Daalen (Dalen), Niels

November 30, 1869, Mr.. - December 9, 1937
Swedish engineer and inventor Nils Gustaf Dalen was born in Stenstorne, in southern Sweden, the family farmer Anders Johansson Dalena and nee Lovis Andersdotter. Upon completion of primary education, he studied agriculture, horticulture and dairy cattle in the agricultural college. With its remarkable abilities to the mechanics, D. still in the college designed and built several models of improved agricultural technology. He invented a device for determining the fat content of milk has attracted the attention of Gustav de Laval, head of 'Company steam turbines Laval' in Stockholm, who suggested that the D. obtain an engineering education.
In 1892, Mr.. D. enrolled in the Institute of Chalmers, who was in Gothenburg, and four years later he graduated with a diploma of mechanical engineer. Another year of the D. held in Zurich Federal Institute of Technology. Upon his return to Sweden in 1897. D. gained fame as a consulting engineer. He began to research air turbines, compressors and air pumps. In 1900, Mr.. with his colleague, he founded a small engineering firm 'Daley and Tselsing'.
In 1901, Mr.. D. becoming a technical manager 'Swedish carbide-acetylene company'. In the same year the company acquired the patent for the invention of the French, called the 'acetylene' (Acetylene Dissous). Acetylene dissolved in acetone, the solution is adsorbed porous material, which then was in a metal cylinder. Acetylene (under normal conditions of gaseous unsaturated hydrocarbon) burns blindingly bright white light. Acetone - flammable organic liquid, often used as feedstock in the production of chemicals. All together (acetylene, acetone, porous mass and a metal cylinder) is called the gas battery.
. 'Swedish carbide-acetylene company' had hoped to improve the French version of this battery for use as a safe and highly efficient source of fuel for lighting devices, beacons and buoys
. Experience has shown that the storage of acetylene cylinders in a safe. Even if the acetylene is dissolved in acetone and therefore nevzryvoopasen, . the slightest reduction in the solution (due to consumption of the solution or the decline due to lower temperature) leads to the accumulation in the space above the surface of the liquid explosive acetylene gas,
. Absorption of a mixture of acetylene and acetone porous mass could reduce the potential threat of explosion. But, . even the patent holder on the 'acetylene' failed to produce a porous material, . able to withstand shocks and rocking, . inevitable during the agitation of the sea: the slightest mechanical cracking of the mass leads to the formation of voids, . which collects gaseous acetylene.,
. In 1901, Mr.
. Dalen started to develop an advanced battery gas. In the short time he has managed to create a special substance to fill it. Introducing it into a steel container, half filled with acetone, and then there puffing acetylene under a pressure of 10 atmospheres, D. received a battery gas containing acetylene, whose own volume at 15 б° C at 100 times the volume of the container. Such a device battery allows it to be transported without risk of detonation on impact.
Later D. introduced improvements in the design of the gas battery - invented a regulator that controls the gas pressure in the cylinder. In 1905, Mr.. he constructed a reliable device that allows a sharp increase in the number of short flashes emitted by the beacon - to several thousand per 1 liter of acetylene. In recognition of his inventive activity 'Company gas battery', absorbed in 1906. 'Swedish carbide-acetylene company', has appointed D. his chief engineer. In 1907, Mr.. D. Another proposed improvement of the gas battery - designed the valve, ensuring the allocation of gas only at night or during bad weather, which allowed to include the lights of lighthouses and buoys only in conditions of poor visibility. Named 'solar valve', the device D. consisted of four vertical metal rods, encased in a transparent glass tube and fixed to the upper ends. Three carefully polished rod located around the fourth, blackened. When heated by sunlight reflected polished rods, blackened rod elongates and presses the lever again to close the gas valve, thereby turning off the light. Night blackened core cools and contracts, allowing the spring is pressing the lever up and open the valve. The resulting gas flow is ignited with ignitor. 'Sunny valve' D. can be adjusted so that will ignite a fire at a certain light. Reconstituted 'Swedish company gas battery' in 1909. appointed Dr.. its Managing Director.
Three years later, when testing devices to ensure the safety of cylinders with acetylene, D. was seriously injured in the explosion and completely blind. In 1912, Mr.. he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his invention of automatic regulators used in conjunction with gas accumulators for light sources for lighthouses and buoys'. 'Lighting at gas batteries allow installing beacons and buoys in the most remote places - said X. G. Sederbaum of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at the awarding ceremony. - These devices have proved extremely useful ... for lighting railway cars and the use of rail traffic lights, carriage lamps, as well as for welding, melting and cutting of metals'. D. not spoken with the Nobel lecture, and the medal was awarded to present it to his brother.
Losing sight, D. not stop their research. Of his major inventions should be noted unusually efficient furnace. In 1901, Mr.. D. married Elmoy Persson. They had two sons and two daughters. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy in 1913, and five years later received an honorary degree from Lund University. In 1919, Mr.. D. was elected to the Swedish Academy of Sciences and Technology. He died on December 9, 1937, Mr.. in Lidingo (Sweden).