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 Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in London.

Otto and Langen

In 1864, Langen met

Nicolaus August Otto Nicolaus August Otto (10 June 1832 – 26 January 1891) was a German engineer who successfully developed the compressed charge internal combustion engine which ran on petroleum gas and led to the modern internal combustion engine. The Associ ...

who was working to improve the

gas engine A gas engine is an internal combustion engine that runs on a fuel gas (a gaseous fuel), such as coal gas, producer gas, biogas, landfill gas, natural gas or hydrogen. In the United Kingdom and British English-speaking countries, the term is ...

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.

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

Otto and Langen

Deutz

Railway equipment

See also

References