Heinrich Lanz, Germany

Heinrich Lanz, Germany

In 1859, Heinrich Lanz opened as part of his father’s freight company a small workshop in the German city of Manheim, where he repaired agricultural machinery. In 1867, he started to make ploughs and other farming tools. Soon, the demand outstripped his capacity and Lanz got a factory, which he directed until his death in 1905, when his son Karl took over. By that time, it was a large company with over 3,500 employees.

In 1879, Lanz started to make steam locomotives and in 1912, he introduced the Landbaumotor Lanz, Koszegi system, a four-cylinder gasoline engine of 80hp conceived primarily as a milling cutter. By 1916, he sold just 120 pieces but during the First World War, they were used by the military as primary movers (tractors) in both their wheeled and crawler versions.

In 1916, the company of Heinrich Lanz, who so far focused mainly on farming machinery, was joined by Dr Fritz Huber, a talented engine designer who soon developed a horizontal two-stroke hot-bulb engine. Further work on this concept was disrupted by the First World War. After the war, Huber made an agreement with company administrator Dr Karl Lanz and his son and they founded a firm dedicated to engine construction. Already in 1921, they made the first three prototypes of a 12hp tractor, which they named Bulldog. It did not perform very well in farming work. In the same year, they ended the production of steam locomotives.

In 1923, Lanz started to make the Ackerbulldogs and a two-cylinder 38hp Feldtank tractors. While the latter did not prove successful and was soon discontinued, Ackerbulldog in 1926 became the foundation of serial production of HR-2 – Lanz Grossbulldog with power of 16.2–20,6 kW. In 1925, Lanz was transformed into a joint-stock company. In 1934, Lanz introduced a tow vehicle Bulldog HR 6 with power of 28 kW and semi-crawler rear wheels. By the mid-1930s Lanz was already employing over 5,500 people.

In 1939, Lanz made a very popular universal farmer’s Bulldog. Farmers could thus now choose between six basic types of Bulldogs with power ranging from 15 to 55hp. In 1942, Lanz’s Bulldog production reached admirable 100,000 pieces, and in the following year, the company also started to make wood gas-powered Bulldogs. Late in the war, 90% of the factory was destroyed but the company soon managed to restart production of pre-war types from spare parts.

A new model D 7506 was introduced in 1949 and in the 1950s, the company was already making a wide range of types with power ranging from 8.8 to 44.1kW. In 1951, Lanz introduced the Alldog, a tool carrier. In 1952, Lanz presented the first three types of Bulldogs with semi-diesel medium-pressure engines with serial labels D 1706, D 2206, and D 2806. Air cooling was replaced by water cooling. During the following decade, Lanz introduced another 35 types of tractors.

In 1952, the company’s so far merely occasional collaboration with the John Deere Co. had deepened and was now reflected also in the company’s name. Its products henceforth bore the label Deere-Lanz. In 1956, Deere had acquired a majority of Lanz company’s shares, started to significantly influence the company’s functioning, and stopped the production of conceptually dated one-cylinder Bulldogs. In 1959, the company had introduced the first result of this cooperation, a three-cylinder diesel crawler tow vehicle John Deere-Lanz with 23.5 kW. After 1960, the company made five modifications of both crawler and wheeled tow vehicles that belonged to a separate series. Alongside tractors, Lanz made also other agricultural machinery, especially harvesting machines. The Lanz company exists within the John Deere Company to this day.