May 30, 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the Rotary Engine, or the sometimes known Wankel Engine. As drivers may have noticed by now, Mazda is the only automaker in history which incorporated this engine into a land vehicle, as I’ve written in my The Only One blog post.
As Mazda MX-5 had its humble beginnings in just a draft on a paper, the idea of the rotary engine came into one of Felix Wankel’s(the German who invented the rotary engine) dream and he interpreted it as a premonition. He was just a 17-year old lad at that time and he had the slightest cardinal knowledge on how internal combustion engine works(which even makes him more of a genius when he was able to come up with his own engine, and even a rotating one at that). In his dream, he went to a concert riding his own hand-made car and he was telling his friends how proud he is of it’s engine, “My car has a new type of engine – a half-turbine half-reciprocated engine. I invented it.”
That “premonition” he got in his dream awoken his sleeping spirit for engineering and he was so sure that an engine could achieve the four strokes – intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust – while rotating. Five years after that dream in 1924, in his blossoming age of 22, Wankel founded his own small laboratory, wherein he could further research and develop his idea of a rotary engine. This continued on until the World War II and his research was supported by the German Aviation Ministry(we could probably conclude then why rotary engines were found mostly in helicopters). They believed that such engine will help lead the German nation towards greatness, if it’s taken into its full potential.
A look at the postwar would show us Wankel establishing his Technical Institute of Engineering so he could continue his research and development of rotary engine and rotary compressors(which will primarily be used for commercial purposes).
NSU, a German motorcycle manufacturer, showed great interest in Wankel’s research and so it partnered with Wankel for the continuous development of the rotary engine. NSU then completed its development of the rotary compressor. They combined it with Wankel’s supercharger, and when they installed it in one of the NSU-made motorcycles, it yet again set another world speed record(NSU motorcycles were already winning in the World Grand Prix championships at that time).
Then finally, in 1957, 38 years after Wankel’s dream(he had it in 1919), he, together with NSU, completed a prototype of the type DKM rotary engine, which was combined to a cocoon-shaped rotor housing with a triangular rotor.
And today, it celebrates its 40th year of birth. Cheers to Wankel and his rotary engine! A toast to its 40 years of success. If Wankel would have it, Dreams do become reality after all.
