George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse was born on October 6, 1846 in Central Bridge, NY. Westinghouse served in the civil war for two years before being made acting third assistant engineer in the Navy. In 1865 he attended college for only three months before obtaining his first patant on the rotary steam engine. In April of 1869 he designed the air brake, which allowed trains to stop reliably every time. Before this train crashes were extremely frequent. Seeing possible profit, he started the Westinhouse air brake company in July of that year. As the company kept busy he eventually developed the Automatic Air Brake, and the triple valve. In 1884 Westinghouse created the Westinhouse Electric Company. He funded Nikola Tesla thus claiming exclusive rights to his patants. He died of deteriorating health and illness. He died on March 12, 1914. He recieved a total of 361 patents to his name, the last of which he recieved four years after his death.

Felix Wankel

Felix Wankel was born on August 30, 1902 in Luhran, Germany. At age 28 Wankel opened his very own engine research facility. From 1926 to 1945, Wankel worked at an aeronautics factory where he aquired his knowledge on valves and how to seal them. In 1951 he began to work for an auto mobile factory. He then dedicated himself to finding a better alternative to the internal combustion engine. Four years later, he completed the design of a rotary cylinder engine. He tested the first completed one in 1957. It one of few rotary cylinder engines that was successful. It was also lightweight and had very few moving parts. However the rotor seal was the only problem, and he could not fix it. Wankel died on October 9, 1988.