Harry Ferguson

Henry George (Harry) Ferguson (November 4, 1884 - October 25, 1960) had an important role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor, and his name lives on in the name of the Massey Ferguson company. As a young man he became the first Irishman to build and fly his own aeroplane, with the 1909 flight of the Ferguson monoplane, and his company later developed the first four wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99.

He was born at Growell, near Dromore, County Down, Ireland, and was the son of a farmer.

In 1902 Ferguson went to work with his brother Joe in his bicycle and car repair business. Whilst working there as a mechanic he developed an interest in aviation, to the extent of visiting airshows abroad. In 1904 he began to race motorcycles.

In 1909 Ferguson became the first person to fly in Ireland, when he took off on December 31 in a monoplane he had designed and built himself. After falling out with his brother over the safety and future of aviation Ferguson decided to go it alone, and in 1911 founded a company selling Maxwell automobile, Star and Vauxhall cars and Overtime Tractors - eventually to be named Harry Ferguson Limited.

Ferguson saw at first hand the weakness of having tractor and plough as separate articulated units, and in 1917 he devised a plough which could be rigidly attached to a Model T Ford car - the "Eros", which became a limited success, competing with the Model F Fordson.

Ferguson eventually founded the Ferguson-Sherman Inc., along with Eber and George Sherman. The new enterprise developed a ploughing system that incorporated a Duplex hitch system which fitted the Fordson line tractors. Ferguson's new hydraulic system was first seen on the Ferguson-Brown Model A tractors. Ferguson eventually made a handshake agreement with Henry Ford so that Ford could use Ferguson's three-point hitch system on his new line of tractors (9N, 2N, and 8N). Henry Ford II, Ford's grandson, abruptly ended the handshake deal on June 30, 1947. Ferguson's reaction was a law suit demanding $251,000,000 in all. The disagreement was settled by Ferguson in April 1952. A year later Ferguson merged with Massey Harris to become Massey-Harris-Ferguson Co. This merger eventually turned into Massey Ferguson.

Ferguson's research division went on to develop various cars and tractors, including the first Formula One 4 wheel drive car. See Ferguson Research Ltd.

ee also

*Massey-Ferguson
*Ferguson Company
*List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/9828/ Unofficial Ferguson site]
* [http://www.masseyferguson.com/ Massey Ferguson Tractor and Combine site]
* [http://www.engj.ulst.ac.uk/engvillage/harryferguson.htm The Harry Ferguson Engineering Village] at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, N.Ireland

References

*cite web
url = http://www.ytmag.com/articles/artint262.htm
title = Harry Ferguson: The Man and The Machine
publisher = Yesterday's Tractors
accessdate = 2006-04-28
*cite web
url = http://www.raymondscountydownwebsite.com/html/dromore_o.htm | title = They Came From Dromore: Harry Ferguson
work = Dromore
publisher = Raymond's County Down Website
accessdate = 2006-04-28