Approximately 150 enthusiasts took part in a tractor run organised by the Harry Ferguson Celebration Committee last Friday evening (August 19).
A number of vintage cars and lorries also took part.
Organised in association with Ballykeel Baptist Church, the event was hosted to raise funds for the Daisy Lodge Centre in Newcastle, Co. Down. The facility provides support for families coping with cancer.
This now annual get-together is a firm favourite with tractor enthusiasts from far and near. The 2021 tractor run saw a total of £4,600 raised for Knockevin Special School in the Co. Down village of Drumaness.
Harry Ferguson tractor run
Last Friday’s run saw the tractors follow an hour-long route in and around the towns of Hillsborough and Dromara.
Robert Kerr is a spokesman for the Harry Ferguson Celebration Committee. He commented: “We normally hold three events in the year – two tractor runs during the spring/summer period and a lecture evening in October.
“Harry Ferguson’s legacy continues to strengthen as the years pass by.
“He was a native of the Hillsborough area and his achievements in the field of agricultural engineering will long be remembered by people in this area.”
The three-point linkage is the design for which Harry Ferguson will be best remembered. By mounting the implement, initially ploughs, on the tractor (rather than towing it), and using hydraulics to raise and lower that implement, the Co. Down man revolutionised agriculture.
The three-point linkage grew initially out of the duplex hitch which he had designed in the early 1920s.
The draft control principle that he had patented in 1925 involved the provision of two hitch points. It was with the provision of the third hitch point that in 1928 he applied for a patent which effectively became the three-point linkage.
It went on to become the key design feature of tractors and enabled tractors worldwide to carry a vast array of implements with improved safety and traction.
Approximately 85% of the tractors manufactured today still make use of the three-point linkage principle.
Other interests pursued by Harry Ferguson in the early years of the 20th century included the design and development of airplanes.
He became the first Irishman to fly and the first Irishman to build and fly his own airplane.
He also enjoyed a very strong relationship with Henry Ford, the man responsible for pioneering the mass production of cars in the United States.