Argus Motors Company

Argus Motoren Gesellschaft m. b. H.
legal form	Company with limited liability
founding	November 7, 1906
Seat	Berlin - Reinickendorf , Germany
Branch	Automobile manufacturers , engine manufacturers

The Argus Motoren mb H. was a German development and manufacturing companies of motor vehicles and vehicle, boat and aircraft engines , based in Berlin-Reinickendorf .

After 1945 the Soviet and French occupying powers dismantled large parts of the production facilities. The company was founded in 1948 in Ettlingen near Karlsruhe ( Baden-Württemberg ). In 1950 Neue ARGUS GmbH established itself as the first manufacturer of ball valves in Europe. In the early 1990s, the company was taken over by the British group BTR , then sold to the Flowserve Corporation in 2002 . Today the company is a subsidiary under the name Flowserve Flow Control GmbH .

Company history

Prehistory 1902 to 1904

Henri Jeannin at the wheel of an Argus motor vehicle belonging to the International Automobile Center Jeannin & Co. , around 1903.

Memorial plaque in front of the Argus engine works in Berlin-Reinickendorf , Flottenstrasse 28

On April 1, 1902, Henri Jeannin founded the Internationale Automobil-Centrale Jeannin & Co. , the company dedicated to the trade in vehicles. On September 12, 1902, the company registered the trademark Argus , which was registered on January 17, 1903.

1904 to 1945

At the beginning of 1904 Jeannin liquidated the company and at the same time founded the Argus Motoren-Gesellschaft Jeannin & Co. Com. Ges., Berlin . When Argus Motoren Gesellschaft was founded on November 7, 1906, Jeannin brought in his limited partnership and the registered trademark as a capital contribution and became its managing director. The company settled in 1906 at Flottenstrasse 34-49 in Berlin-Reinickendorf, where it produced automobiles as well as stationary and boat engines. On July 15, 1916, the majority shareholder Moritz Straus took over the role of managing director.

In 1938 Moritz Straus was forced to sell the company as part of the " Aryanization " process. Heinrich Koppenberg , General Director of Junkers Aircraft and Engine Works , offered 5.2 million Reichsmarks (RM) with the help of Deutsche Bank and was awarded the contract. Although the amount was above BMW's offer of 2 to 3 million, it was still significantly below the book value of 11 million RM. The Argus Motoren Gesellschaft had a turnover of RM 25 million with 3,000 employees. Straus emigrated to the USA.

1948 until today

On November 11, 1948, Moritz Straus founded the company under the name Neue ARGUS GmbH in Ettlingen. Just two years later, the company presented itself as the first manufacturer of ball valves in Europe. In 1988 the company certified its QM system according to ISO 9001 in order to stand out clearly from the growing competition in valve construction. In the 1990s, the company was bought by the British group BTR and remained in their hands until it was taken over by the US valve group Flowserve Corporation in 2002 .

Products

1906 to 1945

Truck construction

Starting in 1906, the company built its own trucks with a payload of two and a half, four and five tons for two years. The trucks had 24-, 40-, and 70-horsepower engines, the latter being the first six-cylinder engine to be installed in a commercial vehicle .

Car construction

Passenger cars were also manufactured until 1910. Initially, built-in engines from Panhard & Levassor were used; later, their own engines with two, four and six cylinders were manufactured. The vehicles were also used in motorsport. In the United Kingdom, the vehicles were called Beaufort.

Engine construction

In 1906 the company was commissioned to develop two engines for the French airship Ville de Paris . In addition, the output of an in-line four - cylinder boat engine was increased to 70 hp. In 1908, Jeannin decided to include aircraft engines in its production program. The boats equipped with Argus engines won many prizes in motorboat competitions; Airplanes equipped with Argus engines were just as successful. In 1910, Argusmotore won around RM 130,000 from around RM 150,000 in meeting prizes advertised in the German Reich . In 1912 Igor Iwanowitsch Sikorski also chose four 100 hp Argus engines for installation in his "Russian Recken" , the world's first four-engine airplane. With the success of this machine, Argus aircraft engines became internationally known.

