Arrow Engine Co.

By Staff
Published on December 1, 2004
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An Arrow C-46 at work in southern Kansas. These engines are still being made.
An Arrow C-46 at work in southern Kansas. These engines are still being made.
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An Arrow C-46 at work in southern Kansas. These engines are still being made.
An Arrow C-46 at work in southern Kansas. These engines are still being made.

During a recent drive through the oil country of southern Kansas, I passed a dozen or so oil field pumping units painted in matching brown and orange. But it wasn’t their color that was noteworthy, it was the flywheel engines providing power that caught my eye.

My curiousity got the best of me, so I wheeled into one site for a closer look. The engines were propane-powered, horizontal single-cylinder engines – and they clearly weren’t old.

Equipped with upright radiators similar to those used on Fairbanks-Morse Model ZC engines, these modern gas engines carried a nameplate identifying them as built by Arrow Engine Co. of Tulsa, Okla.

Back at the office, a little digging on the Internet revealed that Arrow has been building these engines since 1955. The Arrow oil field engines I saw were Model C-46 engines, which carry a continuous-duty rating of 11.7 HP. The C-46 is the smallest of a four-engine line of single-cylinder units; the largest is rated at 38.7 HP continuous duty. A two-cylinder engine, the C-255, rated at 65.7 HP continuous duty, is also available. The engines I saw were plumbed to natural gas, but they will also run on propane, butane or methane.

So, you ask, what’s it cost to own one of these beauties? Plenty. The C-46 lists for $10, 300, while the C-255 lists for $27,900. Arrow also claims to supply parts for some oil field engines familiar to our crowd, such as Fairbanks-Morse, Witte, Ajax and Hercules.

Contact Arrow Engine Co. at: 2301 E. Independence, Tulsa, OK 74110; (800) 331-3662; www.arrowengine.com

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