Eicher tractor was a manufacturer of tractors, agricultural machinery and engines. The company was founded in 1936 by the brothers Josef and Albert Eicher in the Upper Bavaria town of Forstern. The brand name "Eicher" was last used in Europe in 2009 by the Dutch agricultural machinery dealer Hissink & Zonen and is still in use today in India at Eicher Goodearth which manufactures tractors & commercial vehicles by this name.
History
In the small village, Forstern near Munich, in Bavaria, Germany, the first Eicher tractor was made, in the 1930s, by Joseph and Albert Eicher. It was the beginning of considerable development of Eicher's Forstern and Dingolfing factories. These pioneers made several tests and carried out a patient work of clarification. The first evolution was marked by the construction of an automatic mower and a three-wheeled tractor. In 1936, Eicher built the first diesel tractor with a 14.7 kW Deutz - diesel engine. The engine was welded to the frame and the rear axle was flanged. The gearbox was attached to the engine and passed the power via a propeller shaft to the rear axle. The mowing drive went from there via an open chain drive. One year later, in 1937, Eicher was represented for the first time at the DLG exhibition in Munich. The block-construction of the Eicher tractors with engines of Deutz and transmission of Prometheus prevailed in the following years. More and more tractors were sold, even tractors could be exported to Austria. Eicher brothers Joseph and Albert Eicher were born and grew up in an agricultural part of Germany. Their personal taste for agriculture favored the development of ideas which led to the manufacturing of machines and modern devices.
After the war, production of pre-war tractors resumed. In 1948, the first post-war development was finally presented, the Eicher ED 16/I. Eicher tractor equipped with a self-welded engine. The single-cylinder engine produced 11.8 kW. The Eicher ED 16/I was the world's first tractor with an air-cooled diesel engine. The air-cooled engines should be a badge of Eicher Tractors later. In the following years, the product range was greatly expanded, with the models Eicher ED 30, Eicher ED 25 / I and Eicher ED 28. The name component ED stood for Eicher Diesel, also the production increased constantly. Eicher acquired on July 1, 1951, the vehicle and mechanical engineering GmbH in Dingolfing. This expanded the company in a much greater depth, because with Famag it also got its own foundry. The trailer production of Famag was continued by Eicher for the time being. The brothers Eicher wanted to raise their own production for agricultural machinery. Thus, Eicher developed into a supplier of tractors and agricultural machinery. In 1959, Eicher set up the Eicher Tractor Corporation of India Private Ltd., along with the Goodearth Company of New Delhi, India, and began production in 1960 of Indian-built Eicher tractors. That company sold the tractor business to TAFE, also of India, which still produces Eicher tractors. In the 1960s Eicher started the production of a light truck, which was also produced for Magirus-Deutz at a later date. In 1973, Massey Ferguson purchased Eicher, and many Massey-licensed Eichers were built. They later sold their interest, and Dromson now owns the company. They now build specialized tractors for vineyards.
