Nicolaus Otto (1832)
Born in 1832 in Germany, Nicolaus August Otto invented the first practical alternative to the steam engine - the first successful four-stroke cycle engine. Otto built his first four-stroke engine in 1861. Then, in partnership with German industrialist Eugen Langen, they improved the design and won a gold medal at the World Exposition in Paris of 1867.
In 1876, Otto, then a traveling salesman, chanced upon a newspaper account of the Lenoir internal combustion engine. Before year's end, Otto had built an internal combustion engine, utilizing a four-stroke piston cycle. Now called the 'Otto cycle' in his honor, the design called for four strokes of a piston to draw in and compress a gas-air mixture within a cylinder resulting in an internal explosion. He received patent #365,701 for his gas-motor engine. Because of its reliability, efficiency, and relative quietness, more than 30,000 Otto cycle engines were built in the next 10 years. He also developed low-voltage magneto ignition systems for his engines, allowing a much greater ease in starting.
Clicking on this image will take you from the EIA Kid's Page to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Full-Text and Image Database. When you get there, you will need to click on the box that says "Image" in order to access the patent. When coming "back", you might need to double-click your "back" button.