Adolph Saurer AG was a Swiss manufacturer of embroidery and textile machines, trucks and buses under the Saurer and Berna (beginning in 1929) brand names. Based in Arbon, Switzerland, the firm was active between 1903 and 1982. Their vehicles were widely used across mainland Europe, particularly in the interwar period.
History
1910 Saurer Motor Trucks AdA Saurer Car-Alpin in 1930
In 1853 Franz Saurer (1806–1882) from Veringenstadt, Germany established an iron foundry for household goods near the Swiss town of Sankt Gallen. Eastern Switzerland was a centre for both embroidery and embroidery machine development.
About 1850 Franz Rittmeyer built the first practical, satin stitch embroidery machine, known as the Handstickmaschine. Several Swiss companies began building and improving these machines, and their heyday lasted from roughly 1865 until the end of the century. Two of Franz Saurer's sons – Anton and Adolf - were aware of this invention, saw an opportunity, and began building hand embroidery machines in their father's foundry in about 1869. By 1873 F. Saurer & Söhne was the leader among the Swiss competitors in terms of sales and total machines built. By 1883 Saurer's production peaked at 796 machines per year. They had produced a total of 5,530 machines to date.
Saxony Germany was also a centre for embroidery and machine development. By the 1890s, German companies were Saurer's strongest competition. By the late 1870s a new, faster type of machine was invented. The (bobbin) shuttle, or schiffli machine adapted the lock stitch from the sewing machine. A German company added a Jacquard punch card reader, and thus fully automated the process. Competition motivated engineers at Saurer to develop their own Jacquard card reader, improve the stitch rate, and increase the machine's width, i.e. total number of needles and throughput. In 1905 Saurer matched the competing machine's width at ten meters. In 1913 it increased the width to 15 meters.[1]
The embroidery industry experienced many ups and downs due to fashion, trade policies and world wars. Saurer diversified into petrol and diesel engines, and then trucks to reduce its exposure to this volatility. However, Saurer continued to innovate and is still a leader in schiffli embroidery machines.
In 1896 the eldest surviving son Adolph Saurer (1841–1920) took over the company. He and his son Hippolyt (1878–1936) developed the enterprise as a joint-stock company. Hippolyt Saurer initiated the production of a phaeton body automobile run by a one-cylinder opposed-piston engine. In 1902 a first four-cylinder T-head engine model with touring car and sedan chassis was built.
In the United States, the Saurer Motor Truck Company, headed by C.P. Coleman, had the rights to manufacture and sell heavy trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield, New Jersey (which commenced operations in November 1911). On September 23, 1911, the Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania, headed by J. M. Mack, to form the International Motor Truck Company (IMTC).[2] IMTC would continue to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. In 1922 IMTC would become Mack Trucks, Inc.
Saurer trucks were developed along the years into four basic ranges:
A-type (1918)
B-type (1926)
C-type (1934)
D-type (1959)
It was the B-type that established Saurer's international reputation as a builder of long-lasting trucks.
In 1929 Saurer acquired its Swiss rival, Motorwagenfabrik Berna AG of Olten, but the Berna name was allowed to continue, badging the very same Saurer models.
In World War 2, a restructured type BT 4500 and 5 BHw of Saurer trucks were used to gas people in the Nazi Chełmno extermination camp. Extermination vans were adapted, when they went in for repair, to carry the optimum number of people who could be gassed in the time it took to drive them from Chelmno to the woods where they were disposed of in ovens. There was concern about the strain on the front axle if too many people were loaded to be gassed, but as piles of bodies were always closest to the doors there was no strain on the front axle.[3][4]
In 1951 Saurer and its Italian licensee, OM, reached an agreement by which Saurer would market in Switzerland OM's light and medium-weight trucks and buses, using Saurer-OM and Berna-OM badges. This was successful and lasted until Saurer closure.
Saurer began licensed manufacture of aero engines in 1917. They also began developing their own designs, and built two prototypes of a V12 design in 1918.
The FLB series, developed from the 1930s to the 1940s, were based on the principles of the Junkers Jumo 205. Like the Jumo they were two-stroke diesels with two crank shafts and two pistons per combustion chamber. However the cylinders were bent into a V shape, allowing them to be doubled up on each crank shaft to create a compact diamond arrangement. The design was also able to run on petrol, still with fuel injection and a small test engine was run in both modes. The FLB 1000 had three banks giving a design output of 1,000 hp and was briefly bench-tested using petrol. However the project was dropped before it could be run on diesel.
The FLB project was dropped to make room for an urgent requirement to develop the Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 V-12, a conventional four-stroke petrol engine which was no longer available. Saurer developed it as the YS-2, which entered limited production. It was fitted to the EKW C-3604 and Doflug D-3802. The further developed YS-3 flew in the prototype Doflug D-3803.[5]
NAW
Declining sales in the early 1980s saw the two leading Swiss truck makers, Saurer and FBW (Franz Brozincevic & Cie of Wetzikon, Switzerland), forming a joint organization called Nutzfahrzeuggesellschaft Arbon & Wetzikon, proceeding with motorbus and trolleybus production under the NAW brand, while the last Saurer-badged truck sold in the open market was delivered in 1983. Four years later, in 1987, a model 10DM supplied to the Swiss Army meant the very last Saurer truck produced in history.
