History - main panel

A Brief History of the Rotary Engine

1588
Agostino Ramelli designs a rotary piston water pump.

1772 - 1782
James Watt takes out several patents for rotary steam engines.

steam engine

13 August 1902
Felix Wankel was born in Lahr, Germany.
His father, Rudolph, a commisioner in the Forestry Department was killed in 1914 in the Great War (WW1).
(for more about Felix, see the Felix page).

1903
John Cooley patents a design for a rotary steam engine.

1910
The Britsh Patent office already holds over 2000 patents for rotary type pumps and engines. All presumably unsuccessful.

1924
Wankel begins working on his engine.

1920s to early 1930s
Wankel works on the main problem with rotary engines by devising over time, a method that uses gas pressure, instead of large springs, to hold the seals fimly against the sealing surfaces. Something engineers had been attempting, usuccessfully, for near 200 years with various pumps and steam engines.

1927
Wankel makes his first sketches for a Rotary engine.

1930
First real Patent taken out by Felix Wankel for his design.

1938
Dimitri Sensaud de Lavou designs an engine with a 5 lobe rotor.

5 lobe rotor

WW2 Years
Wankel was mostly engaged in designing rotary type valves for conventional piston torpedo engines with Damlier-Benz.

1953 to 1954
DKM 53 (Drehkolbenmotor or "rotary piston engine). The first rotary engine is concieved. Now working for the N.S.U. company, Wankel presents full detail drawings of what was to become the Rotary engine we know today.

1954
DKM 54 .An advance on the earlier engine is designed.

18 April 1956
First production scetches made for Wankel's new Rotary engine.

1 Februrary 1957
First trial run of DKM 54.

1957 later
DKM 125 (125cc capacity) was constructed and achieved 26 horsepower at 15000rpm during testing. Another DKM engine was taken to 25000rpm in a special safety tunnel.

DKM

1 July 1958
KKM 125 , weighing 37lbs, is tested for the first time.

KKM 502

1954 to 1958
N.S.U. and Wankel take out 30 patents covering all aspects of the new engine design.

21 October 1958
Aircraft company Curtis-Wright pays $700,000 for an exclusive licence to produce the engine in the U.S. and a non-exclusive licence for the rest of the world (except Germany).

1958 to 1959
Curtis Wright produce two engines. The RC 1-60, a single rotor of 60 cubic inches(8 times the size of the DKM 125), and the RC 2-60, a twin rotor version of the RC 1-60. Other models produced around this time by Curtis Wright include the RC 4.3 (small, 25lb, air cooled engine), the RC1 1920 (a monsterous engine producing 800 horsepower).

1958
N.S.U. release the rotary powered Prinz.

NSU Prinz