Castlederg author and historian publishes his 400th booklet
Stevan Patterson an author and historian from Castlederg in County Tyrone has recently produced his 400th publication.
The 40 page booklet titled “The Ferguson Belfast Black Prototype tractor with Ferguson System perfected in 1935” is special for Stevan as it marks his 400th publication. Having written widely on cars, tractors, engines and other historical and industrial heritage subjects, the subject matter in his 400th booklet is close to Stevan’s heart as it tells the story of Harry Ferguson’s greatest inventions from the invention of the modern tractor in 1925. How Harry Ferguson was the first person in history to think of the tractor as a single unit with quickly interchangeable implements, automatic depth control and weight transfer. An invention that modernised agriculture and that was finally perfected in the fields of County Tyrone in the autumn of 1935 to become the Ferguson System in the world’s first Ferguson System tractor, the Ferguson Belfast Black Prototype tractor.
He has been researching this very special little black Fergie and the Ferguson System over many years and as part of his research has put together the most detailed account to date of the tractor from when it was assembled from 1931 to 1933 at Belfast and then taken in secret to Tullylagan Manor in County Tyrone for testing and further development.
Stevan is campaigning for a Harry Ferguson Museum of Innovation to tell the story of Northern Ireland's greatest innovator Harry Ferguson, the father of the modern tractor who helped feed the world. The state of art museum will also tell the stories of all the other great innovators and achievers with links to Northern Ireland.