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Felix Wankel Facts & Worksheets

Felix Wankel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor of the Wankel Engine.

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Felix Wankel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor of the Wankel Engine.

See the fact file below for more information on the Felix Wankel or alternatively, you can download our 30-page Felix Wankel worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

PERSONAL LIFE

  • Felix Wankel was born in 1902, in Lahr, Germany. He was the only son of Gerty and Rudolf Wankel. Felix Wankel moved to Heidelberg with his family after his father’s death.
  • Felix went to high school in Donaueschingen, Heidelberg, and Weinheim, leaving school without passing his finals in 1921.
  • Felix had a natural gift that led him to combustion engines. At 17, he confessed that he dreamt of constructing a car with an engine that was half turbine and half reciprocating.
  • Felix conceived the Wankel engine in 1924.
  • He and some friends started an unofficial machine shop in 1924. One friend in the group had graduated university and gave his name to the garage, naming it DKW and Cleveland Motor Bikes in 1927. Felix got his first patent in 1929.
  • He learned to be a purchaser while working at the Carl Winter Press publishing house in Heidelberg until June 1926.
  • Felix would work there from time to time until his arrest in 1933.
  • Felix married Emma Kirin in 1936. They had no children.
  • In 1969, Felix was granted an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Technical University Munich.
  • Felix died in Heidelberg at the age of 86 in 1988.

WANKEL AND THE NSDAP

  • During the 1920s, Felix was a member of different radical anti-semitic groups.
  • In 1921, he joined the Heidelberg branch of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz-und Trutzbund, becoming a member of NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party/Nazi Party) in 1922, from which he was later banned.
  • Felix led youth groups under the guise of the NSDAP and conducted paramilitary training, scouting games, and night walks.
  • Felix was allowed to talk about technology and education to Adolf Hitler and other leading National Socialists in 1928.
  • Felix rejoined the party in 1926, where he met Gauleiter Robert Heinrich Wager. In 1931, Gauleiter Robert Heinrich Wagner entrusted Felix to lead the Hitler youth of Baden. A rift formed when Felix tried to push military training, whereas Wagner wanted the group to be more political. Wagner accused Felix of corruption, stripping Felix of his office by 1932 and getting him kicked out of the party in October 1932.
  • The Nazis seized power on January 30, 1933. Wagner and Felix were arrested and imprisoned in the Lahr prison in March 1933. With the intervention of Hitler’s economic adviser, Wilhelm Keppler, Felix was set free in September 1933. Keppler had supported Felix’s technological endeavors since 1927. Keppler helped Felix get state contracts and his own experimental workshop in Lindau.
  • Felix tried to rejoin the NSDAP in 1937 but was turned down. With Keppler’s help, he was admitted to the SS in 1940 at the rank of Obersturmbannführer (senior assault unit leader), but he had his membership revoked two years later for unknown reasons.

CAREER

  • During world war II, Felix developed seals and rotary valves for the German Air Force and Navy torpedoes, as well as for BMW and Daimler-Benz.
  • After the war, the French Imprisoned Felix for several months in 1945, closing his laboratory, confiscating his work, and prohibiting him from doing more work in the process.
  • By 1951, he got funding from the Goetz AG Company to furnish the new Technical Development Center.
  • While developing the engine at NSU Motorenwerke AG, he created his first running prototype on February 1, 1957.
  • Unlike the modern Wankel engines, this was a 21-horsepower version that had both the rotor and housing rotating. Felix’s engine was first licensed by Curtiss-Wright in New Jersey, USA.
  • By 1958, Felix and his partners had founded the ‘Wankel GmbH’ company.
  • On January 19, 1960, the rotary engine was presented for the first time to specialists and the press at the German Engineers’ Union, which was held at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
  • The same year, the KKM 250, which was the first practical rotary engine, was presented in a converted NSU Prinz.
  • In 1963, IAA presented the NSU Wankel-spider for consumer vehicles, and it went into production in 1964.
  • NSU received attention for their August 1967 modern engine, the NSU Ro 80, which had a 115-horsepower engine with two rotors, becoming the first German car to get the Car of the Year award in 1968.
  • Mazda solved the engine’s chatter marks problem, successfully using it in several Mazda RX-series of coupes and sedans.
  • Mercedes-Benz completed its C111 experimental model in 1969 with the 3-rotor Wankel engine.
  • In 1970, the next model had a 4-rotor Wankel engine and could reach top speeds of 290km/h, but it never reached serial production.
  • In 1971, Wankel sold his share of the License Royalties for 50 Million Deutschmarks to the Lonrho, an English conglomerate.
  • In 1972, Felix got his Technical Development Center back from the Fraunhofer Society.
  • From 1986, the Felix Wankel Institute cooperated with Daimler-Benz AG. D-B provided operating costs in return for the research rights.

Felix Wankel Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Felix Wankel across 30 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Felix Wankel worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Felix Wankel who was a German mechanical engineer and inventor of the Wankel Engine.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Felix Wankel Facts
  • Timeline
  • Label the Engine
  • Label the Car
  • Question Wordsearch
  • Fill in the Blanks
  • Number Search
  • Pop Quiz
  • Differences in Engines
  • True or False
  • Rearrange the Words

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Link will appear as Felix Wankel Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, April 2, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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