Nikolaus Otto

Nikolaus August Otto (14 June 1832,

Holzhausen an der Haide, Nassau – 26
January 1891, Cologne) was a German
engineer who successfully developed the
compressed charge internal combustion
engine which ran on petroleum gas and
led to the modern internal combustion
engine. The Association of German
Engineers (VDI) created DIN standard
1940 which says "Otto Engine: internal
combustion engine in which the ignition of
the compressed fuel-air mixture is initiated
by a timed spark", which has been applied
to all engines of this type since.[1][2]
 Nikolaus August Otto

Nicholas August Otto circa 1868

Born 14 June 1832

Holzhausen an der
Haide

Died 26 January 1891

(aged 58)
Cologne

Nationality German

Occupation Engineer

Known for Internal combustion

 engine
Title Dr. h.c.

Spouse(s) Anna Gossi

Children e.g. Gustav Otto

Otto's atmospheric engine

Otto's 1876 four cycle engine

Diagram of Otto's 1876 four cycle engine

Biography
Deutsche Bundespost stamp

Nikolaus August Otto was born on 14 June

1832[3] in Holzhausen an der Haide,
Germany.[4] He was the youngest of six
children. His father died in 1832. He began
school in 1838. After six years of good
performance he moved to the high school
in Langenschwalbach [5] until 1848. He did
not complete his studies but was cited for
good performance.
His main interest in school had been in
science and technology but he graduated
after three years as a business apprentice
in a small merchandise company. After
completing his apprenticeship he moved
to Frankfurt where he worked for Philipp
Jakob Lindheimer as a salesman of
"colonial goods" and agricultural products
(he was a grocery salesman). Otto worked
for various companies, first for IC Alpeter
and then in 1860 for Carl Mertens. He
traveled throughout Western Germany and
sold colonial goods - coffee, tea, rice, and
sugar.[2]

Lenoir engine
In late autumn of 1860 Otto and his
brother learned of a novel gas (illuminating
gas) engine that Jean Joseph Etienne
Lenoir had built in Paris.[2] The brothers
built a copy of the Lenoir engine and
applied for a patent in January 1861 for a
liquid fueled engine based on the Lenoir
(Gas) engine with the Prussian Ministry of
Commerce, but it was rejected.

First four stroke engine, 1861

Otto was aware of the concept of
compressed fuel charge and tried to make
an engine using this principle in 1861. It
ran for just a few minutes before breaking.
Otto's brother gave up on the concept,
resulting in Otto looking for help
elsewhere.[2][3]

From 1862 to 1863 Otto experimented

with the help of Cologne Mechanic
Michael J. Zons in an effort to improve the
engine. Running low on funds, in 1862 Otto
worked for Carl Mertens in order to
continue work on his engine.[2]

Enter Eugen Langen

Early in 1864, Otto sought investors to
fund his research. He found Eugen Langen,
whose father was a sugar industrialist.
Together they entered into a partnership
on 31 March 1864 and named it NA Otto &
Cie in Cologne. This was the world's first
company focused entirely on the design
and production of internal combustion
engines.[2]

The 1864 Otto & Langen engine was a free

piston atmospheric engine (the explosion
of gas was used to create a vacuum and
the power came from atmospheric
pressure returning the piston). It
consumed less than half the gas of the
Lenoir and Hugon atmospheric engines
and so was a commercial success. The
Lenoir engine was a double acting engine.
In essence these engines are a steam
engine altered to run on illuminating gas.
The engines of Italian inventors Eugenio
Barsanti and Felice Matteucci in their
British Patent no 1625 of 1857, were built
and are in a museum. Unlike Otto's engine
these are two stroke atmospheric engines
which are not in any way comparable.

Lenoir's engines were the first to be put

into serial production with numbers sold
being around 700.

The Otto engine which is the predecessor

of the modern engine as specified by the
VDI is Otto's fourth design. He built the
following engines:
 1861: a copy of Lenoir's atmospheric
engine
1862: a four cycle compressed charge
engine (prior to Rochas's patent) which
failed as it broke almost immediately
1864: the first successful atmospheric
engine
1876: the four stroke compressed
charge engine which is acknowledged
as the "Otto" cycle engine. The term
"Otto cycle" is applied to all compressed
charge, four cycle engines.[1]

For all its commercial success, with the

company producing 634 engines a year by
1875,[6] the Otto and Langen engine had hit
a technical dead end: it produced only 3 hp
(2.2 kW; 3.0 PS), yet required 10–13 ft
(3.0–4.0 m) headroom to operate.[7]

Otto turned his attention to the four stroke

cycle which he had failed at in 1862.[8]
Largely due to the efforts of Franz Rings
and Herman Schumm, who were brought
into the company by Gottlieb Daimler Otto
succeeds in making the Four Stroke,
Compressed Charge engine.[7] It is this
engine (the Otto Silent Engine), and not the
Otto & Langen engine, to which the "Otto
cycle" refers. This was the first
commercially successful engine to use in-
cylinder compression. The Rings-Schumm
engine appeared in autumn 1876 and was
immediately successful.[7]

Otto married Anna Gossi and the couple

had seven recorded children. His son
Gustav Otto grew up to become an aircraft
builder.