During the First World War, Argus built engines for both the German Army and the Air Force . Straus hired Arnold Zoller to develop compressors. Because of the high demand for engines, Opel in Rüsselsheim was also commissioned to build Argus engines under license . The company prospered and in 1918 it had 910 employees. The Versailles Treaty removed the basis for aircraft engine production and the focus was exclusively on the development and improvement of car engines for Horchwerke AG Zwickau , in which Straus had owned a majority of the shares since 1920. The Horchwerke became part of Auto Union in 1932 . On July 1, 1923, Paul Daimler moved to Argus, where he made a name for himself as an engine developer in the aircraft engine department, where he stayed until 1928.

From 1927, Argus tried to revive aircraft engine production. In the German Reich , aircraft engines were needed in ever greater numbers because of the state support for sport aviation and the initially secret structure of the new Luftwaffe . In 1935, Hans Reissner was won over as a designer for the development of adjustable propellers , so that these could also be included in the sales program. In addition, disc brakes for aircraft landing gears were produced based on a patent from Hermann Klaue .

Of the newly developed engines for which Manfred Christian was responsible, there were in particular the Argus As 8 , the Argus As 10 and the Argus As 410 , from which the Argus As 411 emerged, which were manufactured in large numbers. For the latter two, the Prague company Walter was commissioned to build under license, and another production site was set up in occupied France at Renault. A new development was the Schmidt-Argus-Rohr Argus As 014  - a deflagration jet engine  - which was used in the Fieseler Fi 103 . Two projects for large engines As 412 and As 413 (24 cylinders in H-shape, water-cooled with 4000 HP for two propellers rotating in opposite directions), for which Fritz Gosslau was responsible, were in development towards the end of the war. After the end of the Second World War, the plant was dismantled as a reparation payment for the Soviet Union and France . Renault and later SNECMA continued to manufacture the As 411 under the name Renault 12S until the 1960s .

Engines

• Argus As I , four-cylinder in - line engine , 100 hp
• Argus As II , six-cylinder in-line engine, 120 hp
• Argus As III , six-cylinder series, 15.9 l displacement, 130 kW (180 PS) at 1400 min ⁻¹ , license build by Deutz (Cologne), Güldner (Aschaffenburg), MAN , Opel (Rüsselsheim) and Stoewer (Stettin) - Use from January 1916
• Argus As 8 , four-cylinder series, hanging, air-cooled, installed in the three winning aircraft BFW M 23 during the 1930 European tour
  • As 8 A: from 1929, with 95 hp
  • As 8 B: from 1930, increased engine speed, 130 hp
  • As 8 R: from 1930, enhanced performance, 150 hp
• As Argus 10 , eight-cylinder - V-engine , hanging
• Argus As 16 , four-cylinder boxer engine
• Argus As 17 , six-cylinder series, hanging, built for the European flight in 1934
• Argus As 401 , like As 10, but with supercharger , compression 6.0: 1, 275 hp
• Argus As 410 , twelve-cylinder V-engine, hanging
• Argus As 411 , twelve-cylinder V-engine, hanging
• Argus As 412 , 24-cylinder H-engine , air-cooled, prototype developed from 1934, 1000 hp
• Argus As 413 , like As 412, with parts of the Junkers Jumo 213 , project, 4000 HP
• Argus As 014 , deflagration jet engine

• 

  Type 4, 4-cylinder in-line engine

• 

  Opel Argus As III, 6-cylinder in-line engine

• 

  As 8, 4-cylinder in-line engine

• 

  As 10 C, 8-cylinder V-engine

• 

  As 411 A, 12-cylinder V-engine

literature

• Anton Doppelfeld: The history of the Argus Motoren Gesellschaft 1906–1940. Berlin 1940.
• The history of German truck construction. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-811-2 , Volume 1, p. 27 and Volume 2b, p. 31.
• Ulrich Kubisch : German car brands from A – Z. VF Verlagsgesellschaft, Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-926917-09-1 .
• Wulf Dieter Kisselmann: Argus. Aircraft engines and more. Verlag Schiff & Flugzeug, Empfingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-86755-220-2 .

