Engineers
Alphonse Beau de Rochas
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Alphonse Beau de Rochas was a French engineer who patented the four stroke internal combustion cycle in 1862, fourteen years before Nikolaus Otto built a working engine on the same principle, but never built or commercialized an engine of his own. His prior claim, largely forgotten until 1886, is credited today alongside Otto's as the cycle's theoretical origin.
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Why this is disputed. Beau de Rochas patented the four stroke cycle theoretically in 1862, fourteen years before Otto built a working engine on it; the German patent office revoked Otto's own patent in 1886 once the earlier pamphlet was found, though Otto's engine remains the first one actually built.
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