Some three years ago, the then Chairman of the Ferguson Club, Mr Ian Halstead, asked me to write an article for the Ferguson Club Journal. At that time I had to decline because of other commitments, but I did promise an article in the future. Now being semi-retired, I do have time, so here is the article.
Last year, my good friend David Smith from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, showed me a fixed tine cultivator, the likes of which I had never seen before. (See photograph No.1). Fortunately, the cultivator had a brass name-plate on it, albeit well coated in grey paint. Ten minutes work with paint stripper and an old cloth revealed the information shown in Diagram below.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I have to admit I had never seen a label like this one before. After much discussion, David revealed that the cultivator was bought from a farmer in the Woodbridge area of Suffolk. This farmer had used the cultivator for 30 years or more but could not remember who supplied it to him. The information on the label ‘Harry Ferguson Motors, Donegall Square, Belfast’ coupled with the patent information, shows that the cultivator is probably of early 1940 vintage. Research shows patents information as follows:
370084 Applied for 3.7.28 Granted 3.11.29
471801 Applied for 5.2.36 Granted 6.9.37
470069 Applied for 5.2.36 Granted 5.8.37
471515 Applied for 5.2.36 Granted 6.9.37
470087 Applied for 5.2.36 Granted 5.8.37
Mr David Smith’s early Ferguson Fixed Tine Cultivator or Grubber
The Implement Information Plate from Mr Davis Smith’s early Ferguson Cultivator.
Refer also to Implements for the Ferguson Type ‘A’
Published in Journal No. 24 Winter 1996/97, under Ferguson Brown and other Topics.
