Old Motor Mower Compared to New Crimper Roller

150 years later – Looking Back for Moving Forward

by Paul Schmit of Schaff mat Päerd, Luxembourg

Since the beginning, the equipment development process of the European non-profit association Schaff mat Päerd has been based on retro-innovation. This approach consists of reviving and reintroducing old or outdated ideas, technologies, or designs in a modern context. It involves taking inspiration from the past and combining it with current advancements to create something new and innovative. It is a dynamic approach to innovation that celebrates the past while embracing the future.

In the following, we take a retro-perspective and compare the technical possibilities in farming equipment design and manufacturing of earlier times with the present. Picture 1, taken in the late 1930s, shows an employee of the German FAHR agricultural machinery factory operating the kickstarter on a FM 4. The FM 4 was introduced in 1937 as a so-called Motor Grass Mower with a cutting width of 1,35 m, an air-cooled single-cylinder two-stroke engine and on ball-bearing running wheels for a single-horse hitch. The engine power was transmitted directly to the mower’s crankshaft via a single-stage gear transmission and a clutch, serving not only as a mechanical linkage, but also as overload protection.

These photos were taken by the development department to later be used for illustrating, as drawings, the sales documents and operating manuals. Picture 2 shows the corresponding picture issued in a product catalogue. In earlier times, all illustrations were purely black and white hand drawings.

The history of FAHR goes back just over 150 years. In 1870 Johann Georg FAHR I. (1836 – 1916) started producing agricultural machinery with two journeymen and an apprentice in a village smithy in Gottmadingen, located in the South-West of Germany. In 1875, the products were already being exported to Austria and in 1878 FAHR employed 37 workers. The first mowers were manufacured in 1899 with 120 employees and in 1914, with 700 employees, the annual production of mowing machines was already 5,588 units.

The hand drawing in picture 3 was realized by Anton Alber (1882 – 1971), who started as a 15-year-old apprentice at FAHR and was appointed senior engineer in 1920 because of his excellent designs of hay and grain harvesting machines.

By the end of the 1930s, four assembly lines for various farm machinery were in use and the workforce had grown to 1,300 employees. The annual production of mowers at the time was 17,225 units and grew to 32,000 units when the full oil bath ball bearing grass mowers F1, F2, F3 and F4 were introduced.

In 1961, FAHR was the largest agricultural machinery manufacturer in Europe and had already produced 1.2 million grass, hay and grain harvesting machines. The FAHR family ran the company, over three generations, from its founding in 1870 to 4,200 employees, including 3,000 at the main factory in Gottmadingen alone. FAHR also owned a foundry in Stockach and a gear factory in Karlsruhe.

However, the diversity of the production program caused difficulties for FAHR at the end of the 1950s. Finally, FAHR could not withstand the pressure of the ever-increasing international market anymore and in 1961 the German KLÖCKNER- HUMBOLD-DEUTZ group took over 25.1% of the share capital and in 1968 the majority shareholding of 51%. Finally, FAHR was fully integrated in 1977 into the KHD group and today the tradition only lives on under the name DEUTZ-FAHR tractors and harvesting machines, belonging since 1995 to the Italian SAME group (Società Accomandita Motori Endotermici).

As part of a restructuring plan for the KHD Group, after the unsuccessful takeover of the U.S. manufacturer of farm machinery ALLIS-CHALMERS in 1985, the Gottmadingen plant was transferred in 1988 to the Dutch GREENLAND NV, which was part at that time of the THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA Group. Those were the times when also other well-known agricultural machinery manufacturers stumbled due to bad harvests, price collapses and quantity limits for agricultural products, such as the INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, MASSEY FERGUSON or SPERRY NEW HOLLAND.

In 1998, the Norwegian KVERNELAND Group, nowadays belonging to the Japanese KUBOTA Group, took over GREENLAND and finally closed the former FAHR factory in Gottmadingen in 2006.

But why are all these dates and numbers still of interest today?

They show us the size of the agricultural machinery industry back to the first half of the last century and the very modest scale of everything we produce today for animal traction, whether in the US, in Europe or elsewhere in the world. But the less-than-glorious ending history of FAHR also shows us that the company size and the product quality are no guarantee for success. The socio-economic environment, which has seen many ups and downs in the past 150 years of agriculture, is probably the main deciding factor.

Even in our times, when so-called chatbots can write, with their artificial intelligence, already entire doctoral theses for us humans, we should build on these knowledge and insights from the bygone times that has remained with us. This helps us to prevent trying to reinvent the wheel every time when creating new animal drawn equipment and repeating the same mistakes again and again, not only technologically, but also commercially.

