David Brown Tractors

December 16th, 2008 | Tags: David Brown farm tractors

In 1936 David Brown started manufacturing farm machinery. The David Brown Company was a subsidiary of the local family run firm known as David Brown and Sons Limited, based in Huddersfield. The David Brown tractors were originally built in a small area within the gear factory.

David Brown joined forces with Harry Ferguson and produced tractors known as Ferguson-Brown tractors. The Ferguson-Brown tractor was the first tractor to have a hydraulic lift and a three-point linkage system. There were approximately 1350 Ferguson-Brown tractors built, the final 20 of these built at a purpose built factory in Meltham.

Brown and Ferguson parted company and David Brown went on to join Henry Ford in the USA.

In 1939 the first David Brown farm tractors were manufactured and put on display at the Royal Show. The first David Brown tractor, the VAK1, was shown in 1939. Initial orders were for 3000 units. Before David Brown was able to start manufacturing the tractors at a reasonable quantity, World War 2 started and production had to be halted. During the war the factory in Meltham was used for producing gears and a small quantity of aircraft towing and recovery vehicles.

In 1946, once the war had ended, production of the David Brown tractors resumed. Although this was a reasonably late start in terms of tractor production, this did not prove a problem for the company and they quickly gained a reputation for building good quality innovative tractors. Under the Tenneco banner, David Brown Tractors and Case were actively and successfully co-ordinating and expanding their combined production, marketing and distribution facilities.

In 1955 the David Brown Company took over the long established company, Harrison, McGregor and Guest Limited, which was from Leigh in Lancashire. This company had been producing a wide range of farm machinery including binders and mowers. The Meltham and Leigh factories underwent a vast number of changes over the years. The two factories have produced a wide range of tractors over the years. The factory in Leigh was the main supplier of the tractors and the Meltham factory produced the basic moulds for the tractors and some of the basic components such as the front loaders and the rear mounted loaders. DBT Distributors and Dealers in the UK and in several parts of Europe now offer selected machines from the Case companies’ complementary range of farm tractors. In other parts of the world also many joint DBT/Case franchises are being established.

The David Brown Tractor Company is the third largest British company concerned with the production of tractors.

Approximately 1,350 Ferguson-Brown tractors were built – the last twenty or so at the present Meltham factory – before Ferguson and Brown parted; the former to join Henry Ford in the USA; the latter to make tractors of his own design. The David Brown farm tractors are still as popular as they were over seventy years ago. There are many retailers and dealers that sell David Brown tractors and parts around the world. In 1976 the company’s unique Hydra-Shift semi-automatic transmission won a Design Council Award – the first such award to be made in respect of farm tractor design.

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