or a two handled screwdriver...

 

anyone notice his url is deadbeatdad.com

what the **** is that.


I dont know about you but that makes me want to invest.

 

Almost every manufacturer has experimented with the KKM type of rotary engine at one point or another. As I understand it, NSU was the first corporation to own the rights to Wankel's design. When the rotary engine was supposed to be "the wave of the future," Mercedes-Benz, Curtis-Wright, GM and many others were developing the rotary like it was going out of style. The Corvette was supposed to recieve a 4 rotor at one point.

Every corporation that seeks to manufacture the KKM rotary has to buy the rights from NSU. Benz had to do this, GM had to do this, Curtis-Wright had to do this, etc., etc; "borrowing" the rights to the design of sorts.

I believe NSU still holds ownership of the KKM.

It's been a while since I've looked at this stuff so someone feel free to chime in if I'm off base.

If anyone is interested in the history, design and any other topic you can think of, check out http://www.monito.com. Whomever built that site is great. I've gotten more useful and obscure information off of that site than any other.

Word.

Kyle

 

all manufacturers that experimented with the KKM had to buy the licenses from NSU-Wankel, and most of them had a limitation in some way. But the rights indeed will be with NSU, now part of the VW-Audi group. I was talking about the many other patents (mostly rotary related) Felix Wankel owned himself, and those were all sold. Wankel himself also had the right to produce KKM Wankel-engines, and did so in his company "Wankel GmbH", which still excists. Since this has been in a sort of trust, has been sold and then again sold (now in a trust again) those owners do have the rigt to build KKM engines, without paying NSU. However, to be able to construct a decent one, they'd probable need a lot of ideas Mazda has incorporated in the KKM, and Mazda has patented those. So to make a decent Rotary Engine, one would probable have to pay Mazda.
If I'm not mistaking, the early patents are now free to public use, and no longer protected. So everyone could build a KKM, but again: all sorts of things are protected by Mazda copyrights...

 

You'd be surprised at the number of things car manufacturers DON'T patent.

When you patent something you have to detail every part and how it works, making it easy for your competition to look up and make a change to defeat the patent. By just putting it in the car they force the competition to spend millions on 'reverse engineering' - buying a vehicle and dismantling it, and experimenting with the component until they know how it works inside and out.

 

hey, i got a bridge i'll sell ya.