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- Herausgeber: Old Pond Books
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
This illustrated work covers the stories of five British engineering companies that produced successful ranges of agricultural, earthmoving or construction machinery. County, Doe, Chaseside, Muir-Hill, Matbro and Bray all made extensive use of the Ford tractor skid unit as a basis for their machines and they pioneered the development of the four-wheel drive agricultural tractor in Britain. Stuart Gibbard gives details of all the main models and machines of these manufacturers. He chronicles the fortunes of the firms from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day and discusses many of the personalities involved.
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FORD
TRACTOR CONVERSIONS
STUART GIBBARD
Everything in life from marriage to manslaughter turns on the speed and costat which men, things and thoughts can be shifted from one place to another.
Rudyard Kipling
The age of Machine Power on the farm, as well as in the cities, is upon us.It is the latest advanced step civilisation has taken. It is full of the promiseto lift the great burden of drudgery, and wearisome, wearing out toil, fromthe muscles of man and carrying them, with much more profit, by power ofMachinery, with the result that larger production, more profits and greaterwealth will come, with the accompanying larger comforts, benefits andprogress to humanity everywhere.
From The Fordson at Work, published by the Ford Motor Company, Highland Park, Michigan, USA in 1921
Contents
Acknowledgements
I owe the following people and companies my sincere gratitude, as without their help, this book would not have been possible.
For help with information on County, I would like to thank Geoffrey Tapp, David Henderson (County Tractors Ltd.), Stan Anderson, Colin Bennett and Bruce Keech. I am grateful for the Doe story as provided by Alan E. Doe (Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd.), George Pryor, Eileen and Derek Hockley. Information on Chaseside and Northrop was kindly given by Gilbert McIntosh, Les Carter, Barry Booth and Jennie Starkey (JCB Archives). Kind assistance with Bray was given by Eddie Stevens and John Suckling, and the Matbro story could never have been written without the help of John Mathew, with additional information from Geoff Matthews, Mr A. J. Clarke, David Barnard and Geoff Ashcroft. Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank Ernest Briggs, David Lloyd (Lloyd Loaders), David J. B. Brown and Miss Vanna Skelley (University of Glasgow Business Records Centre) for help with the Muir-Hill story.
Special thanks go to the following five individuals who have who have provided considerable assistance, general information, contacts and photographs: David Bate, Richard Cavill, Ven Dodge and David Woods, and Jan Wiggers in Holland.
I am especially grateful to John Blackbeard for the loan of many Arable Farming photographs, and to David Cousins, features editor of FarmersWeekly (Reed Business Publishing), for permission to use cutaway drawings from PowerFarming, Farm Mechanization and British Farmerand Stockbreeder. I am also greatly indebted to New Holland Ford for help received from various departments.
I would like to thank Rob Gibbard for reading my manuscript – he would not know a Ford tractor conversion if he fell over it in a field, but he can spot a typographical error a mile off–and my wife, Sue, for her patience, help and advice.
I am also very grateful to all the following people who have lent photographs, allowed permission for photographs to be used, provided information or helped in some way – Aardvark Clear Mine Ltd., Mike Alsop (Dowdeswell Engineering), Babcock International Group plc, James Baldwin, Arthur Battelle, Brian Bell, Edward Bourn, Stephen Burtt, James Cochrane, David Collings, Mark Farmer, Bob Friedlander (New Holland Ford), Nigel Ford, Rodney Gibson, Roger Haines (Agrosave), Ken Hatter, Graham Holmes (Bovington Tank Museum), Paul Hoptroff (New Holland Ford), Arthur Ingram, Bill King, Edgar Lancaster, Tom Lowther, Barry Milsom, Andrew Offer, Mark Osborne (A. T. Osborne Ltd.), Silsoe Research, A. N. Rogers, Eric Sixsmith, Graham Smitheringale, Mervyn Spokes, Johnny Weal, Billy Wilson (Jas. P. Wilson).
Author’s Note
All horsepower figures used in the book are approximate and are included only for informal comparison. Where possible, manufacturers’ quoted figures conforming to British Standard (BS) ratings are given. However, most tractors built, or sourced from, the United States are rated in SAE (Society of Automobile Engineers, USA) figures.