Web links

Commons : Argus Motoren Gesellschaft  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• http://www.webcitation.org/6RO1WAwPv ( Memento from July 27, 2014 on WebCite )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wulfdieter Kisselmann: Argus. Aircraft engines and more. Verlag Schiff & Flugzeug, Empfingen 2012, page 77ff.
2. ^ Central Trade Register for the German Empire (No. 85 A); Sixth supplement to the Deutsche Reichs-Anzeiger and the Royal Prussian State-Anzeiger, No. 85. In: Deutscher Reichsanzeiger . Mannheim University Library , April 11, 1902, accessed on June 13, 2020 (left page, first column below): “No. 14 453 Limited partnership: Internationale Automobil Centrale Jeannin & Co. Commandit Gesellschaft. Personally liable partner: Henri Jeannin, businessman, Schöneberg. There is a limited partner. The company started on April 1, 1902. " 
3. ↑ Central Commercial Register for the German Empire (No. 35 A); Sixth supplement to the German Reichsanzeiger and Royal Prussian State Gazette, No. 35. In: Deutscher Reichsanzeiger . Mannheim University Library , February 10, 1903, accessed on June 13, 2020 (right page, second column above): “No. 57 686. J. 1763. Class 10. Argus 12/9 1902. Internationale Automobil-Centrale Comm.-Ges. Jeannin & Co., Berlin, Charlottenstr. 39. 17/1 1903. Business: Manufacture and sale of motor vehicles and all motor vehicle parts. Goods: Motor vehicles and all motor vehicle parts. - Descr. " 
4. ↑ Central Commercial Register for the German Empire (No. 62 A); Sixth supplement to the German Reichsanzeiger and the Royal Prussian State Gazette, No. 62. In: Deutscher Reichsanzeiger . Mannheim University Library , March 12, 1904, accessed on June 13, 2020 (first column in the middle): “At No. 14 453 (Internationale Automobil Centrale Jeannin & Co. Commanditgesellschaft, Berlin): The company is now: Internationale Automobil Centrale Dr. Mengers & Bellmann. The previous shareholders have dissolved the company and transferred the business and company to the businessman Dr. phil Hans Mengers, Berlin and the merchant Walter Bellmann, Schöneberg [note: this is probably Jeannin's brother-in-law], who run the business as a general partnership. The company began on February 1, 1904. [...] " 
5. ↑ Central Commercial Register for the German Empire (No. 36 A); Fifth supplement to the German Reichsanzeiger and the Royal Prussian State Gazette, No. 36. In: Deutscher Reichsanzeiger . Mannheim University Library , February 11, 1904, accessed on June 13, 2020 (right page, third column, upper third): “No. 227 [3] 8 Limited partnership: Argus Motoren-Gesellschaft Jeannin & Co. Com. Ges., Berlin, and as personally liable partner Henry Jeannin, businessman, Charlottenburg. The company began on February 1, 1904. A limited partner is available. " 
6. ↑ Central Commercial Register for the German Empire (No. 287 A); Sixth supplement to the German Reichsanzeiger and the Royal Prussian State Gazette, No. 287. In: Deutscher Reichsanzeiger . Mannheim University Library , December 5, 1906, accessed on June 13, 2020 (right page, first column below): “No. 4024 Argus Motors Limited Liability Company. […] The shareholder in Argus Motoren Gesellschaft Jeannin & Co. Commanditgesellschaft zu Berlin brings into the company: her entire business with assets and liabilities, including all property rights, models, drawings, equipment and Assignments. [...] " 
7. ^ Constanze Werner: War economy and forced labor at BMW. Oldenburg, 2005. p. 39. ( Online in the Google book search)
8. ↑ Wulfdieter Kisselmann: Argus. Aircraft engines and more. Verlag Schiff & Flugzeug, Empfingen 2012, page 82
9. ↑ Argus aircraft engines and ramjet engines. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .