

The Solar System also contains a number of regions populated by smaller objects.^[b] The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it mostly contains objects composed of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie theKuiper belt and scattered disc; linked populations of trans-Neptunian objects composed mostly of ices. Within these populations, several dozen to more than ten thousand objects may be large enough to have been rounded by their own gravity.^[5] Such objects are referred to as dwarf planets. Identified dwarf planets include the asteroid Ceres and the trans-Neptunian objects Pluto, Eris, Haumea, andMakemake.^[b] In addition to these two regions, various other small-body populations including comets, centaurs and interplanetary dustfreely travel between regions. Six of the planets, at least three of the dwarf planets, and many of the smaller bodies are orbited by natural satellites,^[c] usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other small objects.

The solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out to the edge of the scattered disc. The Oort cloud, which is believed to be the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere. The heliopause is the point at which pressure from the solar wind is equal to the opposing pressure of interstellar wind. The Solar System is located within one of the outer arms of Milky Way galaxy, which contains about 200 billion stars.

Discovery and exploration

For many thousands of years, humanity, with a few notable exceptions, did not recognize the existence of the Solar System. People believed the Earth to be stationary at the centre of theuniverse and categorically different from the divine or ethereal objects that moved through the sky. Although the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos had speculated on a heliocentric reordering of the cosmos,^[6] Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric system.^[7] His 17th-century successors, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler andIsaac Newton, developed an understanding of physics that led to the gradual acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed the Earth. Additionally, the invention of the telescope led to the discovery of further planets and moons. In more recent times, improvements in the telescope and the use ofunmanned spacecraft have enabled the investigation of geological phenomena such as mountains and craters, and seasonal meteorological phenomena such as clouds, dust storms and ice capson the other planets.

Structure and composition

Solar System showing the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun in 3D. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are shown in both panels; the right panel also shows Jupiter making one full revolution with Saturn and Uranus making less than one full revolution.

The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a G2 main-sequence star that contains 99.86 percent of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally.^[8] The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the gas giants, account for 99 percent of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90 percent.^[d]

Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth's orbit, known as the ecliptic. The planets are very close to the ecliptic while comets and Kuiper belt objects are frequently at significantly greater angles to it.^[9][10] All the planets and most other objects orbit the Sun in the same direction that the Sun is rotating (counter-clockwise, as viewed from above the Sun's north pole).^[11] There are exceptions, such as Halley's Comet.

The overall structure of the charted regions of the Solar System consists of the Sun, four relatively small inner planets surrounded by a belt of rocky asteroids, and four gas giants surrounded by the Kuiper belt of icy objects. Astronomers sometimes informally divide this structure into separate regions. The inner Solar System includes the four terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt. The outer Solar System is beyond the asteroids, including the four gas giants.^[12] Since the discovery of the Kuiper belt, the outermost parts of the Solar System are considered a distinct region consisting of the objects beyond Neptune.^[13]

Most of the planets in the Solar System possess secondary systems of their own, being orbited by planetary objects called natural satellites, or moons (two of which are larger than the planet Mercury), or, in the case of the four gas giants, by planetary rings; thin bands of tiny particles that orbit them in unison. Most of the largest natural satellites are insynchronous rotation, with one face permanently turned toward their parent.

Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of objects about the Sun. Following Kepler's laws, each object travels along an ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Objects closer to the Sun (with smaller semi-major axes) travel more quickly, as they are more affected by the Sun's gravity. On an elliptical orbit, a body's distance from the Sun varies over the course of its year. A body's closest approach to the Sun is called its perihelion, while its most distant point from the Sun is called its aphelion. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids and Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits. The positions of the bodies in the Solar System can be predicted using numerical models.

Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun. The planets, dominated by Jupiter, account for most of the rest of the angular momentum due to the combination of their mass, orbit, and distance from the Sun, with a possibly significant contribution from comets.


Due to the vast distances involved, many representations of the Solar System show orbits the same distance apart. In reality, with a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between it and the previous orbit. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 astronomical units (AU) farther out from the Sun than Mercury, while Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus. Attempts have been made to determine a relationship between these orbital distances (for example, the Titius–Bode law), but no such theory has been accepted.