The Otto cycle

The Otto engine was designed as a
stationary engine and in the action of the
engine, the stroke is an upward or
downward movement of a piston in a
cylinder. Used later in an adapted form as
an automobile engine, four strokes are
involved:
 (1) downward intake stroke—coal-gas
and air enter the piston combustion
chamber,
(2) upward compression stroke—the
piston compresses the mixture,
(3) downward power stroke—ignites the
fuel mixture by flame and later electric
spark,
(4) upward exhaust stroke—releases
exhaust gas from the piston chamber.
Otto only sold his engine as a stationary
motor.

Earlier patents
This is a video montage of the Otto engines running at

the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion

(WMSTR), in Rollag, Minnesota, USA (2min 16sec,
320x240, 340kbit/s video).

Otto had obtained many patents from

several different nations and for several
different features. When his former
manager Gottlieb Daimler wanted to build
small engines for transportation Otto
showed no interest. Daimler left and took
Maybach with him. Daimler had no desire
to pay royalties to Otto (Deutz AG) and so
hired a lawyer to find a solution. What the
lawyer found was a patent for the concept
of a four cycle engine that had been
issued to Beau De Rochas, a French
engineer, in 1862. This resulted in Otto
losing one of his patents and allowed
Daimler to sell his engines in Germany
without paying royalties. Neither Otto nor
Daimler were aware of the Rochas patent.
Rochas never built an engine. It is likely he
could not have done so.[9]

Several of the inventions that are

sometimes mentioned as having preceded
the Otto engine, such as Marcus, Barsanti,
etc. are for two cycle (two stroke)
atmospheric engines which do not
compress the fuel charge. Otto's
atmospheric engine is not the VDI (and
other associations) Otto engine type. The
only significant engines were those from
Lenoir. His engines were the first to go into
serial production. Lenoir eventually sold
approximately 700 engines.

Production
Over 50,000 engines were produced in the
17 years following introduction.[10][11]
Honors
Otto received numerous honors for his
engines.

The 1864 atmospheric engine won the

Gold Medal in the 1867 World Exhibition
in Paris.[12]
In 1882 Otto received an Honorary
Doctorate from the University of
Würzburg.[1]
His home has been turned into a
museum which is promoted by the local
government.
in 1936 Professor Nagël, head of the
Association of German Engineers,
 decreed that DIN Standard 1940 specify
that "Ottomotor" applies to all engines
that draw in a fuel mix, compress it and
ignite it by special device, thus replacing
the terms such terms as "explosion
motor", "detonation engine", "benzine
engine", and "ignition engine."[1]

Milestones
1862: First experiments with four-stroke
engines
1864: Establishing the first engine
factory in the world: NA Otto Cie
1867" Gold Medal of the World
Exhibition in Paris for the gas engine
1869: The company relocates and
changes its name to Langen, Otto, and
Roosen
1872: The company relocates to larger
facilities and changes its name to Deutz
Gasmotoren Fabrik
1876: Development of four-stroke
engine (Otto-motor)
1882: Production of the Atmospheric
engine is discontinued after 2649 were
made[13]
1884: Nikolaus Otto invents the electric
ignition
1885: Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz
built the first automobiles using liquid
 petroleum engines.[14]

See also
History of the internal combustion
engine
German inventors and discoverers

References
1. "Ottomotor" . Deutz AG. Archived from
the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved
12 July 2016.
2. "Nicolaus August Otto (1832-1891),
Erfinder" . LVR Fur Mensch. Retrieved
11 July 2016.
3. "Nicolaus August Otto Museum" .
Retrieved 11 July 2016.
4. "Holzhausen an der Haide | GPS
Wanderatlas" . www.ich-geh-wandern.de.
Retrieved 2016-07-12.
5. Bad Schwalbach|Langenschawalbach
6. Wise, David Burgess. "Daimler: Founder
of the Four-Wheeler", in Northey, Tom, ed.
World of Automobiles (London: Orbis,
1974), Volume 5, p.482.
7. Wise, p.482.
8. Dugald Clerk, "Gas and Oil Engines",
Longman Green & Co, 1897, pp.17-18.
9. New Scientist (Vol 95 No 1322 ed.). 9
September 1982. p. 714. |access-date=
requires |url= (help)
10. Johnson, Da'vel (17 February 2014).
"History of Science 2014: Nikolaus August
Otto" .
11. "Nikolaus August Otto Biography (1832-
1891)" .
12. Lay, M. G. (24 October 1992). "Ways of
the World: A History of the World's Roads
and of the Vehicles That Used Them" .
Rutgers University Press – via Google
Books.
13. "Deutz - History" . Archived from the
original on 2016-07-04.
14. "Otto, Nikolaus August - Die 100 größten
Rheinland-Pfälzer - Regionen - Archiv" .
 Wise, David Burgess. "Daimler: Founder
of the Four-Wheeler", in Northey, Tom,
ed. World of Automobiles Volume 5,
pp. 481–3. London: Orbis, 1974.

External links
U.S. Patent 0,194,047 —1877
U.S. Patent 0,365,701

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