Wankel rotary engine
Motor rotativo Wankel
- Date
- 1929 (patente) / 1957 (primer prototipo funcional) · confidence high
- Place
- Neckarsulm, Germany
- Credited to
- Felix Wankel
- Field
- Movement
What it is
Wankel conceived a rotary engine without pistons or a crankshaft as early as the 1920s, but his first working prototype (the DKM 54) did not run until 1957 at NSU's facilities, opening an alternative path to the classic internal combustion engine.
What it led to
- Commercial rotary engines in NSU and Mazda cars from 1964
- The search for mechanical alternatives to the piston engine