Ferguson

Henry Ferguson, also known as Harry, was born into a farming family near Belfast in 1884. From a young age he had an interest in mechanics. He started work in his brother's cycle repair business which then expanded to include motorcycle and car repairs.

• Harry Ferguson became interested in tractors during World War I when the use of tractor power was being encouraged in order to increase food production.

• At this time Harry Ferguson began to sell tractors from his garage. The Irish Board of Agriculture, impressed with his expertise, asked him to visit farms in Ireland to show owners and drivers how to effectively make the most of tractor power.

• Ferguson became interested in how implements were attached to tractors and in September 1917 he took out a patent for an improved plough design.

• Throughout the 1920s Harry Ferguson and his engineers developed a linkage with three attachment points and hydraulic operation. This became known as the Ferguson System and is the standard implement attachment and control system in use on the majority of farm tractors across the world.

• Ferguson then went on to design a tractor which would demonstrate the advantages of the equipment with a view to gaining a manufacturer's interest. This tractor was known as the Black Tractor as it had a jet black finish.

• David Brown became the manufacturer of the Black Tractor which then became known as the Type A. The colour was changed to battleship grey, a colour which Harry Ferguson would subsequently choose for production tractors with which he had a close involvement.

• An 18-20 HP Coventry Climax engine was used for the first production run of Type As. The tractor featured a three speed gearbox and the Ferguson System linkage.

• The Type As could easily outperform more powerful tractors but had the disadvantage that farmers had to buy special Ferguson System implements making it expensive to purchase.

• The sales of the tractor were poor and the partnership of Harry Ferguson and David Brown came under pressure with Ferguson blaming the factory for quality control problems.

• In 1938 Harry Ferguson visited the United States where he demonstrated the Ferguson System tractor to Henry Ford Senior culminating in an agreement in which both men would produce the Ferguson System tractor. Harry Ferguson was to contribute the patents and Henry Ford was to commit to a substantial financial investment.

• Harry Ferguson returned to England to build two prototypes but these were unsuccessful. In 1939 he worked with a group of engineers on a new prototype called the 9N. The 9N or Ford Tractor, as it was also known, was a success. Its colour was battleship grey and it had a three speed gearbox with a four cylinder engine.

• By the end of the first year production totalled 10,000 tractors and in 1941 almost 43,000 tractors were produced.

• During 1942, due to wartime shortages, there were production delays and the 9N was modified and called the 2N. This had steel wheels instead of rubber tyres and a magneto to replace the battery and electric system.

• Another modified version was named the 9NAN which used paraffin instead of petrol as fuel.

• In 1946, 74,004 model 9N tractors were manufactured in its final year of production.

• In 1945 when Henry Ford Senior had passed over the running of his company to his grandson Henry Ford II, Harry Ferguson was given six months' notice of his intention to cease supplying tractors to Ferguson. This resulted in an acrimonious split which ended up in the courts.

• Whilst the court case was ongoing Harry Ferguson set up a distribution company, supplying it from his own factory in the United States and from a new production line at Banner Lane, Coventry, England. The TE20 was the first tractor to be made on the production line at Banner Lane, using the Continental Z-120 engine, this was later replaced by a Standard Vanguard car 2088cc unit with a diesel model, the TEF20, being produced in 1951.

• In 1953, Massey Harris merged with Ferguson and Harry Ferguson, realising that he was no longer in control and that Massey Harris had taken over, bought himself out of the company. Harry Ferguson died in 1960.

Sources of Information

From 1890 to the Present Day Farm Tractors by Michael Williams published in 2005 by Silverdale Books ISBN 978-1-84509-251-1

The Complete Encylopedia of Tractors by Mirco de Cet published in 2006 by Rebo International ISBN 978-90-366-1893-9