"The 201 represented a remarkable advance in the art of Diesel-engine construction. It had been developed as a lightweight unit for Navy submarines. It was a two-cycle eight-cylinder engine, each cylinder developing 75 to 80 horsepower. The weight was only 20 pounds per horsepower, a highly efficient ratio. The frame was of welded steel, a radical departure from accepted practice, but a feature that facilitated mass production. From the service and repair standpoint, each cylinder and piston assembly was separately removable. One of the key innovations was the unit injector, by means of which solid fuel (unmixed with air) was fed into the cylinder under thousands of pounds of pressure. The advantage of the unit injector was that it eliminated the need for high pressure in long fuel lines. The pressure was created by the unit injector - which was also a pump - at the moment the fuel entered the cylinder.
201A being lowered into Zephyr carbody
"Two of these engines had been installed in the General Motors exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, and these were the prototypes considered by Ralph Budd, president of Burlington Lines, for use on his Pioneer Zephyr." *
* Reck, F.M. (1954). The Dilworth Story. (p.47). NY: McGraw Hill.
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This page last updated 12-12-12
