Many modern inventions  have their origin in/are inspired by much older and simpler ones. But who would think that the Diesel engine  might have been  inspired by the fire piston, an ancient device developed by forest tribes from South East Asia ?    Such is suggested  in a paper presented by Japanese scientists  at the International Conference on Business & Technology Transfer 2002.( 1)  

The fire- piston was developed in ancient times by forest tribes in SE Asia ( more specifically: inland  Borneo in the Malay archipelago )  to kindle fire , even on the most rainy  days. The device is  relatively simple.  It consists of a  piston  that is quickly driven ( rather rammed ) in a hollow cylinder. The air in  the tube gets compressed which causes the temperature to increase above 260 degrees celcius, which ignites some tinder in the tube. 

   

  

 

The fire-piston works on the same principle ( compression of air to create heat ) as the Diesel engine.  According to the researchers, Rudolph Diesel  had observed a fire piston from SE Asia and utilized it’s principle when he developed the Diesel engine.

 

(1)   http://inet.museum.kyoto-u.ac.jp/conference02/MasanoriOGATA.html - http://inet.museum.kyoto-u.ac.jp/conference02/MasanoriOGATA.html