Further anomalies arise with the use of industrial engines. Ford often gave ‘bare’ engine test figures, which varied from an ‘installed’ engine test. Several manufacturers also quoted gross (overload) horsepower figures as opposed to ‘continuous’ output.
All weights and measures are given in imperial figures, as this was the system in common usage when most of the machines featured in the book were built.
Preface
This book was conceived from a desire to draw together the comparative histories of County, Doe, Chaseside, Muir-Hill, Matbro and Bray in one volume. These well known British companies were all leaders in their own fields of engineering design and innovation - each producing successful ranges of agricultural, earthmoving or construction machinery.
Pioneering use of four-wheel drive in Britain further linked these trail-blazing concerns. During the 1950s and 1960s, each company, using its own particular and unique systems, developed and built four-wheel drive agricultural tractors, usually based on a Ford skid unit.
And it was this use of Ford and Fordson tractors as basic units on which to develop their machines that provides the common denominator between these firms, hence the book title, Ford TractorConversions.
But the title still does not fit the content perfectly. Most of the companies did not, by a long way, base all their machines on Ford skid units - and I make no apologies for including other makes of tractor. Furthermore, ‘conversions’ is not a word that does adequate justice to the specialised equipment and machinery built by these concerns.
I have tried to put the work of these companies into context by showing how and why the use of the Ford skid unit developed, and illustrate some of the other conversions built on it. The list is by no means complete, as to mention all the hundreds of conversions built worldwide would be an impossible task.
Many readers will be surprised that Roadless appears to have only a brief mention in the book. Roadless were indeed pioneer builders of four-wheel drive conversions and extensive users of Ford skid units, but much of their important early work was built around so many different makes and types of vehicle that it could never be properly covered in the confines of a book on Ford tractor conversions, and justifies a separate book of its own.
During the eighteen months of research for Ford Tractor Conversions, I have met and spoken with many current and former directors and employees of the companies concerned, who have all readily shared their knowledge and memories (and sometimes, even their lunch) with me. These are marvellous and genuine people whose passion and devotion to the work, and loyalty to the companies are undiminished. I can only hope that this book conveys at least a small part of their enthusiasm to the reader.
I have also received tremendous help from many companies still involved today, and have been given access to important company records and photographs, gaining an unparalleled insight into their work and developments, for which I am very grateful.
This is the story of magnificent men working for proud companies that deserve their place in history, and I have enjoyed every minute of writing it.
Stuart Gibbard
May 1995
Chapter 1
Ford Tractor Conversions
Without a doubt, the Ford has probably been the subject of more conversions than any other make of tractor. Even Henry Ford’s first experimental tractors were conversions themselves, built from various automobile components.
In Britain, few manufacturers of industrial and construction machines have not used a Ford skid unit or power plant at some time, and most firms pioneering four-wheel drive conversions started with Fordson tractors. Even today, all over the world, specialist machines, from orange and lemon tree shapers in Israel to minefield clearance vehicles in the Gulf, are based on Ford tractor skid units. In the early days, the Ford was such a popular choice for conversion because, put simply, it was there!
Any manufacturer engaged in the small-scale production of plant or machinery could not afford to develop his own engines and transmissions, so the obvious answer was to use the Fordson as a skid unit. And the Fordson was available when little else was. During the 1920s and 1930s there were very few British tractor manufacturers in existence, and of those that were, none could match the Fordson for price, simplicity or mass production in numbers. The thought of Muir-Hill choosing something like the cumbersome Birmingham-built Alldays and Onions tractor, weighing over three tons and costing £630, on which to base their dumpers in the early 1920s, is unimaginable, when the compact 23 cwt Fordson F could be bought for £120.
An Aveling and Porter steam-roller towers over an early road-roller conversion of the Fordson Model F.
