Establishment of the
Battery Research Laboratory and the Toyoda Physical and Chemical Research
Institute
In accordance with Sakichi's final wishes, Kiichiro Toyoda
undertook research and development on secondary batteries.
In 1914, Sakichi Toyoda donated prize money to the Imperial
Institute of Invention and Innovation for invention of a secondary battery, and
in August 1935, the Institute conducted the Third Secondary Battery Invention
Contest based on the Ideal Battery Million Yen Contest proposed by Sakichi. The
title of the prize was "invention of a non-lead-acid battery with low mass
per 1 kilowatt capacity and collision durability". The deadline for
submissions was November 4, 1936, and the first prize was 5,000 yen. The first
and second contests resulted in considerable progress in lead-acid batteries,
and as a result, the third contest sought entries of non-lead-acid batteries.
Based on these research and development results, following
the creation of the Shibaura Laboratory, the Battery Research Laboratory was
established in 1939 and research on batteries for electric vehicles was
commenced. The Center acquired patent rights for the lead storage battery
invented by Dr. Daizo Nukiyama3, Takeo Chiku4, and Kyosuke Kinoshita from the
Imperial Institute of Invention and Innovation and works on manufacturing
electric vehicle storage batteries began at the Tokyo Shibaura Plant.5 The
research activities of the Center were taken over by the Toyota Physical and
Chemical Research Institute, which sought to improve the performance of
electric vehicle storage batteries through research and production.
In September 1940, a three-story building and complete
facilities used by the Battery Research Laboratory were provided and the Toyota
Physical and Chemical Research Institute was established. The purpose of
establishing the Institute was to promote and develop science and technology
unique to Japan and to contribute to the advancement of scholarship and
industry. The Institute achieved many significant research results including
development of a technique for manufacturing large crystals of Rochelle salt,
storage batteries, and a direction finder, and patents were attained and
commercial products released with respect to some of them. In the post-war
period, however, independent research activities had to be curtailed because of
inflation.
Kiichiro believed practical technology and academic research
were deeply intertwined and that technology would advance. This attitude was
handed down and led to the establishment of Toyota Central Research &
Development Laboratories, Inc. (November 3, 1960) and Genesis Research
Institute, Inc. (June 11, 1996). Both of these organizations made significant
contributions to the development of new technology.
Establishment of the
Battery Research Laboratory and the Toyoda Physical and Chemical Research
Institute
In accordance with Sakichi's final wishes, Kiichiro Toyoda
undertook research and development on secondary batteries.
In 1914, Sakichi Toyoda donated prize money to the Imperial
Institute of Invention and Innovation for invention of a secondary battery, and
in August 1935, the Institute conducted the Third Secondary Battery Invention
Contest based on the Ideal Battery Million Yen Contest proposed by Sakichi. The
title of the prize was "invention of a non-lead-acid battery with low mass
per 1 kilowatt capacity and collision durability". The deadline for
submissions was November 4, 1936, and the first prize was 5,000 yen. The first
and second contests resulted in considerable progress in lead-acid batteries,
and as a result, the third contest sought entries of non-lead-acid batteries.
Based on these research and development results, following
the creation of the Shibaura Laboratory, the Battery Research Laboratory was
established in 1939 and research on batteries for electric vehicles was
commenced. The Center acquired patent rights for the lead storage battery
invented by Dr. Daizo Nukiyama3, Takeo Chiku4, and Kyosuke Kinoshita from the
Imperial Institute of Invention and Innovation and works on manufacturing
electric vehicle storage batteries began at the Tokyo Shibaura Plant.5 The
research activities of the Center were taken over by the Toyota Physical and
Chemical Research Institute, which sought to improve the performance of
electric vehicle storage batteries through research and production.
In September 1940, a three-story building and complete
facilities used by the Battery Research Laboratory were provided and the Toyota
Physical and Chemical Research Institute was established. The purpose of
establishing the Institute was to promote and develop science and technology
unique to Japan and to contribute to the advancement of scholarship and
industry. The Institute achieved many significant research results including
development of a technique for manufacturing large crystals of Rochelle salt,
storage batteries, and a direction finder, and patents were attained and
commercial products released with respect to some of them. In the post-war
period, however, independent research activities had to be curtailed because of
inflation.
Kiichiro believed practical technology and academic research
were deeply intertwined and that technology would advance. This attitude was
handed down and led to the establishment of Toyota Central Research &
Development Laboratories, Inc. (November 3, 1960) and Genesis Research
Institute, Inc. (June 11, 1996). Both of these organizations made significant
contributions to the development of new technology.
