The Austro-Daimler 6 was a series of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n six-cylinder

water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and no ...

inline

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

s first produced in 1910 by the

Austro-Daimler Austro-Daimler was an Austrian car manufacturer from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the Germany, German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909. History In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The company so ...

company.

Design and development

The first Austro-Daimler six-cylinder engine was designed by Dr-Ing Ferdinand Porsche to be an aircraft engine from the outset. Of high quality manufacture, the Austro-Daimler was modestly rated at relatively low rpm, which gave the engine family a reputation for robustness and reliability. Features of the Austro-Daimler included welded steel water jackets (originally copper), seven main bearings and large diameter inclined inlet and exhaust valves opened by dual action push-pull rods and closed by spring pressure. The single-overhead cam (SOHC) valvetrain of later engines was driven from the crankshaft through the usual vertically-oriented shaft as the contemporary Mercedes D.III was, but the Austro-Daimler had its vertical camshaft drive system mounted at the front of the engine instead, and not the usual aft-end placement of other Central Powers straight-six SOHC liquid-cooled aircraft powerplants, like the Mercedes and BMW designs. The Austro-Daimler inspired many imitators such as the Mercedes D.II, Benz Bz.IV and

Hiero 6 In 1914 Otto Hieronimus manufactured the six-cylinder Hiero E, also known as the Hiero 6 engine which was derived from earlier 4-cylinder engines. The Hiero engine like the Austro-Daimler powered many of Austria's World War I aircraft. Hiero air ...

. Limited availability of the Austro-Daimler engines forced some aircraft manufacturers to substitute Mercedes (the German Daimler company) engines in their aircraft, due to greater availability. From 1913, the 90 and 120 hp models were produced under license in Scotland by

William Beardmore and Company William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 peo ...

. The Beardmore 120 hp went on to power many British military aircraft during WW1.

Variants

''Data from:'' ;Austro-Daimler 90 hp 6-cyl. :The original low capacity version developing , introduced in 1910. ;Austro-Daimler 120 hp 6-cyl. : Up-rated with a capacity of , from bore and stroke, developing at 1,200 rpm, introduced in 1911. ;Austro-Daimler 160 hp 6-cyl. :developing , introduced in 1913. ;Austro-Daimler 185 hp 6-cyl. :developing , introduced in 1916. ;Austro-Daimler 200 hp 6-cyl. : Up-rated with a capacity of , from bore and , developing at 1,350 rpm, introduced in December 1916. ;Austro-Daimler 210 hp 6-cyl. :, introduced in late 1917. ;Austro-Daimler 225 hp 6-cyl. :developing , introduced in 1918.

Applications

* Albatros D.II (Oef) (Austro-Daimler 185 hp 6-cyl.) * Albatros D.III (Oef) (Austro-Daimler 200 hp 6-cyl.) * Aviatik B.I * Aviatik B.II * Aviatik D.I * Etrich VII * Hansa-Brandenburg C.I * Hansa-Brandenburg D.I * Lohner C.I * Lohner Type AA (Austro-Daimler 185 hp 6-cyl.)

Specifications (Austro-Daimler 200 hp)

Footnotes

References