The first Model F Fordson left the Brady Street and Michigan Avenue plant in Dearborn on 8 October 1917, and during part of the 1920s, it accounted for 75 per cent of tractor production in the United States. The introduction of the Fordson was seen as an opportunity to bring cheap machine power to the masses, not just to the farmer, but also in factories and industry. The Fordson tractor was an economical and lightweight power source, and the rigid unit construction of its engine and transmission, requiring no supporting frames, made it the ideal basis for conversion into other machines. The publicity booklet for the tractor, The Fordsonat Work, published in the USA by the Ford Motor Company in 1921, listed over one hundred uses for the Fordson, including driving a Ferris wheel, washing machine operation, and as an industrial railway locomotive. When production of the Fordson was discontinued in the USA in 1928, a total of 739,978 tractors had been built.
An interesting military use of the Fordson F skid unit to power the Newton Tractor. Designed by Colonel Newton as a simple tracked load carrier for use in the First World War, it was intended for mass production in the USA by Buick and Studebaker, but never went beyond the prototype stage.
A Model F Fordson, fitted with Trackson tracks, powers a Canadian Sawyer-Massey one-man power maintainer clearing snow from Quebec city streets in 1926.
The Fordson came to Britain first from Dearborn, and then from a factory in Cork, Ireland, where it evolved into the Model N in 1929. Many of the early conversions on Ford tractors in Britain were born out of attempts by dealers to improve sales in the depressed 1920s by building specialist machines for industrial uses. Tractors that the farmers were not buying were converted into dumpers, cranes, loading shovels and shunting tractors for the construction industry and building trade, creating new markets for the Fordson in the process.
A Fordson fitted with American Trackson tracks and a snow plough blade
The new Dagenham plant in Essex came on-line in 1931, and tractor production was transferred there at the end of the following year, rising steadily as demand increased. The Ford Motor Company also set up the Industrial Unit Department at Dagenham, to stimulate sales of power plants and skid units to specialist manufacturers and industrial users.
The Malcolm Roller, an Australian conversion of the Model F into an eight ton road-roller, built by Malcolm Moore Limited of Melbourne.
The Fordson tractor skid unit was only one of the products promoted by this new department which also sold industrial versions of the 8 hp Model Y, 14.9 hp Model BF and 24 hp Model B Ford car and commercial vehicle engines. These engines were used by many engineering firms and were incorporated into a variety of equipment, including compressors, welders, fire pumps and rail cars. Marine versions of the engines were also produced. Many of these industrial engines were eventually used in agriculture, powering farm machinery and some smaller tractors, especially after the 30 hp V8 was introduced.
Pattisson Super Beta Golf Tractor, based on the Ford A engine and chassis, built in Stanmore, Middlesex.
One of many industrial Fordson tractors that found work with municipal coporations throughtout Britain. This 1930s model, fitted with a coachbuilt cab, is seen towing an Eagle trailer.
Pattisson Super Beta Lightweight Tractor, designed for golf course and playing field maintenance, based on the Ford one-ton chassis powered by the 24 hp Model AE engine.
Another golf tractor based on the Ford A chassis and engine and built by Allan Taylor of Wandsworth.
The Industrial Unit Department also supplied some complete car or commercial vehicle chassis units with engines and transmissions, for conversion into purpose-built tractors for golf course and playing field maintenance. Before long, the Ford Motor Company was actively encouraging specialist manufacturers to use the Fordson as a skid unit for their machines, as well as further promoting the tractor for use in industry, building sites and municipal service, both as a prime-mover and a stationary power plant.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, demand for the Fordson exceeded all expectations. During the war, the company tried to maintain production at one hundred tractors a day, with the exception of the times when bomb damage interfered with manufacture. By the end of the war, 120,000 Fordsons had been sold on the domestic market, and this figure did not include export sales. The thousands of Fordsons that went on the farms and helped put over five million extra acres of arable land into production in England and Wales between 1939 and 1944 are only part of the story.
The Admiralty, the War Office and the Royal Air Force all required machines for innumerable tasks. Muir-Hill dumpers were produced for the Forces, and Roadless half-tracks equipped with winches were used extensively on the airfields during the Battle of Britain. Refinements were cast aside for the duration, and basic machines, such as Aveling Barford’s Utility four-ton road roller, needed to be produced as quickly and cheaply as possible, using a readily available skid unit. As 95 per cent of all the tractors built in Britain during the war came from Dagenham, it was only natural that the Fordson would be the basis of all these machines.
