Who is the inventor of the rotary engine?
2 Answers
The inventor of the rotary engine is Felix Wankel from Germany. The rotary engine directly converts the combustion expansion force of combustible gas into driving torque. Compared with reciprocating engines, the rotary engine eliminates useless linear motion, so a rotary engine of the same power is smaller in size, lighter in weight, and has lower vibration and noise, offering significant advantages. Due to the axial operation characteristics of the rotary engine, it can achieve higher operating speeds without the need for a precise crankshaft balance. The entire engine has only two rotating parts, which greatly simplifies the structure compared to a typical four-stroke engine with more than twenty moving parts such as intake and exhaust valves, and significantly reduces the possibility of failure.
Back when I was a young apprentice at the auto repair shop, my master told me stories about the rotary engine. The inventor was a German engineer named Felix Wankel—what a genius! In 1957, he came up with an engine without pistons, generating power by having a triangular rotor spin inside a peanut-shaped housing. Although the German automaker NSU was the first to mass-produce it, it was the Japanese who truly mastered the technology—just think of the intoxicating exhaust note of the Mazda RX-7 sports car, which still makes vintage car fans' eyes light up today! This engine was 30% smaller than piston engines and could easily rev past 10,000 RPM, but unfortunately, fuel consumption and durability held it back.
