The prototype black tractor created by Henry ‘Harry’ Ferguson has returned home to Belfast, and is now on display at the Ulster Transport Museum.
Curator of history at National Museums Northern Ireland, Clare Ablett said that Harry Ferguson’s legacy has been celebrated in the museum for years as a “leading local innovator”.
The inventor and mechanic from Northern Ireland is best known for developing the three-point linkage system for the modern tractor, which revolutionised agriculture globally.
Now that the tractor is on loan to the transport museum, Ablett said that it is as though it has “come home”.
The prototype, which was launched in 1933, derived from Ferguson witnessing first-hand issues associated with tractors having separate plough units, and was the first to fully incorporate the revolutionary system.
History
To ease issues for farmers, Ferguson’s first step involved developing a plough that could be attached to a Model T Ford car in 1917.
He subsequently then met with Henry Ford, owner of the Ford Motor Company, to persuade him to produce the plough, but Ford declined.
In the following years, Ferguson and his team continued to develop the invention, creating a hydraulic draft control system which was designed for a Fordson F tractor.
Unfortunately, this was also the year that Ford ended production of the tractor, according to the researchers at the Ulster Transport Museum.
The next step involved designing his own tractor that accommodated the new hydraulic draft invention.
In October 1938, the famous “handshake agreement” with Ford was made, which saw Ford manufacture tractors using Ferguson’s patents.
The agreement led to the development of the Ford-Ferguson 9N and 2N models.
Massey Ferguson
Later, Ferguson became involved with Massey Harris, and Massey Harris Ferguson was established in 1953 – later renamed ‘Massey Ferguson’.
Grandson Jamie Sheldon said that farmers were not willing to invest in the tractor at that time of its launch, as they did not believe it was capable of doing the work that was promised by its creator.
He said that when Massey Harris bought the business, Ferguson “fell out” with the engineers, as they wanted to make the machinery larger and stronger.
Ferguson wanted to keep machinery “simple”, with the concept that one spanner would work for every nut and bolt on a tractor, according to Sheldon.
Granddaughter, Caroline Sheldon said that the “simplicity” of the tractor still captures people’s hearts and imaginations.
Harry Ferguson died on October 25,1960, but his inventions and influence lives on, with 85% of the world’s tractors still using the three-point linkage system.