In 1943, Ford were approached by the Ministry of Agriculture to design a new tractor more suited to rowcrop work. After several prototypes and much testing, the first Fordson E27N Major rolled off the Dagenham assembly line in March 1945. Wartime limitations had not allowed for the development of a new engine, but the E27N had an improved single plate clutch, and the old worm final-drive had been finally replaced by a new rear transmission incorporating a crown wheel and pinion.
In the aftermath of war, Britain’s blitzed towns and cities required much extensive reconstruction work – bombsites had to be cleared and houses and factories needed rebuilding. In 1946, the Labour government passed the New Towns Act, authorising further development and outlining plans for the creation of up to twenty new towns. Construction machinery manufacturers were faced with a post-war boom in sales for their products, and the E27N Major proved a reliable and economical source of power for their machines.
The Newbury self-propelled potato harvester, powered by the Ford V8 engine and manufactured by the Victory Agricultural Machine Company of Berkshire.
The experimental Leamington half-track conversion of the Fordson tractor. Built in Ford’s own foundry at Leamington, it appears similar to the designs of A. J. Hosier, but uses Brengun carrier parts and tracks.
A 1935 winch tractor, based on the Fordson N, built by the Automower Engineering Company of Bath.
An Aveling Barford wartime Utility four ton roller, based on the Fordson.
Another Aveling Barford product - a trench digger mounted on a Fordson N tractor.
As the E27N Major became more popular for conversion, the old Fordson side-valve engine design began to show its age. Still basically unchanged since its inception in 1917, the TVO engine was underpowered at 29 hp for many of its new industrial uses. Also, its outdated gravity-fed lubrication system led to some oil starvation problems occurring when machines were operated on severe gradients. The Perkins P6 diesel engine option for the E27N was eagerly awaited, and was quickly adopted by the conversion builders soon after its introduction at the end of the 1940s.
The 200,000th Fordson E27N Major was completed on 29 January 1951, and was sold to New Zealand. Later the same year, 1,000 tractors went out to the Nile Delta in the Sudan. Both home sales and exports of the Fordson were on the increase, and another side to the conversion business was emerging. As the Fordson gained in popularity, both agriculture and the export markets demanded special variations, including crawlers, machines for sugar cane work, rowcrop and high clearance tractors. The Ford Motor Company were not geared up for what would be small production runs, and it was left to the conversion builders to provide these specialist machines.
When the new and greatly improved ElA Major was launched to the trade at the Kursaal, Southend-on-Sea, on Wednesday 21 November 1951, several representatives of the specialist builders, including Percy Tapp from County, Lt.-Colonel Philip Johnson from Roadless, and Edward Boydell from Muir-Hill, were on hand with details of their conversions for the new tractor.
Of most interest to the converters was the diesel version of the new overhead-valve engines. This proved to be an excellent power-unit, and before too long, the Fordson Diesel Major accounted for 99 per cent of total production.
An experimental wartime industrial Fordson fitted with a Brockhouse torque converter transmission for use as a towing tractor with the RAF
Further export markets opened up, and the first shipment of Fordson Majors was made to the USA in September of 1953. The 500,000th Fordson to be built at Dagenham rolled off the assembly line on 22 February 1954, and in the years that followed, the new and uprated Power Major and subsequent Super Major models were introduced, along with the smaller Dexta.
The specialist manufacturers were kept busy supplying Fordson Major conversions to meet the increasing demands of the agricultural and industrial user, and the ever-widening export market. The call for agricultural tractors with increased traction was met by County, Roadless, Doe, Matbro and Bray, all of which introduced four-wheel drive machines based on the Fordson skid.
These machines could also benefit from more power after Ford introduced the 6D Diesel Industrial Engine in 1958. Designated the 590E, this six-cylinder engine was initially rated at 86 bhp, and as it was designed to bolt straight onto the Major transmission, it became widely used by the conversion builders. The 592E, an industrial version of the four-cylinder Fordson Major diesel engine, was also available, developing 55 bhp. The company still built a number of industrial petrol engines for other applications.
