We are in the year 1882, and the patents of Otto are still valid. Thus, one can look at the Atkinson-engine as a way of avoiding patent infringements. If one downgrades the crankshaft on the left, to nothing more than a linkage which swings to and fro, and then imagines this to be on the right hand side, one arrives, on a round-about way, at the two-stroke engine which completes a cycle in just one rotation.

It is very likely that these thoughts do James Atkinson an injustice, after all, he did achieve, here very simply shown, that the stroke, when intaking and compressing, is distinctly shorter than the working- or exhaust stroke. The basic idea is to use the inherent energy of the combustion mixture more effectively. 02/10