
Carl Eugen Langen (9 October 1833 in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
– 2 October 1895 in
Elsdorf) was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the
petrol engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends ...
and the
Wuppertal Suspension Railway
The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn () is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. The line was originally called in () named after its inventor, Eugen Langen. It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world. Being grade- ...
. In 1857 he worked in his father's sugar factory, JJ Langen & Söhne, and after extensive technical training at the Polytechnic institute in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
, patented a method for producing
sugar cube
Sugar cubes are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes measuring approximately 1 teaspoon each. They are usually used for sweetening drinks such as tea and coffee. They were invented in the early 19th century in response to the difficulti ...
s. In 1870 he co-founded
Pfeifer & Langen, still in operation today. He sold this method in 1872 to Sir
Henry Tate
Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Britain, Tate Gallery and the company that became Tate & Lyle.
Early life
Henry Tate was born in White Copp ...
of England, founder of the
Tate Gallery in London.
Otto and Langen
In 1864, Langen met
Nicolaus August Otto who was working to improve 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 received the Grand Prize.
Deutz
After this first factory went bankrupt, Langen founded a new company for the construction of gas engines, ''Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz'', which later became the group Kloeckner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD).
[Wise, David Burgess. "Daimler: Founder of the Four-Wheeler", in Northey, Tom, ed. ]
World of Automobiles
' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 5, p.483, subscription required. This became the current
Deutz AG
Deutz AG is a German internal combustion engine manufacturer, based in Porz, Cologne, Germany.
History
The company was founded by Nicolaus Otto, the inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine, and his partner Eugen Langen on 3 ...
. 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
suspension railway system in
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...
in 1894.
See also
*
German inventors and discoverers
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langen, Eugen
1833 births
1895 deaths
19th-century German inventors
German industrialists
19th-century German businesspeople
People associated with the internal combustion engine
Wuppertal Schwebebahn
Businesspeople from Cologne