A 1949 Fordson E27N Major fitted with Straussler Lypsoid low ground-pressure tyres made by Nicholas Straussler Company of London.
An experimental combine built by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering (NIAE) at Silsoe in 1956, based on a Perkins P6 powered Fordson E27N fitted with a header built from Allis Chalmers components.
The tractor skid units and industrial engines were all sold through the Industrial Sales Department, which operated from Ilford in Essex and in 1961 was supplying tractor skid units to twenty-seven major conversion builders in the UK. The skidded tractor unit was available in its minimum form as an engine, clutch and gearbox, and Ford defined the maximum build as ‘a tractor which is complete except for some item which renders it incapable of being driven off the line. This is usually interpreted as being a pair of wheels.’ Within these limits, virtually any build could be created to a customer’s own specifications, including the addition of a heavy-duty clutch or rear axle. The finished unit was supplied on a wooden skid, hence the name ‘skid unit’.
A winch tractor built by Automower Engineering. Based on the Fordson Super Major, it is still used for electric pylon cable work.
A close-up of the Super Major power unit in the Automower machine. The machine is only two-wheel drive, with the heavy-duty front axle carrying the weight of the winch.
An Australian Hewco Twin Powered Scraper based on two Fordson Power Major units. The original engines have been replaced by 80 hp 2712E power plants.
A Fordson Major skid unit powers this soil borer mounted on a Ford Thames four-wheel drive truck built by AWD of Camberley.
In March 1961, Ford Tractor Operations was established by the American parent Ford Motor Company to coordinate the activities of the Tractor and Implements Division in the USA and the tractor production from Dagenham. This was the first step towards creating the concept of an integrated world-wide range of Ford tractors.
The prototype Irish Armer sugar beet harvester on demonstration, built around an early TVO version of the Fordson E1A Major.
The Epping Auto-Shunter built by F.E. Weatherill Limited, based on a Fordson Diesel Major.
A 1965 Ford 4000 skid unit fitted to a John Salmon self-propelled beet harvester.
A one hundred acre site was acquired at Basildon in 1961, and work started on a new tractor factory. This complex would not only accommodate tractor production from Dagenham, but would also house Product Engineering from the Rainham Works and Mudlands Farm, Sales and Marketing from Ilford and tractor parts distribution from Aveley. Plans were put in motion for the new 6X models, a standardised range of virtually identical tractors to be produced from different Ford factories for world-wide distribution.
An industrial Ford 5000 fitted with a Wickham Poole semi-trailer built for Taylor Woodrow.
The 6X range was launched at Basildon in 1964. The four new models consisted of the three-cylinder 2000, 3000 and 4000 tractors, and the top of the range four-cylinder 5000. With the exception of the 2000, all the tractors were available with eight-speed manual gearboxes or the optional Select-O-Speed ten-speed transmission.
A Ford 4610 skid unit is used to power a self-propelled Chafer sprayer.
A unique use of the Ford 8210 skid unit in the Aardvark mine clearance vehicle. Built in Scotland for military use, this machine uses a revolving flail to clear a path through minefields.
The new range was a mixed blessing to the conversion builders. All the conversions had to be totally redesigned to fit the new skid units, involving a lot of time and expense. However, the much-improved design and features of the Ford 5000, which was the model most often specified as a skidded unit, allowed the specialist manufacturers to build far more sophisticated machines. Ford’s policy of marketing identical tractor models across the world meant that the products exported by these smaller specialist companies would benefit from an established global service and parts network, leading to enhanced overseas sales.
One of two Ford 7710 tractors, fitted with Atlas 3006 cranes, used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel.
An experimental forestry forwarder built by AT Osborne Limited of Romsey, Hampshire. Fitted with a driven rear axle, it is based on the Ford 7710 skid unit.
The 3000, 4000 and 5000 tractors were all available as skidded units from the Tractor Operations Industrial Power Unit Department at Basildon. The Select-O-Speed transmission, an epicyclic gearbox allowing clutch-less gear changes, came in for some unfair criticism and was eventually dropped, but not before if had proved useful in many special-build applications.
The Ford 5000 skid unit as supplied to specialist equipment manufacturers.
Ford introduced the new 2700 range of industrial engines in 1965. Two vertical six-cylinder diesel engines were now offered, the 2703E, nominally rated at 89.5 bhp, and the more powerful (98 bhp) 2704E. An industrial version of the 2701E Ford 5000 engine was also available.
In 1971, Ford brought out the turbocharged 7000 tractor which was used as the basis of both the County 944 and the Roadless 94T four-wheel drive machines. The industrial engine range was revised the same year, and the upgraded 2713E, 2714E and 2715E six-cylinder units were introduced, offering even more horsepower.
A special-build Ford 5000 with a Select-O-Speed transmission, incorporated in the Century 125 tower crane built by Century Fabrications of Horsham, Sussex.
As Ford brought out new tractor models, so the choice of skid units, engines and transmissions grew, giving the specialist equipment manufacturers and conversion builders the opportunity to increase their ranges and continually improve the specification of their machines. By the time the 10 Series was introduced in 1981, Ford was offering its own four-wheel drive versions of nearly all its tractors, a move which, while increasing the number of options available to the skidded unit customer, was to seriously damage sales for the manufacturers of four-wheel drive tractors and conversions, including County, Roadless, Selene and Schindler.
Ford special-build No. 0708, a 4000 fitted with a torque converter transmission for towing aircraft at Stansted in 1970.
Skid unit sales were now handled through the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) department at Basildon. Apart from handling the skid units, OEM also supplied individual power-train components, including engines, transmissions and drive axles.
The Versa 6800 high clearance tractor, based on a gasoline powered version of the Ford 6600 tractor and built by FW Larson of Texas, USA.
Following the acquisition of New Holland and Versatile in 1987, Ford Tractor Operations was restructured into a new organisation called New Holland Ford, with a product range of tractors from 8 to 470 hp. The OEM department now offered the specialist equipment manufacturers a choice of ten diesel engines, seven transmissions including torque converter models, several drive and drive-steer axles and fifteen complete power-trains. The OEM customers included agricultural, forestry, mining, industrial and materials handling equipment manufacturers, who had the advantage of Ford’s network of over 5,000 dealers providing parts and service support in more than 130 countries of the world.
A Ford 7610 fitted with a Bomford front-blade, HIAB 650 crane and an Igland double-drum winch. The conversion was built by AT Osborne Limited for forestry work.
In 1991, the Ford Motor Company sold Ford New Holland to Fiat, Italy’s largest private company. Today, with the combining of the New Holland Ford and Fiatagri ranges, sales of the power-trains and components is still strong. This side of the business is now handled by the Department of Industrial Sales and Marketing at Basildon, which also deals with highway tractors and tractor loader-backhoes.
Designed for use on peat, a Ford 6410 Generation III tractor fitted with Difco swamp tracks built by Ballintubber Enterprises of Ireland.
Another conversion by A T Osborne, a Ford 7810, fitted with an FMV 470 crane, supplied to Fountain Forestry in 1991.
Even Caterpillar is a customer for Ford components - the new Challenger 35 and 45 machines, introduced in 1994 and built in Ford’s Versatile Factory in Winnipeg, Canada, source some of their transmission parts, cabs, controls and hydraulic linkage from the Ford P396 skid unit, used in the Ford Genesis 70 and Fiat ‘G’ Series tractors.
The Bruun 7620F timber forwarder, built from 1990 by Firma Lars Bruun of Philipstadt, Sweden, and based on the Ford 7610. It has eight-wheel drive and a two-speed hydrostatic transmission. Designed as a self-loading transporter, it is capable of hauling 10 tonnes of sawn timber, loaded by the Fiskars hydraulic crane.
In January 1995, the company ceased to use the Ford oval, and a new corporate identity was established using the New Holland name with a new logo. As we reminisce over the Ford tractor conversions of the past, we can look forward to a new generation of New Holland tractor conversions for the future.
Several components in the new smaller Caterpillar Challenger tractors are sourced from the Ford P396 skid unit. The impressive Challenger 35 is seen on its first European demonstration in December 1994.