A little more than 50 years of development history and experience had gone into the last generations of the FAHR mowing machines. In addition to this level of knowledge, which is unattainable today, we have also to face the fact, that the production numbers back in first half of the last century allowed other manufacturing processes than today. An example for this is the cast mower housing.

As early as 1891, FAHR acquired 2 hectares of premises in Stockach and started a repair shop for agricultural machinery and a foundry there. From 1892 on, gray cast iron was produced. The production of malleable iron began in 1911. This material is forgeable because of its higher strength and toughness compared to gray cast iron, which allowed the production of more complicated and higher stress machine parts. In 1928, the annual production was 6,500 tons. In 1941, the year of the foundry’s 50th anniversary, 567 employees were employed, and the annual production reached 12,000 tons. In 1950, after acquiring the license to produce spheroidal graphite cast iron from the American INCO company, the strength and elasticity of the castings could be significantly increased again. But also, the FAHR foundry in Stockach was closed in 1984, due to excess capacity within the three foundries of the KHD group at that time.

The testing of the newly developed FAHR machinery was carried out in field tests by the respective designers together with the experienced skilled workers from the test workshop who built the machines. The evaluation methods were based almost exclusively on individual observations and assessments from their own knowledge and experience. The field testing was preferably carried out on fields of farmers in the surrounding area of Gottmadingen.

The Current State of the Art

But now, after this excursion into the heyday of animal-drawn agricultural technology, let us look at the present. In addition to the principle of retro-innovation, low-tech is another cornerstone of the non-profit association Schaff mat Päerd in the design of new animal-drawn machinery. “Keep it light and keep it simple” is the guiding principle for every new development. This is not only to optimize the required tractive effort and working comfort of the draft animal, but also to keep the sales prices of the later series products at an acceptable level for the European smallholders.

The following explains the twelve development and production steps of a new machine by the Schaff mat Päerd association in cooperation with the Italian Equi Idea company, using the example of a crimper-roller (see also SFJ 47-3), just over 150 years after Johan Georg Fahr I started to create his first equipment in his forge in Gottmadingen.

Step 1: 3D designing

The days when machine parts could be manufactured by casting, as presented above, are undoubtedly over. We simply do not have the required quantities of animal-drawn agricultural machinery anymore and we will never achieve this again. The production of the molds is no longer economically viable.

Since castings are no longer possible, weight-optimized steel structures are used. Three-dimensional computer-aided design not only enables the individual parts to be drawn quickly, but also allows the entire machine to be virtually assembled before the first component is even manufactured. This is a key difference from earlier times, where design took place as a two-dimensional drawing on paper at the drawing table. This was not only significantly more time-consuming, but also more expensive when producing the first prototype.

However, the computer is only a tool, just like the pencil from earlier times. The thought processes about ideas, visions and experiences still take place in a human’s head.

Step 2: 2D drafting

Besides the 3D designing, traditional two-dimensional technical drawings still have their right to exist. Especially for parts that are manufactured by suppliers. Here, these drawings serve as a means of communication, particularly for conveying dimensions and tolerances. The knives shown in Picture 11 are made by an Italian supplier of stainless steel and then hardened to reduce wear.

Step 3: Metal cutting

Only after all the individual parts have been designed, virtually pre-assembled and their function checked on the computer does the manufacturing process begin. The enormous advantage of the computer drawing is not only the speed of its creation and especially the subsequent changings or corrections, if necessary, but also the possibility of transferring the files to a metal cutting machine. Plasma and laser cutting machines are currently used here, depending on the required accuracy and material thickness. Water jet cutting machines were also tested but were not convincing compared to other cutting methods.

Plasma cutting can be done in our own workshops, laser cutting by external suppliers. Another advantage is that all individual parts can be reproduced in the shortest possible time with the same accuracy years later. This makes it possible to keep the inventory of spare parts to a minimum.

The material used is primarily structural steel of various grades. All steel parts in direct contact with the horse are made of stainless steel. Other materials such as high-strength chrome-molybdenum steel or lightweight aluminum alloys were also experimented with, but their high prices cannot be justified given the small number of machines in later production.

Step 4: Metal working

In addition to the computer-controlled cutting of metal, the traditional machining of metals makes also still part of the manufacturing process. Even if care is always taken during the development process to use mostly series parts to reduce costs, some parts, such as the plain bearings of shafts or spacers, must still be manufactured separately. Various bronze and aluminum alloys as well as thermoplastic polymers are used here.

Step 5: Welding

After all parts have been manufactured, the real assembly is then carried out, mostly by welding. In addition to MIG and MAG welding, TIG welding is also used, depending on the steel type and required weld seam quality. Pure manual work is required here and welding tables with adjustable stops significantly increase the accuracy.

