470:. As a result his tractor could operate on soft ground and caused less compacting damage to the soil in comparison with other tractors of the time, and it could produce given amounts of work with less time and fuel. The hydraulically operated and controlled three-point hitch used the draft of the mounted tool to moderate the depth of the tool and therefore the load on the tractor (automatic depth control or draft control). In addition, the three-point hitch would prevent the tractor from flipping backwards on the drive wheels if the implement being dragged were to hit a rock or other immovable obstruction. Ferguson and his colleagues developed several innovations to this device (e.g., the hydraulic lift and depth control) which made the system workable, effective, and desirable. In 1938, after almost two decades of trying to sell Henry Ford on using Ferguson's system on tractors mass-produced by Ford, Ferguson finally convinced Ford. The American mass-market debut was via the
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clumsy, ill-fitting, or unsafe—was sometimes needed. The pressure toward vendor lock-in was a two-edged blade for the salespeople. It was an advantage in cases where it encouraged the sale of implements (e.g., a farmer decided to purchase not just a tractor but also new implements to replace his old ones, betting on increased productivity to make it worth the cost), but it was a disadvantage to the extent that farmers did not see the value in a special new hitch if they could not afford also to buy new implements to make full use of it or felt uneasy about buying new implements when they already had existing implements that were still usable. Ferguson often faced the latter problem in the UK and
Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s, and it also applied to the competitors' proprietary hitches of the 1940s and 1950s.
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462:. The particular geometry of the linkage that attached the plough to the tractor enabled forces generated by the plough to be applied to the rear wheels of the tractor. This redirected the plough's resistance into downward force on the drive wheels, which enabled Ferguson's tractor to be much lighter and more manoeuvrable than earlier models of farm tractor with equivalent
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During the decade of 1916 to 1926 he developed his ideas through various iterations, duplex and triplex, mechanical and hydraulic, to arrive at the patented form. During the next decade, he continued explaining and selling his hitches and implements and even produced his own model of tractor in cooperation with
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The
Ferguson system, as it was called, was not just an improved hitch but rather the hitch plus an entire line of implements purpose-built to make full use of its advantages. During the 1940s, it was so advantageous and popular that other manufacturers were compelled to come up with competing hitch
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patented the three-point linkage for agricultural tractors in
Britain in 1926. He had long been a champion of the importance of rigid attachment of the plough to the tractor. The idea did not originate with him, but he led its popularization over many years of development, explaining, and selling.
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The hitch lifting arms are powered by the tractor's own hydraulic system. The hydraulic system is controlled by the operator, and usually a variety of settings are available. A draft control mechanism is often present in modern three-point hitch systems. The draft of the implement, the amount of
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that did not yet have three-point hitches. At 2,500 pounds (1.1 t), the 9N could plow more than 12 acres (4.9 hectares) in a normal day pulling two 14-inch (360 mm) plows, outperforming the tractive performance of the heavier and more expensive
Farmall F-30 model. The hitch's utility and
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that many farmers resented. During the 1950s and 1960s, farmers often would have to purchase the same brand implements as their tractor to be able to hook up the implement correctly or to best effect. If a farmer needed to use a different brand of implement, an adaptation kit—which were typically
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Three-point hitches are composed of three movable arms. The two lower arms—the hitch lifting arms—are controlled by the hydraulic system, and provide lifting, lowering, and even tilting to the arms. The upper center arm—called the top link—is movable, but is usually not powered by the tractor's
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In the 1960s, as patents on the technology expired, tractor and implement manufacturers agreed on the three-point hitch as the one standard, interchangeable, full-featured system to hitch implements to tractors. With the advent of nonproprietary status, the manufacturers were able to refine the
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A three-point hitch attaches the implement to the tractor so that the orientation of the implement is fixed with respect to the tractor and the arm position of the hitch. The tractor carries some or all of the weight of the implement. The other main mechanism for attaching a load is through a
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in Europe and North
America, as tractors gradually replaced horses in increasing degrees, existing implements from the horse era were often what the tractor pulled. Towing with a drawbar is a good, practical system for many purposes, and it has continued to be used even up to today, but the
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There are also variants to the above categories denoted by N (narrow). These utilize the pin sizes of the listed category, but the width of a category one step lower. The N variations are common in "quick hitches" and allow larger tractors to easily hook onto smaller utility implements.
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as proprietary "systems" with at least some of the features of the
Ferguson system (such as quick, easy hitching and unhitching, implement raising and lowering controlled from the tractor seat, and treating the tractor and implement as a unit rather than an articulated pair). Thus,
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system and create useful modifications. Now, nearly all manufacturers have adopted some standardised form of the modern three-point hitch system; many companies also offer safe adaptation kits for converting the non-standard hitch systems to the three-point hitch system.
