Nikolaus Otto was a German engineer who in 1876 built the first working internal combustion engine to use the four stroke cycle, compressing an air and fuel mixture before ignition. His German patent on the cycle was revoked in 1886 once Alphonse Beau de Rochas's earlier pamphlet describing the same principle came to light, but Otto's engine, the first one actually built on it, kept the popular name Otto cycle.
Facts
FAQs
Was Nikolaus Otto the first person to describe the four stroke engine cycle?
No. Others described and patented the four stroke concept first; Otto built the commercially successful engine.
No. Grace's Guide says the concept of four strokes had been theorised in 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas, and that Christian Reithmann patented the four stroke concept for one year in 1860 before Beau de Rochas patented it in 1862. Otto's contribution was an engine that was commercially viable and successful. He sold it only as a stationary motor, and it was later adapted as an automotive engine.
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Built the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine.
Invented
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
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Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source Nikolaus Otto (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIn Group: Engine, Steam Power and Railway Engineers, Lead sectionQuote, In Group: Engine, Steam Power and Railway Engineers, Lead section
successfully developed the compressed charge internal combustion engine which ran on petroleum gas and led to the modern internal combustion engine
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