The Sun, which comprises nearly all the matter in the Solar System, is composed of roughly 98% hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn, which comprise nearly all the remaining matter, possess atmospheres composed of roughly 99% of those same elements.^[18][19] A composition gradient exists in the Solar System, created by heat andlight pressure from the Sun; those objects closer to the Sun, which are more affected by heat and light pressure, are composed of elements with high melting points. Objects farther from the Sun are composed largely of materials with lower melting points. The boundary in the Solar System beyond which those volatile substances could condense is known as the frost line, and it lies at roughly 5 AU from the Sun.


The objects of the inner Solar System are composed mostly of rock,the collective name for compounds with high melting points, such as silicates, iron or nickel, that remained solid under almost all conditions in the protoplanetary nebula. Jupiter and Saturn are composed mainly of gases, the astronomical term for materials with extremely low melting points and high vapor pressure such as molecular hydrogen, helium, and neon, which were always in the gaseous phase in the nebula.^[22] Ices, like water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide,^[21]have melting points up to a few hundred kelvins, while their phase depends on the ambient pressure and temperature.^[22] They can be found as ices, liquids, or gases in various places in the Solar System, while in the nebula they were either in the solid or gaseous phase.^[22] Icy substances comprise the majority of the satellites of the giant planets, as well as most of Uranus and Neptune (the so-called "ice giants") and the numerous small objects that lie beyond Neptune's orbit.^[21][23] Together, gases and ices are referred to as volatiles.^[24]

A number of Solar System models on Earth attempt to convey the relative scales involved in the Solar System on human terms. Some models are mechanical — called orreries — while others extend across cities or regional areas.^[25] The largest such scale model, the Sweden Solar System, uses the 110-metre Ericsson Globe in Stockholm as its substitute Sun, and, following the scale, Jupiter is a 7.5 metre sphere at Arlanda International Airport, 40 km away, while the farthest current object, Sedna, is a 10-cm sphere in Luleå, 912 km away.

Formation and evolution

The Solar System formed 4.568 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud.^[28] This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably birthed several stars.^[29] As is typical of molecular clouds, this one consisted mostly of hydrogen, with some helium, and small amounts of heavier elements fused by previous generations of stars. As the region that would become the Solar System, known as the pre-solar nebula,^[30] collapsed, conservation of angular momentum caused it to rotate faster. The centre, where most of the mass collected, became increasingly hotter than the surrounding disc.^[29] As the contracting nebula rotated faster, it began to flatten into a protoplanetary disc with a diameter of roughly 200 AU^[29] and a hot, dense protostar at the centre.^[31][32] The planets formed by accretionfrom this disc,^[33] in which dust and gas gravitationally attracted each other, coalescing to form ever larger bodies. Hundreds of protoplanets may have existed in the early Solar System, but they either merged or were destroyed, leaving the planets, dwarf planets, and leftover minor bodies.

Due to their higher boiling points, only metals and silicates could exist in the warm inner Solar System close to the Sun, and these would form the rocky planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Since metallic elements only comprised a very small fraction of the solar nebula, the terrestrial planets could not grow very large. The gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) formed further out, beyond the frost line, the point between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where material is cool enough for volatile icy compounds to remain solid. The ices that formed these planets were more plentiful than the metals and silicates that formed the terrestrial inner planets, allowing them to grow massive enough to capture large atmospheres of hydrogen and helium, the lightest and most abundant elements. Leftover debris that never became planets congregated in regions such as the asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, and Oort cloud. The Nice model is an explanation for the creation of these regions, and how the outer planets could have formed in different positions and migrated to their current orbits through various gravitational interactions.

Within 50 million years, the pressure and density of hydrogen in the centre of the protostar became great enough for it to begin thermonuclear fusion.^[34] The temperature, reaction rate, pressure, and density increased until hydrostatic equilibrium was achieved: the thermal pressure equaled the force of gravity. At this point the Sun became a main-sequence star.^[35] Solar wind from the Sun created the heliosphere and swept away the remaining gas and dust from the protoplanetary disc into interstellar space, ending the planetary formation process.