Diesel Engine
Research
A layout plan of the Engine Test Shop on a diagram of the
Koromo Plant test shop machinery placement prepared in March 1938 indicated the
presence of a Krupp diesel engine and a Junkers diesel engine test bench. This
suggests that diesel engine research had begun no later than the completion of
the Koromo Plant.
The German-made Junkers diesel engine was an aircraft engine
with an extremely unique structure: each cylinder was equipped with two pistons
that operated in opposition to each other. The Krupp diesel engine was a
Junkers engine modified for automobile use.
An article that ran in the September 1939 issue of the
Ryusenkei, a Toyoda PR magazine, quoted Kiichiro Toyoda saying with respect to
diesel engine research, "We are in the midst of many years of painstaking
research, but we are beginning to see results and we are now conducting
prototype research".1 In addition, the August 1939 issue of Kogyo Hyoron
magazine reported, "Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. has long focused on the future
potential of diesel automobiles and conducted prototype research in secret with
the aim of creating its own vehicle modeled on the Junkers diesel vehicle.
Toyota has now seen to the completion of the prototype and various rigorous
performance tests are being conducted with a formal announcement planned for
October [1939]".
The diesel vehicle, however, was never put on sale.3 A
request was made by the industry and government agencies for restraint because
of 'excessive competition', and there was no opportunity to launch a diesel
vehicle.
Research on
Alternative Fuels
Demand for automobiles in Japan started to increase rapidly
following the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, and automobile ownership exceeded
100,000 vehicles by the end of August 1933. As a result, gasoline consumption
also grew quickly, and securing fuel became a major problem. In 1934, when
Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. began producing prototype automobiles, Japan
relied on imports for 80 percent of its crude oil, and when imports of refined
petroleum products are included, 86 percent of all petroleum products demand
was imported. Oil is a strategic material, and restrictions were imposed
following the Manchurian Incident in 1931. The Petroleum Industry Law came into
effect in July 1934, and oil refining and importing became licensed businesses.
In response to these developments, extensive research was
conducted on fuels that could take the place of gasoline, and research on
electric vehicle storage batteries and diesel engines was also performed as a
part of those efforts. Among the alternative fuels considered were charcoal,
wood, Coalite (semicoke; a low-temperature carbonization byproduct of coal),
charcoal briquettes, anthracite, brown coal, acetylene gas (carbide), natural
gas, alcohol, etherified alcohol, and man-made oil. Of these, the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry provided a subsidy (up to 300 yen) from 1934 to users of
gas generating devices that used charcoal and wood.
In the Automotive Department of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works,
Kichihei Miki1, the inventor of a wood gas generating furnace, conducted
research at the Shibaura Laboratory starting in 1936. According to an article
authored by Miki and entitled 'Wood-Burning Vehicles and Coal-Burning
Vehicles'2, a fully-loaded 2-ton truck driven 100 kilometers consumed 20 to 25
liters of gasoline (4 to 5 kilometers per liter) or 40 to 50 kilograms of wood
(2 to 2.5 kilometers per kilogram), indicating that 1 liter of gasoline was
equivalent to about 2 kilograms of wood. One can of gasoline (18 liters) cost
1.8 yen, while 3,750 kilograms of wood cost 30 yen, and if the truck were driven
100 miles (160 kilometers) each day, over the course of the year, the gasoline
would cost approximately 1,500 yen while the wood would cost approximately 250
yen, a savings of 1,250 yen annually by using wood.
Advertisement for a
Toyota dealer selling gas generating devices
In about 1936 when Miki began his research at the Shibaura
Laboratory, charcoal-powered vehicle technology was undeveloped and could not
produce adequate output, but as a result of subsequent advances, performance
improved substantially. The July 1939 issue of Ryusenkei publicity magazine
reported in an article entitled "Charcoal-Powered Vehicle Quality
Improves" that a coal-fueled vehicle performed well in tests conducted by
the Ministry of Railways.3 Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. continued research on
charcoal gas generating furnaces and produced a prototype model AX charcoal gas
generating furnace in February 1945.
Eiji Toyoda had the following recollection concerning the
performance of the vehicle equipped with a charcoal gas generating furnace:
"Miki made some initial improvements on charcoal-run vehicles, then later
added more modifications during the war until these vehicles were running
pretty well. Toyota improved the technology to the point where we were able to
have a four-ton truck powered with charcoal pull another four-ton truck up the
steep Hakone Mountains in test drives. This was no mean feat, I can assure
you" (Eiji Toyoda, Toyota: Fifty Years in Motion, p. 68 by Eiji Toyoda).
Meanwhile, anhydrous alcohol, an alternative fuel, was
combined with gasoline in a 10 percent mixture starting in July 1938. In
response, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. developed a timing device that appropriately
adjusted the ignition timing for gasoline mixed with alcohol and obtained a
patent in February 1940.
Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
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