Ferguson TE20
Ferguson TE20 | |
---|---|
Ferguson Company | |
Production | 1946–1956 |
Succeeded by | Ferguson FE35 |
The Ferguson TE20 is an agricultural
History
The model name came from Tractor, England 20 horsepower[1] (not the true power delivered but from a formula based on engine size).
TE range of Ferguson tractors was introduced in England in 1946,[2] following 30 years of continuous development of the Ferguson System " from 1916. The first work was to design a plough and linkage to integrate the tractor with its work in a manner that was an engineering whole. The automatic control system is now employed by almost all tractor manufacturers worldwide. A British patent was applied for by Harry Ferguson in 1925 and granted the following year.
By the early 1930s, the linkage design was finalised and is now adopted as international standard category I. Just one prototype Ferguson System tractor, known as the Ferguson Black, was built to further technical development and for demonstrating to potential manufacturers. During 1936, the first production Ferguson tractors were built in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, by the David Brown Company. That tractor, the Ferguson Model A, incorporated Harry Ferguson's "suction side" hydraulic control system, the key to solving sensitive automatic control of three-point mounted implements, patented on 5 February 1936 (patent no 470069). The combination of Ferguson's converging three-point hitch, patented on 3 July 1928 (patent no 320084) with his "suction side control" valve is the key to the success of all subsequent Ferguson and later Massey Ferguson "Ferguson System" tractors, the most important of which are the TE and TO 20 models. (It was the production of the Model A that led to the David Brown line of tractors in 1939).[3]
In order to get volume production with lower costs, following a demonstration of his tractor before Henry Ford Senior in October 1938, Ferguson made a gentlemen's agreement with Ford, also referred to as the handshake agreement, to produce the Ferguson tractor in Detroit starting in mid-1939. Officially called the Ford Tractor Ferguson System they are more commonly known as the Ford-Ferguson.[citation needed] . The first Ford-Ferguson 9N (for 1939 model N) tractors arrived in the United Kingdom in October, 1939 and thousands would be imported to help with food production during the War. In 1942 due to material shortages after the USA entry into the War the model was updated to the 2N (for 1942 model N). About 300,000 of these tractors, known as "Ford-Fergusons", were produced up to 30 June 1947.
During the war years, the Ferguson design team developed many improvements to both tractor and implements and started to make arrangements to manufacture in the United Kingdom. The agreement with Ford in 1938 was to include production at the Ford plant at
Production started in the late summer of 1946, nearly a year before the last Ford Ferguson came off the line in Detroit in June 1947. The break with Ford left Harry Ferguson and his US company with implements to sell but no tractors. To make up the gap until the new Ferguson factory in Detroit started in October 1948, more than 25,000 Coventry-built TE20s were shipped to the US and Canada. The TO (Tractor Overseas) 20 was virtually the same as the TE20 with a Continental engine Z-126 fitted instead of the Standard engine.
At the time of its introduction the Ferguson three-point linkage was unique to the TE20, and to gain the full utility of the tractor the farmer also had to purchase specially-designed
Ferguson became well known for its effective and distinctive advertising, intended to demonstrate the abilities of the TE-20 tractor to farmers who previously had used only draft horses and had little experience with mechanised equipment. Public demonstrations of Ferguson tractors and implements were held throughout rural Britain towards the end of the harvest season. A typical demonstration involved fencing off an area 27 by 20 ft (8.2 by 6.1 m) and using a cultivator-equipped TE-20 to till the complete area - such an area was too small to be worked by a horse or a drawbar-equipped tractor of the time. Advertising also emphasised that in the 'Ferguson System' the tractor was not merely a replacement for the horse but, via its linkage and shaft-drive power take-off, it could mechanise dozens of agricultural tasks previously performed either by separate machines, unwieldy drawbar-mounted trailed equipment, or manual labour.
The TE and TO 20 tractors were so revolutionary that Ferguson set up a training school in the grounds of Stoneleigh Abbey, close to the Banner Lane factory. There, Ferguson dealers, salesmen and engineers were trained on the new machines they would be working on, and courses were also run for farmers to learn how to most effectively operate the tractors and the various implements.
Coventry production up to 1956 was 517,651 units, with about 66% being exported, mainly to Continental Europe and the British Empire, but to many other countries as well. To the above figure must be added TO production at Ferguson Park, Detroit. Including all 'Ferguson System' tractors from May 1936 to July 1956 brings the figure to approximately 1 million.[citation needed]
Harry Ferguson merged his worldwide companies with
Harry Ferguson died on 25 October 1960 at his home (Abbotswood, Stow on the Wold), due to a barbiturate overdose; it was never established if it was deliberate or not.[citation needed]
Engines
The engine was the Standard wet liner inline-four engine. Dimensions were:
- Petrol engine, 80 mm bore × 92 mm stroke, capacity 1,850 cc, compression ratio 5.77:1
- Petrol-paraffin engine, 85 mm bore × 92 mm stroke, capacity 2,088 cc, compression ratio 4.5:1[5]
The larger capacity of the petrol-paraffin engine was to compensate for the power reduction resulting from the low compression ratio. Newer versions of the petrol only engine had a 85 mm bore as well.
