Battle over for HARRY & HENRY


By the time the litigation was over Harry Ferguson’s health had become very poor. The financial benefits had been very little in comparison with the amount he had asked for; nevertheless he was a wealthy man in his own right and perhaps of more importance was the fact that Ford’s had to concede they were in the wrong and had infringed Ferguson’s patents. The next year 1953 Ferguson merged his company in a $16M deal with Massey-Harris another fascinating thread to pick-up. Who else would have resolved the negotiation sticking point and risk $1M on the toss of a coin during a car ride. In 1954 he sold out completely and never worked on tractors again.

Henry Ford (I) had died on April 7th 1947.
Harry Ferguson died on the October 26th 1960.

Today neither Ford or MF make tractors as such, they are just brands marketed by conglomerates. The Banner Lane Factory is no more. Nevertheless the Dexta and the 35 would not be out of place on today’s farm… albeit with a cab, aircon’, stereo and satellite navigation.

From my time as an apprentice in the mid 1960’s I retain a special memory for all those MF35’s and 65’s I learned to work on. Clearly the Fordson Major was a primitive beast compared with the MF65. But the Dexta was a super tractor and is just as linked to the 9N as the TE20 and the MF35. My own 1956 TEF20 is a joy to drive but lacked extra Oomph, PTO control and 8 speeds. When I decided to get a second tractor, nostalgia said - get a 3 Cylinder 35… but in the end I decided on a Fordson Dexta because it’s place in tractor history is at least equal to the superb MF35. So alongside the TEF20 there stands a 1959 Dexta.

PARENTS OF THE MODERN TRACTOR
Henry Ford was an inspiration for Harry Ferguson and the Ferguson‘s system was the significant leap forward in tractor technology that inspired Henry Ford. Undoubtedly Henry Ford & Harry Ferguson are the mother and father of the modern tractor… but without Ferguson’s engineer Willie Sands and Ford’s engineer Charlie Sorenson, I’m not sure Harry or Henry’s ideas would have gone into mass production (another thread).

Is Dan Albone the Grandfather of the modern tractor? His lightweight IVEL tractor was invented in 1903, the year the Ford Motor Co. was started and a decade before Henry’s first tractor was made. Dan Albone died in 1906, aged 46: had he lived his inventiveness would surely have engineered greater developments… possibly the first modern tractor.
Indeed, would Ferguson have chosen to work with Dan Albone instead of David Brown or Henry Ford. Dan Albone was only 3 years older than Henry Ford (more threads).

Photos below... Dan Albone - The IVEL Tractor - (L-R) Charlie Sorenson, Edsel Ford and Henry Ford