| | Birth Place of Nicolaus August Otto | | | A few years back, we were making our way from Holland down to Munich by car to visit the Deutsches Museum. A Dutch collector suggested that we take some time to visit a small village in Germany called Holzhausen. He told us this was the birthplace of Nicolaus August Otto, that there was a small museum there and it was worth a visit.
 museum sign
As you can imagine as avid collectors this was instantly a must do ion our trip and so we added it to our itinerary and set off. We could not have imagined the engines, which lay in wait at this location.
The museum was easy to find the town was small and the museum was right in the middle of the main street, it had a glass extension added to one side, which housed a Deutz diesel engine. Ringing the doorbell, we were greeted by an elderly lady, who did not speak a word of English and as we did not speak a word of German, this could have been difficult. It was not at all, she welcomed us in and proceeded to tell us the entire story of Nicolaus August Otto in German. I have to say it was a real shame we didn't understand German but it was a fantastic experience. The engines in the first room included two inverted Deutz engines. The small one being a hot tube and a larger slide valve model. A ¼ hp second generation atmospheric engine.
 Holzhausen atmospheric
The room also contained the most impressive engine I have every seen in all my years of collecting engines. The Deutz engine was a vertical slide-valve. I am aware of only a handful of vertical slide valve engines in existence. The engine is not inverted, which is unique, given the other slide valve engines being built at this time were all inverted. It has an overhung crankshaft with a cross-mounted camshaft.
 vertical slidevalve
We have since returned a number of times with other collectors to the museum. This is a must see if you are ever in the vicinity. But be aware that there are many villages called Holzhausen in Germany, which translates to 'houses in the woods'. The one you will be looking for is near Frankfurt, and is not marked on many maps, so best advice is get directions from a fellow collector before you go. | | | |
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