438:. The drawbar was a flat bar with holes in it, and the implements were trailers, with tongues that attached to the drawbar with a pin through a hole. The main reason why this was the default hitching idea is that it was the natural follow-on from the days of
499:. Some of these systems, with one-point or two-point hitching, were not well suited to lifting heavy implements. They also presented the problem of incompatibility between brands of tractors and implements, applying pressure toward
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force it is taking to pull the implement, is sensed on the top link and the hydraulic system automatically raises the arms slightly when the draft increases and lowers the arms when the draft decreases.
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Each hitch has attachment holes for attaching implements, and the implement has posts that fit through the holes. The implement is secured by placing a pin on the ends of the posts.
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The three-point hitch is made up of several components working together. These include the tractor's hydraulic system, attaching points, the lifting arms, and stabilizers.
162:'s three-point hitch design to American production-model tractors in 1939, it was a light and affordable tractor competing principally with row-crop tractors such as
119:. The three points resemble either a triangle, or the letter A. In engineering terms, three-point attachment is the simplest and the only
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There are five different hitch sizes, called categories. The higher category hitches have sturdier lift arms and larger connector pins.
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The primary benefit of the three-point hitch system is to transfer the weight and resistance of an implement to the drive wheels of the
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introduced its Snap-Coupler which allowed the operator to hook and unhook implements without leaving the operator's seat. Likewise,
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implements, which were towed as trailers by the horse or team (and often had an operator's seat). In fact, for decades during the
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The tractor and linkage are painted gold. The grey bars are a separate implement (a towing ball hitch) attached to the linkage.
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131:, a single point, pivoting attachment where the implement or trailer is not in a fixed position with respect to the tractor.
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ISO 730:2009, Agricultural wheeled tractors -- Rear-mounted three-point linkage -- Categories 1N, 1, 2N, 2, 3N, 3, 4N and 4
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Adjustable three-point ball on lift arm. Ball may be rotated to fit either
Category I or Category II implements
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developed its Fast Hitch and began to advertise the notion of "farming with the
Farmall system" and
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hydraulic system. Each arm has an attachment device to connect implements to the hitch.
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Before the 1940s, most hitching of farm implements to tractors was done simply with a
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Rear three-point hitch of a Case IH tractor with implement attached by the drawbar
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Farmall
Tractors: History of International McCormick-Deering Farmall Tractors
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three-point hitch outperforms it in several ways (described below).
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and mowing deck, attached by a three-point linkage and driven by a
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643:, Farm Tractor Color History Series, Osceola, WI, USA: MBI,
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developed its Eagle Hitch, and similar path was followed at
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Pripps, Robert N.; Morland, Andrew (photographer) (1993),
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simplicity have since made it an industry standard.
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Refers to implement end; tractor end not specified.
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16:Hitch for attaching implements to tractors
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350:80 to 225 hp (60 to 168 kW)
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320:40 to 100 hp (30 to 75 kW)
138:. This gives the tractor more usable
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434:, on the same principle as a modern
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154:consumption. For example, when the
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478:improvements that could also be
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250:Up to 20 hp (15 kW)
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665:The inventor, Harry Ferguson
631:General and cited references
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444:mechanisation of agriculture
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415:48 in (1,220 mm)
385:40 in (1,020 mm)
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670:Three-point linkage model
621:Pripps & Morland 1993
342:34 in (860 mm)
312:28 in (710 mm)
277:20 in (510 mm)
179:Three-point linkage on a
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81: (98 years ago)
485:International Harvester
412:2 in (51 mm)
323:1 in (25 mm)
685:Agricultural machinery
460:Ferguson-Brown Company
409: in (44 mm)
382: in (37 mm)
366: in (32 mm)
339: in (29 mm)
309: in (22 mm)
297: in (19 mm)
274: in (16 mm)
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239:Lift arm pin diameter
236:Top link pin diameter
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242:Lower hitch spacing
105:three-point linkage
34:Ursus C-360 tractor
518:Overrunning clutch
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650:978-0-87938-763-1
600:, TractorData.com
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534:Explanatory notes
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440:horse-drawn
181:Ferguson 35
158:introduced
60:Agriculture
604:3 November
579:2015-08-15
497:John Deere
474:in 1939.
171:Components
113:implements
111:and other
554:Citations
436:tow hitch
230:Category
50:Tow hitch
679:Category
512:See also
468:traction
458:via the
183:tractor.
164:Farmalls
140:traction
76:Invented
66:Inventor
56:Industry
493:JI Case
480:pitched
432:drawbar
426:History
404:⁄
377:⁄
361:⁄
334:⁄
304:⁄
292:⁄
269:⁄
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156:Ford 9N
136:tractor
129:drawbar
117:tractor
109:ploughs
84: (
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150:, and
148:weight
575:, ISO
529:Notes
144:power
40:shaft
645:ISBN
606:2013
466:and
152:fuel
95:The
86:1926
79:1926
38:PTO
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