The Solar System will remain roughly as we know it today until the hydrogen in the core of the Sun has been entirely converted to helium, which will occur roughly 5.4 billion years from now. This will mark the end of the Sun's main-sequence life. At this time, the core of the Sun will collapse, and the energy output will be much greater than at present. The outer layers of the Sun will expand to roughly up to 260 times its current diameter and the Sun will become a red giant. Because of its vastly increased surface area, the surface of the Sun will be considerably cooler than it is on the main sequence (2600 K at the coolest).^[36] The expanding Sun is expected to vaporize Mercury and Venus and render the Earth uninhabitable, as the habitable zone moves out to the orbit of Mars. Eventually, the core will be hot enough for helium fusion to begin in the core; the Sun will burn helium for a fraction of the time it burned hydrogen in the core. The Sun is not massive enough to commence fusion of heavier elements, and nuclear reactions in the core will dwindle. Its outer layers will fall away into space, leaving a white dwarf, an extraordinarily dense object, half the original mass of the Sun but only the size of the Earth.^[37] The ejected outer layers will form what is known as a planetary nebula, returning some of the material that formed the Sun—but now enriched with heavier elements like carbon—to the interstellar medium.

Sun

The Sun is the Solar System's star, and by far its chief component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses)^[38] produces temperatures and densities in its corehigh enough to sustain nuclear fusion,^[39] which releases enormous amounts of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation, peaking in the 400–700 nm band of visible light.^[40]

The Sun is classified as a type G2 yellow dwarf, but this name is misleading as, compared to the majority of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is rather large and bright.^[41] Stars are classified by the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, a graph that plots the brightness of stars with their surface temperatures. Generally, hotter stars are brighter. Stars following this pattern are said to be on the main sequence, and the Sun lies right in the middle of it. However, stars brighter and hotter than the Sun are rare, while substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, are common, making up 85 percent of the stars in the galaxy.^[41][42]

Evidence suggests that the Sun's position on the main sequence puts it in the "prime of life" for a star, in that it has not yet exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion. The Sun is growing brighter; early in its history it was 70 percent as bright as it is today.^[43]

The Sun is a population I star; it was born in the later stages of the universe's evolution, and thus contains more elements heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance) than older population II stars. Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, while stars born later have more. This high metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun's developing a planetary system, because planets form from accretion of "metals

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Common rail system

Common rail direct fuel injection is a modern variant of direct fuel injection system for petrol and diesel engines.

On diesel engines, it features a high-pressure (over 1,000 bar or 15,000 psi) fuel rail feeding individual solenoid valves, as opposed to low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors (Pumpe/Düse or pump nozzles). Third-generation common rail diesels now feature piezoelectric injectors for increased precision, with fuel pressures up to 1,800 bar or 26,000 psi.

In gasoline engines, it is used in gasoline direct injection engine technology.

History

Common rail fuel system on a Volvo truck engine

The common rail system prototype was developed in the late 1960s by Robert Huber of Switzerland and the technology further developed by Dr. Marco Ganser at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, later of Ganser-Hydromag AG (est.1995) in Oberägeri.

The first successful usage in a production vehicle began in Japan by the mid-1990s. Dr. Shohei Itoh and Masahiko Miyaki of the Denso Corporation, a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer, developed the common rail fuel system for heavy duty vehicles and turned it into practical use on their ECD-U2 common-rail system mounted on the Hino Rising Ranger truck and sold for general use in 1995.^[1] Denso claims the first commercial high pressure common rail system in 1995.^[2]

Modern common rail systems, whilst working on the same principle, are governed by an engine control unit (ECU) which opens each injector electronically rather than mechanically. This was extensively prototyped in the 1990s with collaboration between Magneti Marelli, Centro Ricerche Fiatand Elasis. After research and development by the Fiat Group, the design was acquired by the German company Robert Bosch GmbH for completion of development and refinement for mass-production. In hindsight, the sale appeared to be a tactical error for Fiat, as the new technology proved to be highly profitable. The company had little choice but to sell, however, as it was in a poor financial state at the time and lacked the resources to complete development on its own.^[3] In 1997 they extended its use for passenger cars. The first passenger car that used the common rail system was the 1997 model Alfa Romeo 156 2.4 JTD,^[4] and later on that same year Mercedes-Benz C 220 CDI.

Common rail engines have been used in marine and locomotive applications for some time. The Cooper-Bessemer GN-8 (circa 1942) is an example of a hydraulically operated common rail diesel engine, also known as a modified common rail.

Vickers used common rail systems in submarine engines circa 1916. Doxford Engines Ltd.^[5] (opposed-piston heavy marine engines) used a common rail system (from 1921 to 1980) whereby a multi-cylinder reciprocating fuel pump generated a pressure of approximately 600 bar, with the fuel being stored in accumulator bottles. Pressure control was achieved by means of an adjustable pump discharge stroke and a "spill valve". Camshaft-operated mechanical timing valves were used to supply the spring-loaded Brice/CAV/Lucas injectors, which injected through the side of the cylinder into the chamber formed between the pistons. Early engines had a pair of timing cams, one for ahead running and one for astern. Later engines had two injectors per cylinder, and the final series of constant-pressure turbocharged engines were fitted with four injectors per cylinder. This system was used for the injection of both diesel oil and heavy fuel oil (600cSt heated to a temperature of approximately 130 °C).

