I think Diesel beat Carver by quite a while.
"It was on February 27th, 1892 that Diesel filed a patent ....
It was in the year 1893 that he was successful in putting out the first model that was able to run with its own power and with an efficiency of approximately 26%. This was more than double the efficiency of the steam engines of that time...
It was in February of 1897 that he accomplished a great achievement and produced a diesel engine that ran at 75% efficiency. This was the first one of its kind that was deemed suitable for practical use and was demonstrated at the Exhibition fair in France in the year 1898.
This engine in particular was run on peanut oil and in Diesel's vision was great for the small business owners as well as farmers as it used an economical fuel source that was a biomass fuel. It was his use of a biomass fuel that continued until the 1920's and is starting again today."
Sounds like Diesel wanted a better motor, and Carver wanted something better for the southern farmers to do.
Maybe they just happened to meet at the intersection of peanut and peanut?
A quick look for dates etc shows many discrepancies in whats on the internet. Go figure.
G-
PS- Another history repeats itself: "By 1920, U.S. peanut farmers were being undercut with imported peanuts from the Republic of China."