Final lecture to mark the centenary of the Ferguson Master Patent 1925-2025 held

During the lecture Stevan described the significance of Patent number 253,566, titled “Apparatus for Coupling Agricultural Implements to Tractors and Automatically Regulating the Depth of Work.” First filed on the 12th February, 1925 by Harry Ferguson (1884 – 1960). Today it is simply known as the Ferguson Master Patent and recognised as the invention of the modern tractor. Going on to explain for first time in history Harry Ferguson thought of the tractor not just to replace the horse but as a mechanised farming solution with the tractor and different implements acting as a single unit. Key inventions of the Patent included quickly coupling different implements to tractors, automatic depth control, weight transfer so that the tractor used natural forces and not built-in weight all with safety and ease of use. As well as inventing the modern tractor Harry Ferguson and his engineers also had to invent and develop a range of new implements for his tractor a major undertaking on its own. It’s amazing to think Harry Ferguson was the first person to envisage all this a century ago and the Patent can also be thought of as the birth certificate of the modern tractor. The ultimate conclusion to the process started in the Ferguson Master Patent would be his Ferguson System of three point Hydraulic linkage that was perfected in County Tyrone during the autumn of 1935 in the famous Ferguson Belfast Black Prototype tractor. Indeed the Patent is so important that it is still referenced by innovators of today in the latest computer controlled tractors and implements.

The Ferguson System revolutionised agriculture and is now a standard fitment to every tractor, a wonderful Northern Ireland success story and why Harry Ferguson is rightfully recognised as the father of the modern tractor.

Stevan once more suggested that a Harry Ferguson Museum of Innovation be established and could think of no better place than at the old St. Lucia Barracks site in Omagh.

At the end of the presentation a question and answer session was held allowing audience participation and afterwards he thanked the Strule Arts centre for the use of the wonderful facilities and all those who attended, some travelling quite long distances.

To mark the special occasion of the presentation which was Stevan’s seventh and final during the centenary of 2025, he unveiled a plaque that records the special Ferguson anniversaries of 2025. Stevan also took the opportunity to launch his latest booklet titled “Ninety years of the Ferguson System Spanner the only Ferguson System tool.” It tells the story of the Ferguson System Spanner that had two sizes to fit all the nuts and bolts on Ferguson System tractors and implements with a measure on the stem for measuring furrow width and depth, another brilliant but simple Harry Ferguson invention from 1935.

Stevan Patterson Castlederg, Co. Tyrone