alternatehistory.com

Felix Wankel developed the Wankel engine in 1924, and patented the design in 1929. Major development didn't start until Wankel joined NSU in 1951, and the first prototype didn't run until 1957.

However, it's possible that development might have started earlier. Wankel's family was quite involved with the Nazi Party in the 1920s, and he even had a meeting with Hitler and other Nazi Party leaders in 1928 on technology and education. Apparently he impressed Hitler, because he personally secured Wankel's release from prison in 1933 even after Wankel quit the Nazi Party to join the Strasserites, and Wankel went on to work in the German armaments industry until the end of World War II. What if Wankel took advantage of his connections to lobby for his engine design? It's not the most fuel efficient design (probably the biggest drawback for 1930s Germany), but it has the following advantages (from Wikipedia):

-- A far higher power to weight ratio than a piston engine.
-- No reciprocating parts.
-- Runs with almost no vibration.
-- Not prone to engine-knock.
-- Far fewer parts than a piston engine.
-- Cheaper to mass-produce as contains few parts.
-- Superior breathing, filling the combustion charge in 270 degrees of mainshaft rotation rather than 180 degrees in a piston engine.
-- Supplies torques for about two thirds of the combustion cycle rather than one quarter for a piston engine.
-- Wider speed range gives greater adaptability.
-- It can use fuel of wider octane ratings.
-- Does not suffer from "scale effect" to limit its size.
-- It is approximately one third of the size of a piston engine of equivalent power output.
-- Sump oil remains uncontaminated by the combustion process requiring no oil changes. The oil in the mainshaft is totally sealed from the combustion process. The oil for Apex seals and crankcase lubrication is separate. In piston engines the crankcase oil is contaminated by combustion blow-by through the piston rings.
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