A Forgotten Inventor!

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Albert Waser (1889-1963) was a small farmer in Berg-Daegerlen Switzerland, after a long plowing day his three cows did gave any milk, and feeling sorry for his stock he decided to build a tractor in his washhouse (laundry room) in the early 1920s. Using a engine from a worn out car, a transmission from the Zepplin Works from Friederichshafen (ZF today) and a single drive wheel. A trailers weight would get trasfered to the driving wheel giving it good traction was one of the ideas and to be able to hook out machinery in the front and rear. The first test drive ended in the dich after the steering chain broke. His neighbors first laughed but later saw the potential of a tractor. He got a patent for his tractor in the mid 1920s and around 1927 he found a Manufacture the Jakob Ruegg Manufacturing company which at this time also manufactured farm implements but also Bikes. This company would manufacture these tractors unter the JRU name later Universal in three series (20 each). The last ones were made 1933. Cause the single drivin tractor had some problems he designed a two wheel drivin tractor which got manufactured by the Mafag company, after Mafag got bankrupt, SLM took over production of these tractors finishing the last 7 of the 40 Mafag tractors. From 1933 to 1953 SLM (Swiss Locomotiv Manufacturing Company) made 454 tractors. Albert Waser remained a humble small farmer on his small farm without reconition of his invention.

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The very last SLM tractor series looked like this: 

 

The Price of a New SLM tractor in the 1938 was around 5900 Swiss francs not sure how much it was in the 1950 to 1953 (time frame of the one in the video was made) cost. The Swiss franc was 5 times lower than the dollar around this time.

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The Price of a JRU or later Universal was 5500 Fr. (Swiss francs) in 1929

a Mafag tractor which was the successor model of the single wheel drive tractor was first 2900 Fr. later 3800 Fr another 700 Francs extra if one wanted Rubber tires!

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early SLM version similar to the Mafag crawler style steering, later models had the front wheel steering, but the other one was kept until production ended, early ones had a 3 forward and one reverse, and the last models from the 50s had 5 forward and one reverse

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my dad seen one of them SLM tractors when he was a kid, he said they liked to make wheelies when a heavy load was hitched to the back. 

[IHandJDman]

The last one there looks like a Silver King.

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SLM tractor list price of 1954 was 9660-Fr. for the basic tractor