DKoehl Moalven motor Bolinder-Munktell BM 1113

AB Bolinder-Munktell (BM) was a

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

and machines manufacturer founded in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1932 through the merger of the mechanical companies Bolinder and Munktell. Bolinder are also well known as manufacturers of 'Semi-Diesel' or 'Hot bulb' engines. In 1950 BM was bought by

AB Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributi ...

. In 1973 the company changed its name to Volvo BM AB and then in 1995 to

Volvo Construction Equipment Volvo Construction Equipment - Volvo CE - (originally Munktells, Bolinder-Munktell, Volvo BM) is a major international company that develops, manufactures and markets equipment for construction and related industries. It is a subsidiary and busine ...

. The product range has changed with the times. Up to the beginning of the 20th century agricultural machines such as threshers were an important product.

Products

Marine engines

Bolinder produced a wide range of marine engines, mostly of the semi-diesel hot bulb type. Some of those sizes proved to be ideal in

narrow boat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...

s, and some Bolinder motors so used are still in use. When starting, the cylinder head has to be heated with a kerosene

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attache ...

to get the hot bulb heated, and to be able to start the combustion process.

Tractors

Tractor production commenced in 1913, with the type 30-40. Tractors were the main product up to the 1970s, and gained an unsurpassed reputation for durability.

Aircraft engines

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Bolinder-Munktell, at the request of the Swedish authorities, built Daimler-Benz DB601 aeroplane engines under licence. An entire underground factory at Eskilstuna was built to accommodate this factory. Owing to the superior reliability of the Swedish-built engines the Swedish airforce issued instructions that for two-engined aircraft, at least one engine should be a Swedish built unit.

Construction equipment

From the 1950s new products in the construction equipment and forestry machinery categories emerged. These were initially based on the tractor chassis. Soon the construction equipment became the dominant product range and remains so today. Products developed in the 1960s, and still in production, are

wheel loader A loader is a heavy equipment machine used in construction to move or load materials such as soil, rock, sand, demolition debris, etc. into or onto another type of machinery (such as a dump truck, conveyor belt, feed-hopper, or railroad car) ...

s and

articulated hauler An articulated hauler, articulated dump truck (ADT), or sometimes a dump hauler, is a very large heavy-duty type of dump truck used to transport loads over rough terrain, and occasionally on public roads. The vehicle usually has all-wheel drive and ...

History

Bolinder-Munktell traces its origins to the engineering workshops ''Munktells Mekaniska Verkstad AB'' (established in Eskilstuna by Johan Theofron Munktell in 1832) and ''J. & C.G. Bolinders Mekaniska Verkstad AB'' (established in Stockholm by Jean and Carl Gerhard Bolinder in 1845). In 1950 the main shareholder

Handelsbanken Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish bank providing banking services including traditional corporate transactions, investment banking and trading as well as consumer banking including insurance. Handelsbanken is one of the major banks in Sweden ...

sold its shares to

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

who turned the company into a subsidiary.

References

External links

{{commons category, Bolinder-Munktell
Volvo Construction Equipment global history site
Agriculture companies of Sweden Marine engine manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in Sweden