Dicksee, Cedric Bernard (1888-1981)

British engineer who was a pioneer in developing the compression-ignition (diesel) engine into a suitable unit for road transport. This became standard in commercial vehicles. Dicksee received his technical education at the Northampton Engineering College. He worked in the USA 1919-26 for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, then joined the manufacturing subsidiary of the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) 1928. During World War II he worked on combustion-chamber design for the De Havilland series of jet engines. Dicksee built his first engine 1930 and kept improving on it. The 1933 model became the standard; a further development of this engine used combustion chambers of a toroidal shape and was subsequently adopted for larger engines in the company's range. Dicksee's engines ran at speeds ranging from 1,800 to 2,400 (governed) rpm, higher than comparable engines of the day. With this performance, the way was opened for the adoption of compression-ignition engines instead of petrol engines for road transport.