Wesseler (Altenberge)

Wesseler was a German company from Altenberge that manufactured, repaired and sold agricultural machines. It was founded in the 19th century as a smithy that specialised in agricultural products in the 1930s. During the agricultural industrialisation in Germany after the Second World War, the H. Wesseler oHG became a major tractor company in NRW. Between 1936 and 1966, Wesseler produced approximately 3600 tractors. In Germany, the brand name Wesseler was used, while Wesseler tractors sold in the Netherlands and Belgium were named Feldmeister and Vewema. In the second half of the 1960s, when the demand for tractors diminished, Wesseler, later known as the H. Wesseler KG, stopped the tractor production and specialised in selling and repairing Fiatagri tractors until they registered as insolvent in 1988.

History

Beginning – Monetary reform

In 1879, Bernhard Wesseler from Darup purchased a building with surrounding land in the heath of Kümper near Altenberge. He became a farmer and opened a smithy. It was expanded for the first time in 1909. Wesselers son Heinrich joined the company in 1911 or 1912,[1]

Economical upswing during the tractor demand period

The economical upswing of Wesseler began with the monetary reform. Wesseler gained profit from the huge tractor demand in Germany in the 1950s. The sons of Heinrich Wesseler, Ludger and Paul already worked for the company back then. At first it was planned to turn Wesseler into a Fahr dealer, due to Fahr supply problems, Wesseler also sold tractors of other brands such as Normag and Schlüter. Wesseler also sold their own tractors. Later, Wesseler became an important Claas dealer and focused on producing their own tractors. In 1952, a tractor workshop was built, it was increased in size in 1959. However, Wesseler still manufactured other goods such as tableware. A BP petrol station was a part of the Wesseler plant.

An important occurrence was the DLG-show 1949 in Frankfurt, where the first MWM diesel engine was bought. Before the tractors were fitted with MWM engines, Wesseler used Deutz engines, which had a bad durability due to bad lubrication oil quality. MWM engines could also use the bad lubrication oil, they became the standard diesel engines of Wesseler tractors; starting in 1953, Wesseler offered every tractor type with a water-cooled and an air-cooled MWM engine of the same power output. Prometheus gearboxes were used first, later, Wesseler switched to ZF gearboxes. Those used to be progressive in the 1950s as well as the direct injection MWM diesel engines.

Soon, Wesseler became an exhibitor at several fairs in Germany. A Wesseler dealer network was established, the main distribution areas were the regions around Münster in Westfalen and Oldenburg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. For the Dutch market, Wesseler tractors got an orange painting and the brand name Feldmeister. Primarily, 20 PS tractors were sold in the Netherlands. 800 Feldmeister were sold until 1967. The Belgian market demanded more powerful tractors. In the viniculture regions Eifel and Mosel some one-cylinder narrow gauge models with up to 15 PS were sold, some tractors even made it to Hesse and France.[3]

Zenith and fall

In 1958, Wesseler had 60 employees which worked in a two-shift-system. This number soon reached 80 and in 1960, Wesseler had 120 employees. Most employees were from Altenberge and the surrounding areas, some also came from the Netherlands and Belgium. In the early 1950s, some employees built houses next to the Wesseler plant, Wesseler themselves also built houses there for their employees in 1962. When Wesseler was at the economical zenith in the second half of the 1950s, one tractor left the plant per day. At first, Wesseler kept up with trends such as the equipment carrier tractor but they did not invest in new production machines for the plant. This led to an expensive production which could not compete with the inexpensive production of other tractor manufacturers. Wessler had to register as insolvent, the production was stopped in 1966, when Wesseler had 70[2] employees. The last tractor, a WL 222 was sold in June 1967. During three decades, 3600 tractors had been produced which makes Wesseler the fourth-largest tractor manufacturer of NRW.

Before the registration of insolvency, Wesseler already tried to change the concept of the company in late 1965. Paul Wesseler wanted to stop the tractor production and form Wesseler into a Fiat dealer. This happened in 1967, when Wesseler became the H. Wesseler KG.[4] The company soon became important for the region again as a Fiat dealer, a new tractor workshop was built in 1973, and expanded in 1982. Wesseler was the second-largest Fiat dealer in Germany. At the end of the 1980s, Wesseler had to face major problems: A huge and expensive spares store and too many employees. In February 1988, Wesseler had to register als insolvent again. So far, 2000[4] Fiat tractors had been sold. After the suspension of the insolvency proceedings, a newly founded agricultural machine company rented the Wesseler plant in 1995.[5] It moved to a new building in 2003. Since 2004, the tractor museum of Altenberge has been renting the Wesseler plant, which has been an LWL memorial since 2010. The Wesseler factory was sold by the owner family to a private investor in 2017. The association then had to liquidate the museum inventory. The association has now rented the former forge and exhibited some Wesseler tractors.

References

This remains unclear. Some sources claim 1911, (Landwirtschaftliches Wochenblatt Westfalen/Lippe No. 33. 16 August 1990. Page 33), (Franz Sundorf: Wesseler-Chronik. 2016. Page 60), while others claim 1912. (1936 Schlepperbau begonnen – in Westfälische Nachrichten, 1966; page 1), (100 Jahre Wesseler Landtechnik, 1979; page 86)^

1936 Schlepperbau begonnen – in Westfälische Nachrichten, 1966^

Wesseler: Schlepper aus Altenberge – in Landwirtschaftliches Wochenblatt Westfalen/Lippe No. 33. 16 August 1990. Page 33^

2000 Fiatagri Traktoren verkauft – in Eilbote, 22/1987. 28 May 1987.^

Agrartechnik Altenberge – Unternehmensentwicklung retrieved 4 December 2016^

Sundorf, p. 77^

Sundorf, p. 78^

Sundorf, p. 79^

Sundorf, p. 81^

Sundorf, p. 83^

Sundorf, p. 80^

Sundorf, p. 82^

Akademische Abschlussarbeit – mögliches Thema^

In Germany, PS was used as the unit for power in until the 1970s. It is an abbreviation for Pferdestärke, which means horsepower. However, 1 PS does not equal 1 hp as the definitions are different.^

A Geräteträger, literal translation: Equipment carrier, is a special kind of tractor that has a frame. This makes it possible to attach devices underneath or on top of the tractor.^

A Hochradschlepper, literal translation: High wheel tractor, is a special kind of tractor that has wheels with a large diameter. This gives the tractor a good ground clearance.^

Wesseler-Schlepper-Farben^

Holthaus: ″(...) und wenn man nach Hause kam, musste man sich erstmal duschen, wenns noch ging natürlich, wir hatten wohl ne Mütze auf, aber die Farbe war ja nicht so wie heute, heute ist das alles wasserverdünnte Farbe, ne? Früher war das alles Nitro, da hat man am Sonntag noch nach gestunken.″ – English translation: ″(...) and when you got home, you had to take a shower first, if it was still possible, we had hats though, but the paintwork was not like it is today, today it's a water-based paintwork, you know? Back in the day it was all nitro, you still stunk of that on sunday.″ In Lokalzeit Münsterland (YouTube)^

industry	Agricultural
trade name	Wesseler, Feldmeister, Vewema
founder	Bernhard Wesseler
foundation	1879
defunct	February 4, 1988
location	Altenberge, Westfalia
area served	Westfalia, Netherlands, Belgium
num employees	120
num employees year	1960
products	Farm Machinery, Household Appliances

Wesseler (Altenberge)

History

Beginning – Monetary reform

Economical upswing during the tractor demand period

Zenith and fall

Distribution

Brand names

Wesseler dealers

Tractor production

Tractor types

Paintwork

Bibliography

External links

References