Felix Wankel

Felix Heinrich Wankel (German: [ˈfeːlɪks ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈvaŋkəl]; 13 August 1902 – 9 October 1988) was a German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named.[1]

Felix Wankel
Wankel in the 1960s
Born(1902-08-13)13 August 1902
Lahr, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire
Died9 October 1988(1988-10-09) (aged 86)
Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
NationalityGerman
OccupationEngineer
Spouse(s)Emma "Mi" Kirn
Parent(s)Gerty Wankel and Rudolf Wankel
Engineering career
DisciplineMechanical engineering
InstitutionsPaki, Reich Air Ministry, Goetze AG, NSU, Wankel GmbH
ProjectsWankel engine

Early life

Wankel was born in 1902 in Lahr in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden in the Upper Rhine Plain of present-day southwestern Germany. He was the only son of Gerty Wankel (née Heidlauff) and Rudolf Wankel, a forest assessor. His father died in World War I.[1] Thereafter, the family moved to Heidelberg. He went to high schools in Donaueschingen, Heidelberg, and Weinheim, and left school without Abitur in 1921. He learned the trade of purchaser at the Carl Winter Press in Heidelberg and worked for the publishing house until June 1926. He and some friends had already run an unofficial afterwork machine shop in a backyard shed in Heidelberg since 1924. Wankel now determined to receive unemployment benefits and to focus on the machine shop. One of his friends, who had graduated from university, gave his name and transformed the shop into an official garage for DKW and Cleveland motor bikes in 1927, where Wankel worked from time to time until his arrest in 1933.[2]

Wankel was gifted since childhood with an ingenious spatial imagination and became interested in the world of machines, especially combustion engines. After his mother was widowed, Wankel could not afford university education or even an apprenticeship. He was, however, able to teach himself technical subjects. At age 17 he told friends that he had dreamt of constructing a car with "a new type of engine, half turbine, half reciprocating. It is my invention!". True to this prediction, he conceived the Wankel engine in 1924 and won his first patent in 1929.[1]

Wankel and the NSDAP

During the early 1920s Wankel was a member of various radical anti-Semitic organizations. In 1921 he joined the Heidelberg branch of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund and in 1922 he became a member of the NSDAP, the National Socialist German Workers Party (or "Nazi Party") , which was banned soon afterwards. Wankel founded and led youth groups associated with a cover-up organization of the NSDAP. With them he conducted paramilitary training, scouting games and night walks.[3] When his high esteem for technical innovations was not widely shared among the German Youth Movement, he was offered instead the opportunity to talk about the issue of technology and education to Adolf Hitler and other leading National Socialists in 1928.[4]

In the meantime Wankel's mother had helped founding the local chapter of the NSDAP in his hometown Lahr. Here Wankel not only rejoined the party in 1926, but also met Gauleiter Robert Heinrich Wagner. In 1931 Wagner entrusted Wankel with the leadership of the Hitler Youth in Baden. But both soon fell out with each other, because Wankel tried to put a stronger emphasis on military training, whereas Wagner wished for the Hitler Youth to be a primarily political organization. In a particularly bitter and ugly controversy Wankel publicly accused Wagner of corruption. Wagner paid back by stripping Wankel of his office by early 1932 and managed to have him expelled from the party in October 1932. Wankel, who sympathized with the social-revolutionary wing of the NSDAP among Gregor Strasser anyway, then founded his own National Socialist splinter group in Lahr and continued his attacks on Wagner. Since the Nazi's seizure of power on 30 January 1933 had strengthened his position, Wagner had Wankel arrested and imprisoned in the Lahr jail in March 1933. Only by intervention of Hitler's economic adviser Wilhelm Keppler with Hitler himself, Wankel was set free in September 1933.[5] Keppler had been a friend of Wankel's and an ardent supporter of his technological endeavors since 1927. He now helped Wankel to get state contracts and his own Wankels Versuchs Werkstätten in Lindau. Wankel tried to rejoin the NSDAP in 1937, but was turned down.[6] With the help of Keppler, however, he was admitted to the SS in 1940 in the rank of Obersturmbannführer.[7] Two years later his membership was revoked for reasons unknown.[6]

Career
Wankel engine, type DKM54 (1957)

During World War II, Wankel developed seals and rotary valves for German air force aircraft and navy torpedoes, for BMW and Daimler-Benz. After the war, he was imprisoned by France for some months in 1945 and his laboratory was closed by French occupation troops. Wankel's work was confiscated and he was prohibited from doing more work.[1] However, by 1951, he got funding from the Goetze AG company to furnish the new Technical Development Center in his private house in Lindau on Lake Constance. He began development of the engine at NSU Motorenwerke AG, leading to the first running prototype on 1 February 1957.[8] Unlike modern Wankel engines, this 21 horsepower version had both the rotor and housing rotating.[1] His engine design was first licensed by Curtiss-Wright in New Jersey, United States.

On 19 January 1960 the rotary engine was presented for the first time to specialists and the press in a meeting of the German Engineers' Union at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. In the same year, with the KKM 250, the first practical rotary engine was presented in a converted NSU Prinz. At this time the "Wankel engine" became synonymous with the rotary engine, whereas previously it was called the "Motor nach System NSU/Wankel". At the 1963 IAA, the NSU company presented the NSU Wankel-Spider, the first consumer vehicle, which went into production in 1964. Great attention was received by the NSU in August 1967 for the very modern NSU Ro 80, which had a 115-horsepower engine with two rotors. It was the first German car selected as "Car of the Year" in 1968.

