The Argus As 5 was a large 24-cylinder 6 blocks' star aircraft engine, designed and built in Germany in the early 1920s by Argus Motoren.

As 5
Argus As-5 at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków.
Type 24-cylinder double W
National origin Germany
Manufacturer Argus Motoren
First run 1924
Number built 3

Design and development edit

Following the Armistice of 1918, Germany continued to build aircraft and engines under the control of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. For use on very large aircraft, Argus designed and built the As 5 WW-24 water-cooled piston engine.

The As 5 consisted of six banks of cylinders arranged around a common crankshaft with a single output shaft. Each cylinder drove the crankshaft through a master and slave big end, similar to most radial engines. The top and bottom sets of three cylinder banks were set at 45° to each other with a 90° separation between the outermost banks.

Individual cylinders with sheet metal water jackets shared the aluminium alloy heads, four to a bank. Inlet and exhaust valves were actuated by shaft driven overhead camshafts. The aluminium alloy crankcase was split top and bottom.

Although some testing was carried out, the As 5 never flew and was abandoned along with the very large aircraft projects it was intended to power.

Engines on display edit

A single example survives on display at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków, Poland.

Specifications edit

Data from Pearce.[1]

General characteristics

  • Type: WW-24, 24 cylinder six bank double W, water-cooled
  • Bore: 160 mm (6.3 in)
  • Stroke: 195 mm (7.7 in)
  • Displacement: 94.1 L (5,740 cu in)
  • Dry weight: 1,100 kg (2,400 lb)

Components

  • Cooling system: Water-cooled

Performance

References edit

  1. ^ Pearce, William (23 September 2012). "Argus As 5 Aircraft Engine". oldmachinepress.wordpress.com. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

Further reading edit

  • Kisselmann, Wulf Dieter (2012). ARGUS : Flugmotoren und mehr ... (in German) (1. Aufl. ed.). Empfingen: Schiff et Flugzeug-Verl.-Buchhandlung im Buchzentrum. ISBN 978-3867552202.
  • von Gersdorff, Kyrill; Schubert, Helmut; Ebert, Stefan; Faltermair, Richard (2007). Flugmotoren und Strahltriebwerke : Entwicklungsgeschichte der deutschen Luftfahrtantriebe von den Anfängen bis zu den internationalen Gemeinschaftsentwicklungen (in German) (4. erg. und erw. Aufl. ed.). Bonn: Bernard & Graefe. ISBN 9783763761289.
  • Giger, Hans (1986). Kolben-Flugmotoren : Geschichte und Entwicklung in Wort und Bild (in German) (1. Aufl. ed.). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3613010895.

External links edit