Step 6: Sandblasting

The next step is sandblasting, which cleans the metal parts of scale and rust. This involves blowing abrasive grains by compressed air onto the metal surface. For larger parts, this work is carried out by an external company. Parts up to a maximum length of 1000 mm can be sandblasted in our own workshops.

Step 7: Metallizing

During the so-called metallizing, a zinc wire is melted by the flame of a gas burner and finely sprayed by compressed air onto the cleaned metal surface. As a so-called sacrificial anode, the zinc protects the steel from rust if scratches occur in the subsequent paint layers.

This work, as well as the next step, is carried out by a supplier.

Step 8: Powder coating

Besides the computer-aided drawing and the modern welding processes, powder coating is another technical achievement of our time, which represents a significant increase in quality compared to the FAHR era equipment discussed previously.

Here, paint in powder form is electrostatically sprayed onto the zinc-covered metal. Due to the static charge, the powder coats the surfaces completely and evenly. The parts coated with the coating powder are then baked in an oven at approx. 180 to 200 °C for a period of 15 to 45 minutes. This creates a very scratch and impact resistant surface.

Before the colored polyester based top coat, which later gives the machines their appearance, a layer of epoxy resin based base coat is first applied. All the prototypes of the Schaff mat Päerd association are coated in rapeseed yellow and cream white. This is to differentiate them in color from the other animal-drawn agricultural machines, which are usually red, green or blue.

Step 9: Mounting

The coating just discussed has a total thickness of approximately 0,4 mm. This must be considered when designing the machines, especially for the bore diameters. Otherwise, there will be problems with the subsequent mounting.

In general, the machine can be completed without any further processing of the individual parts. Rotating parts, such as axle or shaft are installed with a layer of NLGI 2 grease.

Step 10: Testing

The moment of truth comes during the first field tests, where the equipment must show, under real working conditions, whether it meets the expectations.

Here, it is important to consider that especially soil cultivation equipment can rarely be used universally on all soils across Europe. This requires the equipment to be tested under as wide a range of operating conditions as possible. Current field trials are being carried out in Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden, with corresponding reports being written for each test with the work results and the measured draft forces. The use of measuring sensors and data loggers differs fundamentally from the field tests of the earlier FAHR times, where the technical resources were very limited and the evaluations rather subjective.

Step 11: Evaluating

Usually, the test data is evaluated in the following winter, whereby the wear of the machine parts is also assessed. If the results are not satisfactory, the necessary adjustments to the machinery design are made before the equipment is ready for a series production.

If there is sufficient demand, the market-ready machines are manufactured by Albano Moscardo’s one-man company Equi Idea in Verona. In Northern Italy, production costs are lower because the suppliers are mostly still small family businesses.

As soon as the machines are ready for production and are no longer prototypes, they change the machine color from yellow to light green. To keep production costs and thus sales prices as low as possible, it’s always tried to produce in small manufacturing runs, but unfortunately this is rarely the case given the very limited market for animal-drawn equipment in Europe.

This is probably the crucial difference from earlier times and currently from the US as well. No manufacturer in Europe can compete with the prices of the US manufacturers, even with the high transport and customs costs for importing. That’s why we’re trying to gain an edge through innovation… retro-innovation. However, we see this competition less from a purely commercial perspective and more as a technical challenge.

Step 12: Creating manuals

Before a new implement is ready for the market, a corresponding operating and maintenance manual is written and illustrated. This brings us full circle to the first two images in this article. Even though digital images are available, many details are still presented through hand drawings based on photos.

The operating manuals are created in an English/ German as well as an Italian/French edition and are delivered with every machine. Even if this step takes a lot of time, this is also part of product quality and helpful for beginners in adjusting and maintaining the equipment correctly.

Step 13: CE-certification

A requirement on the European market that is all too often ignored, especially when it comes to imports of animal-drawn equipment, is the CE certification. The letters CE stand for “Conformité Européenne”, which means “European Conformity”. The CE mark on an implement is an indication that the equipment has been tested by the manufacturer and that it meets all EU-wide requirements for safety, health and environmental protection within the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. It is mandatory for all products manufactured worldwide and marketed in the EU.

For this purpose, we work with external consultants who provide advice, especially for implements that pose a particular risk, such as the crimper roller with its knives. Prototypes are not subject to CE certificates. For the equipment, which is marketed, the manufacturer must keep all the design drawings.

Final Thoughts

The career of Johan Georg Fahr I, described at the beginning, is just an example from times past. The life stories of other large agricultural technology manufacturers from the US and Europe read similarly. Almost all of them started in a small village blacksmith shop.

In contrast to the over 4,000 employees at FAHR in the middle of the last century, just 4 people within the Schaff mat Päerd network are currently involved in the twelve development and production steps described above.

We don’t know whether anyone will read our story later … 150 years later. Anyway, let us move forward, all together!