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Harry Ferguson
Henry George Ferguson (4 November 1884 – 25 October 1960) was a British mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three-point linkage system, for being the first person in Ireland to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99.
Today his name lives on in the name of the Massey Ferguson company.
Ferguson was born at Growell, near Dromore, in County Down, Ireland, the son of a farmer. In 1902, Ferguson went to work with his older brother, Joe (Joseph Bell Ferguson), in his bicycle and car repair business. While working there as a mechanic, he developed an interest in aviation, visiting airshows abroad. In 1904, he began to race motorcycles.
In the 1900s the young Harry Ferguson became fascinated with the newly emerging technology of powered human flight and particularly with the exploits of the Wright brothers, the American aviation pioneers who made the first plane flight in 1903 in North Carolina, USA.
The first person to accomplish powered flight in the UK was Alliot Verdon Roe in June 1908, who also flew an aeroplane of his own design, but this had not yet been achieved in Ireland. Ferguson began to develop a keen interest in the mechanics of flying and travelled to several air shows, including exhibitions in 1909 at Blackpool and Rheims where he took notes of the design of early aircraft. Harry convinced his brother that they should attempt to build an aircraft at their Belfast workshop and working from Harry's notes, they worked on the design of a plane, the Ferguson monoplane.
After making many changes and improvements, they transported their new aircraft by towing it behind a car through the streets of Belfast up to Hillsborough Park to make their first attempt at flight. They were at first thwarted by propeller trouble but continued to make technical alterations to the plane. After a delay of nearly a week caused by bad weather, the Ferguson monoplane finally took off from Hillsborough on 31 December 1909. Harry Ferguson became the first Irish person to fly and the first Irish person to build and fly their own aeroplane.
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, Star and Vauxhall cars and Overtime Tractors. Ferguson saw at first-hand the weakness of having tractor and plough as separate articulated units, and in 1917 he devised a plough that could be rigidly attached to a Model T Ford car—the Eros, which became a limited success, competing with the Model F Fordson.[citation needed]
In 1917 Ferguson met Charles E. Sorensen while Sorensen was in England scouting production sites for the Fordson tractor. They discussed methods of hitching the implement to the tractor to make them a unit (as opposed to towing the implement like a trailer). In 1920 and 1921 Ferguson demonstrated early versions of his three-point linkage on Fordsons at Cork and at Dearborn. Ferguson and Henry Ford discussed putting the Ferguson System of hitch and implements onto Fordson tractors at the factory, but no deal was struck. At the time the hitch was mechanical. On 12 February 1925, at Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ferguson filed a patent titled "Apparatus for Coupling Agricultural Implements to Tractors and Automatically Regulating the Depth of Work" which is today known as the Ferguson Master Patent. This is the invention of the modern tractor for which Ferguson is best known. In it, Ferguson states different ways to attach quickly interchangeable implements to tractors so that for the first time in history tractor and implements act as a single unit. Automatic depth control and weight transfer are other important parts of the patent. This can be achieved by electrical, mechanical or fluid means. Ferguson and his team of longtime colleagues, including Willie Sands and Archie Greer, soon developed a hydraulic version, which was patented in 1926. After one or two false starts, Ferguson eventually founded the Ferguson-Sherman Inc., with Eber and George Sherman.[citation needed]
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Harry Ferguson
Henry George Ferguson (4 November 1884 – 25 October 1960) was a British mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three-point linkage system, for being the first person in Ireland to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99.
Today his name lives on in the name of the Massey Ferguson company.
Ferguson was born at Growell, near Dromore, in County Down, Ireland, the son of a farmer. In 1902, Ferguson went to work with his older brother, Joe (Joseph Bell Ferguson), in his bicycle and car repair business. While working there as a mechanic, he developed an interest in aviation, visiting airshows abroad. In 1904, he began to race motorcycles.
In the 1900s the young Harry Ferguson became fascinated with the newly emerging technology of powered human flight and particularly with the exploits of the Wright brothers, the American aviation pioneers who made the first plane flight in 1903 in North Carolina, USA.
The first person to accomplish powered flight in the UK was Alliot Verdon Roe in June 1908, who also flew an aeroplane of his own design, but this had not yet been achieved in Ireland. Ferguson began to develop a keen interest in the mechanics of flying and travelled to several air shows, including exhibitions in 1909 at Blackpool and Rheims where he took notes of the design of early aircraft. Harry convinced his brother that they should attempt to build an aircraft at their Belfast workshop and working from Harry's notes, they worked on the design of a plane, the Ferguson monoplane.
After making many changes and improvements, they transported their new aircraft by towing it behind a car through the streets of Belfast up to Hillsborough Park to make their first attempt at flight. They were at first thwarted by propeller trouble but continued to make technical alterations to the plane. After a delay of nearly a week caused by bad weather, the Ferguson monoplane finally took off from Hillsborough on 31 December 1909. Harry Ferguson became the first Irish person to fly and the first Irish person to build and fly their own aeroplane.
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, Star and Vauxhall cars and Overtime Tractors. Ferguson saw at first-hand the weakness of having tractor and plough as separate articulated units, and in 1917 he devised a plough that could be rigidly attached to a Model T Ford car—the Eros, which became a limited success, competing with the Model F Fordson.[citation needed]
In 1917 Ferguson met Charles E. Sorensen while Sorensen was in England scouting production sites for the Fordson tractor. They discussed methods of hitching the implement to the tractor to make them a unit (as opposed to towing the implement like a trailer). In 1920 and 1921 Ferguson demonstrated early versions of his three-point linkage on Fordsons at Cork and at Dearborn. Ferguson and Henry Ford discussed putting the Ferguson System of hitch and implements onto Fordson tractors at the factory, but no deal was struck. At the time the hitch was mechanical. On 12 February 1925, at Belfast, Northern Ireland, Ferguson filed a patent titled "Apparatus for Coupling Agricultural Implements to Tractors and Automatically Regulating the Depth of Work" which is today known as the Ferguson Master Patent. This is the invention of the modern tractor for which Ferguson is best known. In it, Ferguson states different ways to attach quickly interchangeable implements to tractors so that for the first time in history tractor and implements act as a single unit. Automatic depth control and weight transfer are other important parts of the patent. This can be achieved by electrical, mechanical or fluid means. Ferguson and his team of longtime colleagues, including Willie Sands and Archie Greer, soon developed a hydraulic version, which was patented in 1926. After one or two false starts, Ferguson eventually founded the Ferguson-Sherman Inc., with Eber and George Sherman.[citation needed]