The David Brown Tractor Story: Part One: 1936 - 1948

by Stuart Gibbard

The history of tractors and agriculture in England cannot be told without the story of David Brown Ltd., one of the largest producers of tractors in England during the twentieth century. This closely-researched, highly-illustrated history tells the full story of this remarkable company's early years. David Brown was a Yorkshire company, based around Huddersfield. Its roots lay in wooden pattern making for the looms and weaving machinery of the area in the 1850s. This led to the manufacturing of the machine-cut iron gears in which the company excelled. In 1914 the company patented a worm thread for gears that eventually was adopted as the British Standard thread. Their involvement with tractors began before World War II when they had an agreement with Harry Ferguson to manufacture the Ferguson-Brown. When working with Ferguson proved difficult, the company developed its own ranges of wheeled and crawler tractors, the VAK series. Development was interrupted by the war during which the company's gears were used in the Merlin engines that powered the Spitfires. It concludes when the VAK 1/C became one of Britain's most popular tractors of the 1950 the Cropmaster. The author interviewed many of the surviving engineers, designers, and other staff involved in the development and marketing of David Brown's products. For anyone with an industry in English industrial history, this authoritative work by Stuart Gibbord, editor of Old Tractor magazine, is essential reading. It is the first in a trilogy of books profiling in detail David Brown and its products.

Hardcover

First published October 2, 2003