3-Point Hitch History of the three point hitch?

[wolc123]

I am amazed at how little progress or improvement there has been in the 3-point hitch since shortly after it was first mass-produced back in 1939 on the Ford n's. It seems like the new ones are actually harder to use than the originals. I can have almost any implement changed in less than a minute on my 1951 Ford 8n, while it takes almost 5 minutes with my modern John Deere. It seems that they make the clearance to the pins tighter on the new ones. To be fair however, the JD is much bigger and heavier than the 8n, which can be manually rocked into position to simplify hookups, while the JD must be driven forward or back. The lift lever can also be easily reached from behind the tractor on the n, while you got to get up on the platform of the JD. Maybe that is why Ford resisted building bigger tractors so long, as that made it more difficult to use the 3-point. Of course now days you can get things like I-match, extendable link ends, quick-hitches, and all kinds of gadgets to help, but none of them work great with any implement like the original Ford system on those n's of yesteryear. Aside from the 3-point hitch, I cant think of any invention, still in use, that reached the pinacle so soon after introduction. In my opinion, the pinacle of the 3-point hitch was reached in 1948 when position control was added with the Ford 8n, just 9 years after the original. Harry Ferguson may have invented the 3-point, but Henry Ford perfected it.

 

[pycoed]

I am amazed at how little progress or improvement there has been in the 3-point hitch since shortly after it was first mass-produced back in 1939 on the Ford n's. <snip> Harry Ferguson may have invented the 3-point, but Henry Ford perfected it.

Well Harry Ferguson certainly invented the TPH, and Henry Ford II certainly stole it! It cost Ford over ｣9m to settle out of court after he disgracefully reneged on his grandfather's deal with Ferguson.

 

[lhfarm]

Check out the Harry Ferguson museum - Biography and history of Harry Ferguson and read the 3-point history. Really insteresting guy.

 

[djradz]

I am amazed at how little progress or improvement there has been in the 3-point hitch since shortly after it was first mass-produced back in 1939 on the Ford n's. It seems like the new ones are actually harder to use than the originals. I can have almost any implement changed in less than a minute on my 1951 Ford 8n, while it takes almost 5 minutes with my modern John Deere. It seems that they make the clearance to the pins tighter on the new ones. To be fair however, the JD is much bigger and heavier than the 8n, which can be manually rocked into position to simplify hookups, while the JD must be driven forward or back. The lift lever can also be easily reached from behind the tractor on the n, while you got to get up on the platform of the JD. Maybe that is why Ford resisted building bigger tractors so long, as that made it more difficult to use the 3-point. Of course now days you can get things like I-match, extendable link ends, quick-hitches, and all kinds of gadgets to help, but none of them work great with any implement like the original Ford system on those n's of yesteryear. Aside from the 3-point hitch, I cant think of any invention, still in use, that reached the pinacle so soon after introduction. In my opinion, the pinacle of the 3-point hitch was reached in 1948 when position control was added with the Ford 8n, just 9 years after the original. Harry Ferguson may have invented the 3-point, but Henry Ford perfected it.

I think the original system was so well designed that there's just not a lot of need for improvement. That said, although progress has been small, the steps taken have made hitching easier. The older Fords had an additional anti-sway brace on each side that also had to slip in to the hitch area. Now there is typically either turnbuckles or a brace with multiple pin locatons. In addition, as you note, there is extendable links. Both of these are a vast improvement over what was on the early Fords.