Eugen Langen

Otto-Langen gas engine 1867.

Eugen Langen (1833-1895) was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal monorail. In 1857 he worked in his father's sugar factory, JJ Langen & Söhne, after an extensive technical training at the Polytechnic institute in Karlsruhe.

Otto and Langen

Langen met Nikolaus August Otto in 1864. Otto was working on improvements to the gas engine invented by Belgian Etienne Lenoir. The technically trained Langen recognized the potential of Otto's development, and one month after the meeting, founded the first engine factory in the world, NA Otto & Cie. At the 1867 Paris World Exhibition their improved engine was awarded the Grand Prize ^[1].

Deutz

After this first factory went bankrupt, Langen founded a new company for the construction of gas engines, the Deutz gas engine factory, which later became the group Kloeckner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD). This became today's Deutz AG. Langen invented and applied new methods of production in the KHD factory.

Railway equipment

In the field of rail transport equipment, Langen was co-owner and engineer of the Cologne Waggonfabrik van der Zypen & Charlier. He started the Wuppertal monorail, a suspension railway system, in 1894.

See also

• German inventors and discoverers

References

1. ^ http://www.dhub.org/object/207174

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/.../Eugen-Langen -

Persondata
Name	Langen, Eugen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1833
Place of birth
Date of death	1895
Place of death