The Ferguson-Brown Company was an Irish

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the machine (mechanical), mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are list of agricultural machinery, many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractor ...

manufacturing company formed by

Harry Ferguson Henry George Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was an Irish mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its Three-point hitch, three-point linkage system, for being the firs ...

in partnership with David Brown. Ferguson-Brown produced the Model A Ferguson-Brown

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 (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

incorporating a Ferguson-designed

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

three-point linkage hitch. Of the 1,356 produced 400 of the tractors were sold in Norway, which was the only export market. The early tractors were fitted with the

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British manufacturer of forklift trucks, fire pumps, racing engines, and other speciality engines. History Pre WWI The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, a joint venture by Jens Stroyer and Pelham Lee. In 1 ...

model E engine which was a descendant of the American Hercules engine as fitted to the prototype "Black tractor" later the engine manufacture was taken on by

David Brown Ltd. David Brown Santasalo, formerly David Brown Engineering, is a British engineering company, principally engaged in the manufacture of gears and gearboxes. Their major gear manufacturing plant is in Swan Lane, Lockwood, Huddersfield, adjacent to ...

who made a number of improvements such as a deeper

sump Sump may refer to: * An infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers * Sump (cave), a permanently flooded section of a cave, where an underground flow of water exits the cave into the earth such that t ...

, some of the earlier tractors suffered from oil starvation on hillside work. It has been narrowed down by surviving examples that the engine change from the Coventry Climax to the David Brown took place around tractors serial numbers 525 to 528. Harry Ferguson surmised that the tractor hitch was the key to having a better plough and designed a simpler tractor attachment for it.

Agreement with Ford

In 1938 Ferguson made a handshake agreement with

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

to produce Ferguson System Ford-Ferguson tractors using Ferguson's own self-regulating ''three-point hitch'' system, beginning with the Ford-Ferguson 9N tractor. This tractor is recognizable by the blu
Ford emblem
on the front of the hood and the Ferguson System emblem on the grill. The three-point hitch soon became the favourite hitch attachment system among farmers in North America and around the world. This tractor model also included a rear

Power Take Off A power take-off or power takeoff (PTO) is one of several methods for taking power from a power source, such as a running engine, and transmitting it to an application such as an attached implement or separate machine. Most commonly, it is a sp ...

(PTO) shaft that could be used to power three-point hitch mounted implements such as sickle-bar mowers. This PTO location set the standard for future tractor developments.

Agreement with Standard

In December 1945

Standard Motor Company The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. For many years, it manufactured Ferguson TE20 tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard's tracto ...

Limited announced that an arrangement had been made to manufacture Ferguson's tractors. Standard's newly acquired factory at Banner Lane in Coventry would be used for the project. These tractors would be for the Eastern hemisphere, with Ferguson tractors built by Ford in America for the Western hemisphere. Production was expected to start in 1946. Following conversion of the former WW2 aircraft factory. Implements would be sourced and sold separately by Ferguson.

Split with Ford

In 1946 the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

parted from Ferguson, following several disagreements and a protracted lawsuit followed, involving Ford's continued use of Ferguson's

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s. Ford altered the hydraulic design of its postwar tractors to avoid Ferguson's hydraulic system patent, but continued to produce machines equipped with the basic Ferguson hitch arrangement. The postwar

Ford 8N Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford ...

, equipped with Ferguson's three-point hitch, became the top-selling tractor of all time in North America.

Ferguson TE20

After the split with Ford, Ferguson took the opportunity to have the

of the UK produce a new design, the Model TE20. The model name came from Tractor, England but is affectionately known as the ''Little Grey Fergie''. There were several variants of the TE20; the first tractors were designated TE20 Using an imported Continental Z120 engine. In 1948 the TEA20 was introduced with a Standard brand

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

engine, following the introduction of the TED20 which ran on TVO ( tractor vapourising oil, similar to

paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid (also in liquid form) that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for med ...

). Later a

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

model was introduced, the TEF20. There were other variants with narrow tracks for working in

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s and

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s, such as the TEB20 and TEC20. Over 500,000 Little Grey Fergies were built between 1946 and 1956, and many survive today. So successful was the TE20 that Ford nicknamed it the "Grey Menace" as sales of the tractor spread across the world. Some were used on an expedition to the South Pole in 1958 by Sir

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

, a testament to the durability of the machine. Ford ultimately settled the legal proceedings with a multimillion-dollar sum that allowed Ferguson to further expand his own manufacturing interests."Settlement in Suit Against Ford Company £3M. Award to Fergusons", ''The Times'', Thursday 10 April 1952; p. 6; Issue 52283 There is a monument in Wentworth on the junction of the Darling and

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

s in commemorating the time in 1956 when both rivers flooded and a fleet of Little Grey Fergies was used to build defensive banks to save the town.

Ferguson Park

Ferguson built a plant in Detroit where the TO20, TO30, and F40 were assembled. He named it Ferguson Park, perhaps because the 8Ns were then being assembled at Highland Park. Massey Ferguson stopped production at this plant in 1984. Part of the plant is currently in use by an auto parts manufacturer.

Three-point linkage

The principal feature of the Ferguson System was the three-point linkage. This allowed trailed implements to be supported on a hydraulic system. Two drag links attached under the rear axle with a single compression link connected to the upper rear

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

case automatically regulating the hydraulic suspension's height. This allowed lighter implement to be used, with no attached wheels or separate manual controls. By assisting the tractor to maintain traction from a combined drag and rotary force to the axle, which kept the rear driving wheels on the ground, the front steering wheels had improved contact with the ground. Consequently, the "rearing and bucking" of overloaded tractors was reduced, making tractors much safer for the operator. *Ferguson design implements File:Tef L quer.jpg, Banana loader File:Ferguson TEF mit Banana Loader und Muck Fork.jpg, Banana Loader with Muck Fork attachment File:Ferguson post hole auger - 3342.jpg, Posthole borer File:Agritechnica 2011-by-RaBoe-21.jpg, Plough File:Ferguson potato spinner - Bath 2009.jpg, Potato spinner File:Ferguson tractor with milk churns on trailer - geograph.org.uk - 1572406.jpg, Lifting trailer

Other innovations

Ferguson's designs, for tractors, were the first with single-wheel brakes that allowed the driver to turn sharply by braking the inside wheel. The TE20 was one of the first tractors to have a four-speed

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

, with integrated differential, and a hydraulic system.

Merger with Massey-Harris

In 1953 Ferguson and

Massey-Harris Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson-Brown Company, Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved t ...

merged, and the combined company Massey-Harris-Ferguson (later shortened to

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved to Beauvais in 2003 when ...

) became the manufacturer of the tractors and other designs. By then, many manufacturers had developed their own three-point linkages, and the linkage had become standardised worldwide. File:Massey Harris 744D tractor (RLH).JPG,

744D tractor

References

External links

History of Ferguson System

Ferguson Family Museum

Massey Ferguson Tractor Web Site
{{Massey Ferguson 1934 establishments in England 1953 disestablishments in England 1953 mergers and acquisitions British companies disestablished in 1953 British companies established in 1934 History of science and technology in the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1953 Manufacturing companies established in 1934 Massey Ferguson Tractor manufacturers of the United Kingdom