The Bukh Juno is a Danish farm tractor of the mid-1960s, the smallest of the three models with which Bukh tried to breathe new life into its tractor programme. Next to it stood the Jupiter of 70 hp and the Hercules of 93 hp; the Juno itself was rated at 52 hp. The attempt did not last long: in 1968 Bukh stopped building tractors altogether and went back to marine engines.
Bukh Juno at a glance
| Maker | Bukh, Kalundborg, Denmark |
|---|---|
| Type | agricultural tractor |
| Series | Bukh Juno, Jupiter and Hercules |
| Introduced | middle of the 1960s |
| Power | Juno 52 hp; Jupiter 70 hp; Hercules 93 hp |
| Position in the range | the smallest of the three |
| Earlier tractors | DZ30 and DZ45, then the 302, 403, 452 and 554 series |
| Result | not a great success |
| End of tractor production | 1968 |
| Company founded | 1904 at Hørve by Jens Bukh and Johannes Gry |
| Owner from 1924 | A. P. Møller |
| Company today | BUKH A/S at Kiskelund, marine diesels and spare parts |
Based on one source: the Danish Wikipedia article on the Bukh company gives only a few lines on the Juno series, so this page is short. No free photographs of the Juno are available, so the page keeps the picture already attached to the record.
History of the Bukh Juno
A second attempt at tractors
Bukh had been building diesel engines since 1904, first at Hørve and from 1915 at Kalundborg, where the works supplied marine engines and auxiliary machinery. Tractors came in the 1950s, beginning with the DZ30 and DZ45 and continuing with a series of two- and three-cylinder models numbered 302, 403, 452 and 554. By the middle of the 1960s the company made one more push, this time with three larger machines named Juno, Jupiter and Hercules.
The Juno and its stablemates
The three new tractors were rated at 52, 70 and 93 hp respectively, so the Juno was the entry model of the range and the Hercules the most powerful. They were the last tractors to carry the Bukh name. The programme was not a great success against the bigger international makers, and in 1968 tractor production was stopped completely.
Why Denmark built tractors at all
According to the company’s history, the reason for starting a Danish tractor industry lay in the shortages after the Second World War. Imports such as coffee from Brazil had to be paid for in cash, but by supplying a product that was in demand in the exporting countries the company could at the same time create work in Denmark. The idea outlived the war years by a decade and a half, but not much longer. Bukh survives as a maker of marine engines and spare parts, built at Kiskelund north of Kruså under the name BUKH A/S since 2010.
Design and features
- Entry model: at 52 hp the Juno was the smallest of the three tractors of the mid-1960s range.
- Named series: the Juno, Jupiter and Hercules replaced numbers with classical names.
- Bukh diesel: the tractors continued the company’s line of engines of its own design.
- Last of the line: the series ended the company’s tractor programme in 1968.
Bukh Juno versions
- Bukh Juno: 52 hp, the smallest of the range.
- Bukh Jupiter: 70 hp, the middle model.
- Bukh Hercules: 93 hp, the largest of the three.
- Earlier Bukh tractors: DZ30 and DZ45, then the 302, 403, 452 and 554 series.
The earlier two- and three-cylinder tractors are described in the article on the Bukh 302. More machines of the marque are in the Bukh collection.
Sources
- Bukh, Danish Wikipedia: company history, Juno series, end of production