In Japan, the manufacturer Mazda solved the engine's chatter marks problem, by reducing apex seals' weight, that made it entering resonating vibrations. The engine has been successfully used by Mazda in several generations of their RX-series of coupés and sedans, including the Mazda Cosmo, R100, the RX-7 and more recently the RX-8. Mercedes-Benz completed its C111 experimental model in 1969 with 3-rotor Wankel engine. In 1970, the next model had a 4-rotor Wankel engine and could reach top speed 290 km/h but never reached serial production.

Wankel became a success in business by securing license agreements around the world. By 1958 Wankel and partners had founded the "Wankel GmbH" company, providing Wankel with a share of the profits for marketing the engine. Among the licensees were Daimler-Benz since 1961, General Motors since 1970, Toyota since 1971, among those who paid higher fees for Wankel RCE rights was a state-owned engineering firm of the DDR. Royalties for the Wankel GmbH for licensure were 40%, later 36%. In 1971 Wankel sold his share of the license royalties for 50 million Deutschmarks to the English conglomerate Lonrho. The year after he got his Technical Development Center back from the Fraunhofer Society.

From 1986 the Felix Wankel Institute cooperated with Daimler Benz AG. D-B provided the operating costs in return for the research rights. He sold the Institute to Daimler Benz for 100 million Marks.

Personal life
Wankel's grave in Heidelberg

Wankel married Emma "Mi" Kirin in 1936. Though married until death, they had no children.

He never had a driver's license, because he was extremely near-sighted.[1] He was, however, the owner of an NSU Ro 80 with a Wankel engine, which was chauffeured for him.

In 1969, Wankel was granted an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Technical University Munich.[1] He was known for his championing of animal rights and opposition to the use of animals in testing.

Wankel died in Heidelberg, aged 86. His grave may be found in the Bergfriedhof of Heidelberg. After his death, the Felix Wankel Foundation sold its real estate property to Volkswagen AG. The Heidelberg Fire Department showcases his last workshop. Wankel's papers are archived in the Technoseum in Mannheim. Furthermore, there is an exhibition "AUTOVISION · Tradition & Forum" in Altlußheim, a permanent showing of over 80 rotary engines and many cars equipped with Wankel motors.

Licenses
Licensing dateCompanyCountryLicensed for
21 October 1958Curtiss-Wright Corp.USWithout restriction, no series
29 December 1960Fichtel & Sachs AGGermanyIndustrial engine and boat, 0.5–30 PS
25 February 1961Yanmar Diesel Co. LtdJapanGasoline and Diesel engine, 1–100 PS, 1–300 PS
27 February 1961Toyo Kogyo, Co. Ltd. (Mazda)JapanGasoline 1–200 PS land vehicles
4 October 1961Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AGGermanyDiesel engine without restriction
26 October 1961Daimler-Benz AGGermanyGasoline 50 PS upwards
30 October 1961MAN AGGermanyDiesel engine without restriction
2 November 1961Friedrich Krupp AGGermanyDiesel engine without restriction
12 March 1964Daimler-Benz AGGermanyDiesel engine without restriction
15 April 1964S.p.A. Alfa RomeoItalyGasoline engine 50–300 PS or Passenger car
17 February 1965Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd.UKDiesel and hybrid engines 100–850 Ps
18 February 1965IFA VEBGermany[9]Gasoline engine 0.5–25 PS and 50–150 PS
2 March 1965Dr.Ing. h.c. Porsche KGGermanyGasoline engine 50–1000 Ps
1 March 1966Outboard Marine Corp.USGasoline engine 50–400 Ps
11 May 1967Comotor S.A.LuxembourgGasoline and Diesel engine 40–200 PS
12 September 1967Graupner/O.S. EnginesGermany/Japan0,1–3 PS model engines
28 August 1969Savkel Ltd.IsraelGasoline 0.5–30 PS industrial engines
1 October 1970NissanJapanGasoline engines 80–120 Ps
10 November 1970General MotorsUSEverything, except aircraft engines
24 November 1970SuzukiJapanGasoline engines 20–60 PS for motorcycle
25 May 1971ToyotaJapanGasoline engines 75–150 PS
29 November 1971Ford-Werke AG, KölnGermanyGasoline engines 80–200 PS (1974 quit)
25 July 1972BSA Ltd.UKGasoline engines 35–60 PS for motorcycle
29 September 1972YamahaJapanGasoline engines 20–80 PS for motorcycle
4 October 1971Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.JapanGasoline engines 20–80 PS for motorcycle
3 February 1973American Motors (AMC)USGasoline engines 20–200 PS

Honors and awards
  • Honorary doctorate degree from Technische Universität München, 5 December 1969.
  • The Federation of German Engineers (VDI) Gold Medal, 1969.
  • The Grand Federal Service Cross, Germany's highest civilian honor, 1970
  • John Price Wetherill Medal, Philadelphia, 1971.
  • The Bavarian Service Medal, 1973.
  • The "Honour Citizen" of Lahr, 1981, and the title of Professor in 1987.
  • The Soichiro Honda Medal, 1987.
  • Honorary citizenship of Lindau (declined)

See also

References
  1. "The Rotary Club", Don Sherman, Automobile Magazine, February 2008, pp 76–79
  2. Popplow, pp. 32–36, 51 ff.
  3. Popplow, pp. 37–41
  4. Popplow, p. 49
  5. Popplow, pp. 50–54
  6. Popplow, p. 72
  7. Popplow, p. 64
  8. Wankel-Jubiläum: Warten aufs Wunder, Der Spiegel, 21 January 2007.
  9. DDR

Cited sources
  • Markus Popplow. Felix Wankel: Mehr als ein Erfinderleben. Sutton Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86680-763-1.
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