The Swiss trucks of Adolph Sauer AG
The history of the Swiss truck manufacturer in Italy is little known, but it is a very important industrial history.
Founded in 1853 to manufacture textile machinesThe Saurer brand was known in the twentieth century for the production of automobiles and industrial vehicles for civil and military use, as well as improved diesel engines.
Today the brand again denotes one of the largest manufacturers of equipment for the textile industry, but at the dawn of the production of trucks, the company Adolf Saurer AG played a decisive role.
In 1908 Mack he collected some models under license, for example from Saurer. There Steyr born as an Austrian branch of Saurer, in the thirties Unic also manufactured under license from SaurerOM Taurus licensed saurer, and even grandfather v8 ivecofirst installed in the XNUMX's onOM Orionewas an engine built under license from Saurer.
Innovation and technology
In short, many innovations are associated with the ingenuity of the Saurers who changed the way of transportation, and this is, above all, the introduction research by Rudolf Dieselleading to mass production and, therefore, by the school yearICE installation on trucks to change the history of transportation.
Then over the years, truck assembly pneumatic reckless, application of mechanical innovations such as parabolic leaf springsthen front suspension with independent wheels for buses, i planetary gears on front hubs for 4 × 4 or for 6 × 6, air suspension, disc brakes on the front axle.
The last truck, 1983
Everything was made from premium metals and light alloys, with i galvanized sheet metal: remember that the truck at that time was considered a durable good and, in addition to what was said in the warranty agreement, was designed and built to last forty years.
Saurer has always been striving for technological innovation, the latest model released in 1983, D 330 B already had - as standard - the technical content of trucks of the 21st century: a turbo engine prepared for installationintercooler, disc brakes on the front wheels a mixed braking system with ABS, rear air suspension, an autonomous cab heater (Webasto), a fairing to improve the aerodynamic coefficient, metallic paint.
Unfortunately, in the end, the price put it on a very high market level. It cost more than one Scania 112 or zones Volvo F10, the most popular and most expensive car on the Swiss market at the time.
After various corporate changes and merger with Franz Brozintsevich and Si, Wetzikon (FBW) controlled by Daimler-Benz in 1982, now called Zaurer-Berna was Arbon & Wetzikon Commercial Vehicle Company (NAW). In 1990, the company was incorporated by Iveco and finally closed in 2002.
Saurer Museum
Today in historic buildings on the shores of Lake Constanceformer textile factory Saurer, is Saurer Museum where you can trace the history of the company from its foundation to the present day.
Thus, among the various exhibits, there are embroidery machines and fabrics or fabric samples that have been woven and embroidered here. However, this museum exhibits both the famous and the famous. heavy commercial vehicles How 1911 truck, beautiful mail buses, military equipment and fire engines - almost all of them are still in working order. There is also one a complete collection of Saurer petrol and diesel engines in all sizes.