The common rail system is suitable for all types of road cars with diesel engines, ranging from city cars such as the Fiat Nuova Panda to executive cars such as the Audi A6.

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Cruise control

Speed control with a centrifugal governor was used in automobiles as early as the 1910s, notably byPeerless. Peerless advertised that their system would "maintain speed whether up hill or down". The technology was invented by James Watt and Matthew Boulton in 1788 to control steam engines. The governor adjusts the throttle position as the speed of the engine changes with different loads.

Modern cruise control (also known as a speedostat) was invented in 1945 by the blind inventor and mechanical engineer Ralph Teetor. His idea was born out of the frustration of riding in a car driven by his lawyer, who kept speeding up and slowing down as he talked. The first car with Teetor's system was the 1958 Imperial (called "Auto-pilot")[1]. This system calculated ground speed based on driveshaft rotations and used a solenoid to vary throttle position as needed.

A 1955 U.S. Patent for a "Constant Speed Regulator" was filed in 1950 by M-Sgt Frank J. Riley.[2] He installed his invention, which he conceived while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, on his own car in 1948.[3] Despite this patent, the inventor, Riley, and the subsequent patent holders were not able to collect royalties for any of the inventions using cruise control.

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Diesel Engine

On February 27, 1892, Diesel filed for a patent at the Imperial Patent Office in Germany. Within a year, he was granted Patent No. 67207 for a "Working Method and Design for Combustion Engines . . .a new efficient, thermal engine." With contracts from Frederick Krupp and other machine manufacturers, Diesel began experimenting and building working models of his engine. In 1893, the first model ran under its own power with 26% efficiency, remarkably more than double the efficiency of the steam engines of his day. Finally, in February of 1897, he ran the "first diesel engine suitable for practical use, which operated at an unbelievable efficiency of 75%.

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. He hoped that it would provide a way for the smaller industries, farmers, and "common folk" a means of competing with the monopolizing industries, which controlled all energy production at that time, as well as serve as an alternative for the inefficient fuel consumption of the steam engine. As a result of Diesel's vision, compression ignited engines were powered by a biomass fuel, vegetable oil, until the 1920's and are being powered again, today, by biodiesel.

The early diesel engines were not small enough or light enough for anything but stationary use due to the size of the fuel injection pump. They were produced primarily for industrial and shipping in the early 1900's. Ships and submarines benefited greatly from the efficiency of this new engine, which was slowly beginning to gain popularity.

Rudolph Diesel literally disappeared in 1913. There is some question of the timing of Diesel's death. Some think it might have been accidental or even a suicide. However, others considered a possible political motivation. Diesel did not agree with the politics of Germany and was reluctant to see his engine used by their Naval fleet. With his political support directed towards France and Britain, he was on his way to England to arrange for them to use his engine when he inexplicably disappeared over the side of the ship in the English Channel. This clearly opened the way for the German submarine fleet to be powered solely by Rudolph Diesel's engine. The Wolf Packs, as they were to become known, inflicted heavy damage on Allied shipping during World War I. Still others believed that the French may have been responsible. Their submarines were already powered by diesel engines. They may have been trying to keep the engines out of both the British and German hands. Whether by accident, suicide or at the hand of others, the world had lost a brilliant engineer and biofuel visionary.

The 1920's brought a new injection pump design, allowing the metering of fuel as it entered the engine without the need of pressurized air and its accompanying tank. The engine was now small enough to be mobile and utilized in vehicles. 1923-1924 saw the first lorries built and shown at the Berlin Motor Fair. In 1936, Mercedes Benz built the first automobile with a diesel engine - Type 260D.

Meanwhile, America was developing a diesel industry. It had always been part of Diesel's vision that America would be a good place to use his engines. Size, need, and the access to biomass for fuel were important and part of the American scene.Adolphus Busch acquired the rights to the American production of the diesel engine. Busch-Zulger Brothers Diesel EngineCompany built the first diesel engine in America in 1898. But, not much was done with development and design of the engine here until after World War I.

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