David Brown Farm Tractor Books - History

David Brown Tractors

Covering the whole history of David Brown tractors from 1939 to the closure of the company in 1988, Jonathan Whitlam describes the models developed at the factory in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and how they evolved over time.

The author also covers the many innovative features that were pioneered by David Brown, including hydraulic systems and transmissions. From the early Type A tractor developed with Harry Ferguson through the independently developed David Brown models, including the Cropmaster, the 900 series and the Selectmatic range of 1965, through the 90 and 94 series, and also touching on other David Brown inspired machinery, this book covers every aspect of David Brown production.

Including discussion of the mergers with the US Case company and International Harvester before the ultimate demise of David Brown in the face of a worldwide slump, this book is a concise but complete account of what was a leading British tractor manufacturer.

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The David Brown Tractor Story (Part 1) 1936-1948

The first of three books looking in depth at David Brown and its products, this work begins by tracing the roots of this famous Yorkshire firm back to Huddersfield and its origins in wooden pattern making in the 1860s.
Pioneering work in machine-cut gears at the turn of the century brought fame to the company and set it on the road to becoming one of the world's largest gear manufacturers.

David Brown's involvement with tractors began in 1936 through an agreement to produce them for Harry Ferguson. It was an unhappy and short-lived partnership, but the lessons learnt with the Ferguson-Brown gave the company the experience it needed to introduce its own tractor, the VAK1, in 1939.
David Brown's agricultural tractor production was curtailed by the war, but valuable defence contracts propelled the company into other directions from Spitfire gears and tank gearboxes to aircraft-towing tractors and heavy crawlers. It emerged from the conflict in a strong position with many post-war developments in the pipeline.

This closely researched, highly illustrated book tells the full story of this remarkable company's early years for the first time, concluding with the introduction of the VAK1/C Cropmaster which became one of Britain's most popular tractors of the 1950s.

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The David Brown Tractor Story (Part 2) - Agricultural Tractors 1949-1964

This is the second volume in a trilogy of books that look in depth at the history of David Brown tractors, and a remarkable record of a proud company during probably the greatest period of its history. Part Two focuses on the period during which the motto of this celebrated Yorkshire company was "Mechanising the world's farms" - no idle boast.

Focusing on the company's agricultural tractors, the book starts in the era of the famous Cropmaster model, which pioneered so many industry "firsts" including the high-speed direct-injection diesel engine. It heralded the beginning of an intense period of engineering innovation as the range was enlarged to include crawlers, a six-cylinder wheeled tractor and a novel toolbar machine.

David Brown's goal was to capture the world's markets with a range of six tractors and 60 implements. It nearly all fell apart after the product line became overloaded, coupled with the somewhat underwhelming appearance of the ill-fated DB 900 model in 1956, but the company regrouped and channelled its resources into a new series of middleweight wheeled tractors that brought even greater success.
Moving into the early 1960s, and the final years of David Brown's 'red' tractors, the hugely popular 880 and 990 Implematic models began to have a dramatic affect on sales - helping to confirm Meltham's position as Britain's third largest tractor manufacturer.

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David Brown Tractors 1936-1964 (2nd Edition) (Nostalgia Road)

The story of the David Brown tractor is one of the most fascinating pieces of British agricultural engineering history, and it began over six decades ago in the heart of the British wool textile industry, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. How tractors came to be built in Huddersfield, more famous for worsted cloth, fine choral society and its football team, is told in great detail.

This book spans the period 1936-1964.

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