James Atkinson (engineer)

James Atkinson was a British engineer of Hampstead, London, who lived from 1846 to 1914 and invented several engines more efficient than the Otto cycle engine. The Atkinson-cycle engine, an internal combustion design, dates from 1882, and his engines were named the Differential 1882, the Cycle 1887 and the Utilite 1892. The best known, the Cycle 1887, was patented in 1887 and used a complex crankshaft giving variable engine strokes, which raised efficiency at the cost of some power compared with the Otto cycle. He received the John Scott Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1889.