st ô`tō), 1832–91, German engineer. He was coinventor (1867) of an internal-combustion engine, and he devised (1876) the four-stroke Otto cycle, which was widely adopted for automobile, airplane, and other motors.Otto, Nikolaus August
(born June 10, 1832, Holzhausen, Nassau—died Jan. 26, 1891, Cologne, Ger.) German engineer who developed the four-stroke internal-combustion engine. He built his first gasoline-powered engine in 1861, and in 1876 he built an internal-combustion engine using the four-stroke cycle (four strokes of the piston for each explosion), which offered the first practical alternative to the steam engine as a power source. Though the four-stroke cycle was patented in 1862 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas (1815–93), it is commonly known as the Otto cycle since Otto was the first to build such an engine.
Otto, Nikolaus August
Born June 10, 1832, in Holzhausen, Nassau; died Jan. 26, 1891, in Cologne. German designer and entrepreneur.
After graduating from a Realschule in 1848, Otto was involved in commercial activities. Jointly with the German engineer E. Langen, he developed an air-standard engine in 1867. He also built an improved four-stroke gas engine in 1876 using the idea of the four-stroke compression cycle proposed in 1862 by the French engineer A. Beau de Rochas. In 1884, Otto suggested the use of an electric ignition, which made it possible to use a liquid fuel for the engine.
REFERENCES
Radtsig, A. A. Istoriia teplotekhniki. Moscow-Leningrad, 1936.Bernal, J. Nauka v istorii obshchestva. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from English.)
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|