In 1982 Daimler-Benz had acquired a major shareholding in NAW and soon took full control; and in a short time dropped Saurer, Berna and FBW brands, while using NAW premises to assemble heavy haulage versions of Mercedes-Benz trucks. Eventually NAW went into liquidation in early 2003.
Last remain of the Saurer automotive activity in Arbon is the present FPT Industrial S.p.A. engine research centre, that up to 1990 had been the Saurer Motorenforschung Research & Development Centre.
The textile and automotive spin-offs
In 1995, Ernst Thomke, reputed Swiss Manager, took over the leadership of Saurer AG in Arbon as chairman of the board. To restructure this conglomerate, he had previously abandoned his position with its then major shareholder: BB Industrie Holding AG (22%). The previous major shareholder Tito Tettamanti of the conglomerate founded in 1853, specialized in textile machinery and "propulsion technology", had acquired the main competitor in each field Schlafhorst, with a large manufacturing capacity excess and Ghidela.
Thomke led actively Saurer AG until 1996, when he retired to the direction of the Board until 1999. In his years he promulgated transparency at all levels, flexible working hours, optimized the production and refined accounting systems. In 1996, the group Saurer AG went back into financial results showing profits. More than half of the revenues originating from Schlafhorst, upon its positive restructuring.
Oerlikon Textile
Since 2007, the conglomerate Saurer AG, which meanwhile had reached a worldwide leading status in textile machinery,[citation needed] has been integrated into the Oerlikon Corporation.[6]
Oerlikon-Saurer Textile is a manufacturer of systems for spinning, texturizing, twisting and embroidery.
Oerlikon-Saurer "Graziano Trasmissioni"
Also, since 2007 the remaining Saurer AG automative part "Graziano Trasmissioni", a manufacturer of gears, gear groups and complete transmission systems for agricultural, earth moving and special vehicles as well as for four wheel drive passenger cars and luxury sport cars, has been integrated into the Oerlikon Corporation.[7]
Monteverdi civilian prototype; Saurer manufactured 12 pre-series military versionsSaurer F006
The Saurer F006 (also known as Saurer 288) and F007 were, apart from the Swiss Army cross-country trucks known as the (6-ton) Saurer 6DM and the (10-ton) Saurer 10DM, the last vehicle designs of the company. In the late 1970s, the F006 design was intended as a successor to the Jeep for the Swiss Army. It was hoped that the vehicle would also be purchased by fire departments and become work vehicles for community structures, such as road maintenance operations, forest rangers, electric and water utilities, etc. Luxury car manufacturer Monteverdi put a civilian version of the Saurer F006 military vehicle, which they called the 260Z, on display at the Geneva Motor Show 1979. The 260Z was not produced, though three prototypes were created which are listed in the Monteverdi Museum in Binningen. While Monteverdi did not use the Saurer chassis, they did produce two versions of a luxury SUV vehicle called the Safari/Sahara, based on the International Scout vehicle.
Another civilian version, called the Monteverdi 250 - Z, was derived from the Saurer F006 by Monteverdi, with engineering input from Berna. Saurer took over the production. The axles are from the International Scout. The vehicle had a plastic body made of polyester. For power, the drive-train was a 6-cylinder petrol engine from Volvo with an automatic transmission. Maximum speed was 100 km/h. Overall styling contrasted with the Mercedes G and Puch 230GE joint venture vehicle with the front turn signals mounted conventionally on the front of the vehicle. The equipment installed in the front bumper parking lights can be turned by flicking the "Tarnlicht" switch (a multipurpose military switch for light dimming). The basic vehicle has a fixed open back cab. The passenger seats are closed with a fast demountable plastic sheet at the rear including a military holder for a gas canister; a fixed structure is provided for use in case of fire.
The F006 was first shown in 1980, and tested by the War Technical Department of the Swiss Army in 1982. They instead procured the Puch 230GE. Failure to secure the army production order meant that production of the vehicle for other potential customers was not economically viable, and in the end only the 24 prototypes were built. One remained in service until 1988 and was subsequently donated to the Saurer Oldtimer Club. The other remaining vehicles are privately owned.
Simultaneously with the Saurer F006, the Saurer F007 was introduced in 1980 as a Pinzgauer High-Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle with similar versions available to the public. The F007 uses the same chassis and the same drive unit as the F006, but utilizing a cab-over design, with the engine compartment located internally. Unlike the F006, the F007 has three windshield wiper blades instead of two, four headlights instead of two, and the front parking lights and turn signals are housed in the same headlamp shell. The gasoline tank filler neck is on the left side immediately behind the driver's door, and not as in the F006 on the right side between the rear and the rear wheel. The vehicle has a fixed cab which is open to the rear. The cargo area is covered with a plastic sheet, including two plastic windows on each side. This was based on the concept of the cab-over model 260 F by Monteverdi. For Swiss Army procurement, SUVs in addition to dedicated military vehicles were prepared for testing starting from 1982. The Swiss Army examined the high-road tested prototypes of the F007, but did not buy the vehicle. The existing Saurer F007's are now privately owned.
Gallery of Saurer, Berna and NAW vehicles
1912 Saurer truck on display at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum, Walcott, Iowa.
^Hidden camera interview: "Gustav Laabs and Letter Becker" (outtakes from Shoah, 1978–1981). Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection, Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
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