Variants
The first TE20s ran on
- TE stood for Tractor England.
- TO stood for Tractor Overseas.
Between 1948 and 1951, the TO20 with a Continental engine was built in Detroit, Michigan. These were built with the Z120 engines. TO30s were also built in Michigan with Z-129 engines. Production ceased in 1954.
Models and production years, Standard built:
- TE-20 Continental Z-120 petrol engine 1946–48
- TEA-20 Standard Motor Company petrol engine1947–56
- TEB-20 Continental Z-120 petrol engine – Narrow wheelbase 1946–48
- TEC-20 Standard 20S petrol – Narrow 1948–56
- TED-20 TVO Standard 20S TVO engine 1949–56
- TEE-20 TVO – Narrow 1949–56
- TEF-20 diesel 1951–56
- TEH-20 lamp oil engine 1950–56
- TEJ-20 lamp oil engine – Narrow 1950–56
- TEK-20 petrol – Vineyard 1952–56
- TEL-20 TVO – Vineyard 1952–56
- TEM-20 lamp oil – Vineyard 1952–56
- TEP-20 petrol – Industrial 1952–56
- TER-20 TVO – Industrial 1952–56
- TES-20 lamp oil – Industrial 1952–56
- TET-20 Diesel – Industrial 1952–56
- TEY-20 Perkins P3 (TA) Diesel – conversion 1955-56
Models and production years, Detroit built:
- TO-20 Continental Z-120 petrol engine 1948-51
- TO-30 Continental Z-129 petrol engine 1951-54
517,651 TE20 tractors of all models were built at
Ferguson 28
The colloquial term "Ferguson 28" is sometimes used in Australia and New Zealand for later models of the TE-20 including the petrol TEA-20 and diesel TEF-20.[citation needed] "Ferguson 28" has never been an official tractor model designation. Initially the TE20 had the 'Continental' Z120 23HP engine, as did the Detroit-built TO20 introduced a year later. The 80 mm bore 'Standard' petrol engine was phased in during mid-1947 as the TEA-20, approximately 3,000 of the 20,500 tractors built to 31 December 1947 being TEA-20s. Subsequent to the introduction of the 85 mm bore TED-20 in April 1949, the petrol engine was also made with an 85 mm bore, which increased its power to just over 28 hp. The term "Fergie 28" refers to the nominal horsepower of the later range of tractors. To benefit from the reputation of the later models in the used tractor market, the 23HP TE-20 is often advertised simply as TE-20; only very rarely is it referred to in Australia as a "Ferguson 23". In North America the 'Standard' petrol-engined TEA-20s with the 85 mm bore were known and advertised as TE-2085s.
Famous Fergies
There is a monument in Wentworth at the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers in Australia commemorating the time in 1956 when both rivers flooded and a fleet of little grey Fergies was used to build levee banks to save the town.
A fleet of seven Ferguson TE-20s was used on the 1955–58
One diesel (TEF-20) example, TEF320709 known as Betsy, earned a place in the
In popular culture
Between 1992 and 2015, a TEA-20 was depicted on the New Zealand five-dollar note. There was a portrait of Sir Edmund Hillary on the obverse (front), with one of the tractors used in his Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition at the bottom-left corner. A Ferguson tractor was also depicted on a New Zealand $1.50 postage stamp as part of a set of five commemorating the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, issued in 2008.[7]
A TE20 is the star of a TV series for preschool children, The Little Grey Fergie, which premiered in the UK on 17 October 2013. The show is based on the Norwegian children's story and TV series Den lille traktoren Gråtass.[8]
Australian folk musician Peter Pentland released an album in 1979 (enlarged 2001) Me Beaut Little Fergie Tractor. Track 6 is the song "Fergie Tractor".[9]
See also
- Ferguson Company
References
Notes
- ^ Pripps (2006), p. 128
- ^ Beemer & Peterson Jr. (1997), p. 17
- ^ Heath (2000)
- ^ Fraser (1998), p. 106.
- ^ "Tractor Vaporising Oil". Web.archive.org. 18 April 2005. Archived from the original on 18 April 2005. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
- ^ The Worst Journey in the World, Friends of Ferguson Heritage, retrieved 3 November 2013
- ^ "Sir Edmund Hillary". New Zealand Post. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
- ^ London premiere for Little Grey Fergie, Massey Ferguson, 16 October 2013, archived from the original on 23 November 2013, retrieved 3 November 2013
- ^ "Peter Pentland". The Whole Gamut Acoustic Music Club. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
Bibliography
- Beemer, Rod; Peterson Jr., Chester (1997), Ford N Series Tractors, Motorbooks International, ISBN 978-0-7603-0289-7
- Fraser, Colin (1998), Harry Ferguson, Inventor and Pioneer, Old Pond Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9533651-2-8
- Heath, Anthony L. (2000), David Brown tractors 1965–88, Trans-Pennine Publishing, ISBN 978-1-903016-03-9
- Patterson, Stevan D. T. (1996), 50 years of the Ferguson 20 Tractor, Self Published
- Pripps, Robert N. (2006), The Big Book of Massey Tractors, Voyageur Press, ISBN 978-1-61060-518-2