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From Hemmings is this link into the world of diesel engines. Not Packard, but I found it fascinating.

Anyone know why Packard didn't delve into diesels?

Packard did built a diesel engine, the DR-980, a radial engine for use in Stinson airplanes. This engine was also used in the Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker, which set a world record for staying aloft for more than 84 hours in 1931.

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And also Packard built the non-magnetic marine diesels for minesweeper applications in the early 50s, both in V8, V12 and V16 configurations. See some information about them here:

http://www.packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=478

Though very different from the large boxships, I've been fortunate over the years to have visited the engine rooms of quite a few large cruise ships. Pretty impressive to see one in the process of overhaul!

Image below is of an in-line 12 cylinder Sulzer design built by Wartsila for a large box ship. Somewhere on the net is a video of the machining of a crankshaft for one of these monsters.

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There was a show on Discovery or Science channel where they were showing one of those huge ship engines. I don't know if it was the same type in O_D's photo but the person describing the engine opened an access panel large enough to walk thru. They put the engine in some kind of slow mode and showed the crank rotating and a rod coming down and around. The narrator mentioned something about having to inspect things inside the crankcase periodically so could you imagine an engine where the crankcase is large enough to walk around in. Talk about basic huge. He mentioned a number but I can't remember if there were two or four of those engines on that particular ship.

The upper picture below shows one of the levels of a V16 Sulzer diesel on Holland America's MS Rotterdam. On this ship the main powerplant comprises 3 V16 and 2 V12 diesels, each coupled to a alternator. Almost exclusively propulsion on today's cruise ships is diesel/electric; one engine/generator set will provide hotel power for the ship's lighting, AC, elevators, ketchens, etc. and one or more of the others will be used to power electric motors coupled to either propellers or azipods. Almost never would all the engines be in service at the same time; one might be down for inspection or repair, and it's generally too costly to run them all and rarely is such speed needed and itineraries/timetables are very much planned with fuel consumption in mind (IIRC correctly its about 50 tons per day per engine). Engines run at a fixed rpm, about 540 IIRC.

Lower picture is in the engine control room and you can see the representation of each of the 5 main engines on one of the control panels.

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A lot of these ships the engine is always running at the same rpm's and they control the speed of the ship by adjusting the pitch on the propeller.

The DR-980 it was used to set another World's Record for Packard - first VERBAL communication between a plane aloft and a ground staton

It was done on June 3, 1929 over the skies of the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica (now Shelby Township) Michigan. You can read the detailed explanation (published in 1930 by Charles H. Vincent, VP and Director of the Packard Proving Grounds. You can see the report here:http://www.scribd.com/doc/219135531/Aircraft-Voice-Communication-experiment

Because diesel engines do not have spark plugs, wires and other electrical interference items, The pilot can now communicate static free. Before this only the strong signal of a morse code spark could get through the static.

If you think driving and texting is bad, try communicating with morse code in 3D.

I though that I read somewhere that the Packard Diesel Aircraft held the endurance record for staying aloft until it was broke in 1986 which was by Rutan Model 76 Voyager.
Wes

diesel fuel(common #2) isn't preferred in aircraft because of the gel point problem. Jet A is treated for that.
So did that plane run on regular diesel or some other fuel?

So as not to argue semantics, I do understand "diesel" is the inventors name and a term for high compression self-ignition.
Large (mega) industrial diesels, like in ships, have to turn slower for various engineering reasons. They can usually burn bunker fuel, heat before it'll even burn. I have limited experience there, other than buying as generators/prime movers, we used to sell into the diesel piston coating market. So more aware on those issues.
I've seen the packard marine engine over at the museum in Warren but don't recall any diesels. Not a historian, I was guessing. One just has to bait the hook with the proper bait...
Nothing like a radial engine. Talk about solving a weight problem. If it wasn't for propeller based flight technology, they wouldn't exist.