In 1864 Otto and Eugen Langen set up the first internal combustion engine company N A Otto & Cie and succeeded in creating a successful atmospheric engine that same year. The factory ran out of space and was moved to the town of Deutz, Germany in 1869 where the company was renamed to Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz. Gottlieb Daimler was technical director and Wilhelm Maybach was the head of engine design.

First version of the atmospheric engine had a fluted column design by Eugen Langen. The engine has its power stroke delivered upward using a rack and pinion to convert the piston's linear motion to rotary motion.

The engine ran at 12% efficiency and produced 0.5 hp at 80 RPM. It won the Gold Medal, at the 1867 World's Fair in Paris, paving the way for production and sales that funded additional research.

The company produced 634 engines a year by 1875. Notwithstanding its commercial success, the Otto and Langen engine was at a technical dead end. It produced only 3 hp, yet required 10–13 ft  headroom.

In 1882, after producing 2,649 engines, atmospheric engine production was discontinued. This was also the year that Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach left the company.

The engine makes a fascinating and most attractive model. A design by Emmett Lenaz in the US, and later research by Wayne Greening. set the ball rolling. MEWS showed drawings found on the internet to Julius, who took a break from his steam engine design work to produce metric drawings of the Otto-Langen. Click on the drawing above to see the full set of drawings, which are for personal use only.

Gerard Versluys built the engine and recorded his progress.

Here are the first parts.

Part two here.