The Argus As 17 was an

air cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. Air-cooled designs are far simpler than their liquid-cooled ...

six-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by the German engineering company

Argus Motoren ''Argus Motoren'' was a German manufacturing firm known for their series of small inverted-V engines and the Argus As 014 pulsejet for the V-1 flying bomb. History Started in Berlin in 1906 as a Argus (automobile), subsidiary of Henri Jeannin's a ...

in the 1930s. Developed from the same company's smaller As 8, the engine was produced in ratings between . First demonstrated in 1934, it powered a number of competitors at the Challenge International de Tourisme that year, including the Messerschmitt Bf 108. Argus produced it in small numbers as German manufacturers like Messerschmitt preferring V-8 alternatives for their aircraft.

Design and development

The Argus As 17 was an inverted six cylinder aircraft engine in the class that was first demonstrated in 1934. It was a development of the company's As 8 four-cylinder engine. The engine had cast aluminium

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

s and aluminium

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

s mounted in steel

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

s and connected to a chrome-nickel steel

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

. Bore was and stroke . It was used to power a small number of German aircraft in the late 1930s, notably three entries to the Challenge International de Tourisme 1934, the Fieseler Fi 97, Klemm Kl 36 and Messerschmitt Bf 108. Each aircraft was entered in two variants, one powered by the Argus engine and other with the more powerful Hirth HM 8U V-8. The engine was developed in three versions. The lower powered As 17A, which was used to power the fourth prototype Bf 108, was rated at 200 hp. A more developed engine, the As 17B, rated at , was used to power the seventh Bf 108A prototype. The more powerful As 17 Special was also produced, which differed in having a

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

that increased rated power to . The engine was produced in small numbers, never achieving serial production. Only two of the Fieseler aircraft were fitted with the engine. Klemm preferred the Hm 8U for the definitive Kl 36B. Production examples of the Bf 108 used either the HM 8U or Argus's own V-8, the As 10, the latter becoming the standard for the BF 108B.

Variants

; As 17A: ; As 17B: ; As 17 Special:

Applications

* Fieseler Fi 97 * Klemm Kl 36A * Messerschmitt Bf 108A

Specifications (As 17A)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{Argus aeroengines AS 17 Aircraft air-cooled inline piston engines 1930s aircraft piston engines Straight-six engines