Are you sure that wasn't Ralph Sarich's one?

Sarich invented his orbital engine in the '72. Mazda put its first (Wankel) rotary engine into production in '65. The Wankel used a fixed rotor that is kind of triangular shaped; Sarich's design uses a differently shaped rotor that "rolls around" inside the inside of the engine. (Wankel's name is German, Sarich's name is Croatian, and Mazda is a Japanese company, though its name is the Englished form of the founder's name Matsuda).

Ceci n'est pas un seing.