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Robert Huber (engineer)Robert Huber (7 July 1901 – 7 April 1995) was a Swiss mechanical engineer. LifeRobert Huber was born on 7 July 1901 in Freienstein, Switzerland. He attended a primary school in Freienstein from 1908 to 1914 and a secondary school in Freienstein from 1914 to 1916. From 1916 to 1920 he attended a high school in Zürich. From 1920 to 1924 he studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (now ETH Zurich) under Professor Aurel Stodola.[1] On 12 August 1942, Huber married Ursula Meyer. Huber wrote a biography in the 1980s. He died on 7 April 1995. CareerIn 1924, Huber became Technical Director of the Bureau Technique Pescara where he supervised the design of nearly 30 different sizes and types of free-piston engine and acquired the nickname "Mr Free Piston". The first was the AC-2,[2] running on petrol (gasoline). The second was the AC-3, which was similar but ran on diesel fuel. Eighteen types of free-piston engine were built and tested. In 1932, Huber read a book by Professor Lomonosov about diesel locomotives. He also heard of a proposal by Petro Shelest for turbines driven by compressed air. This information gave him the idea of developing the free-piston gas turbine. Several of these were designed but not built. Finally, in 1938–39, the world's first free-piston generator was built. It used two G-30[2] machines and drove an 800 kW alternator. Huber stayed at Bureau Technique Pescara (which became Société d'études mécaniques et énergétiques[3] (SEME) in 1939) until 1962. During his time there, thousands of free-piston engines had been sold. Huber continued to work on free-piston engines until at least 1967. Huber was a pioneer in the development of common rail fuel injection in the 1960s.[4] PatentsRobert Huber has about 40 patents related to free-piston engines. A few examples are listed below:
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