David Brown involvement in farm machinery began in 1936 when the company, then a subsidiary of the local family firm David Brown and Sons (Huddersfield) Ltd., collaborated with Mr. Harry Ferguson in the manufacture of the legendary Ferguson-Brown Tractor

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Built initially in the corner of the David Brown gear factory, the Ferguson-Brown model was the world's first production tractor to be equipped with hydraulic lift and converging 3-point linkage; a revolutionary concept which soon became a fundamental part of farm tractor design the world over.

Approximately 1,350 Ferguson-Brown tractors were built - the last twenty or so at the present Meltham factory - before Ferguson and Brown parted; the former to join Henry Ford in the USA; the latter to make tractors of his own design.

The first David Brown model was exhibited at the 1939 Royal Show. It was widely acclaimed but before quantity production could begin the Second World War broke out and the Meltham factory's resources were directly mainly towards gear manufacture, for which the name David Brown - then as now - was renowned.

However, the Meltham plant was able to maintain and develop its tractor manufacturing expertise by producing small quantities of aircraft towing and recovery vehicles. This facilitated the switch over to peacetime production of tractors in 1946.

Despite the company's comparatively late entry into the highly competitive farm tractor industry, Meltham built machines quickly earned a world reputation for quality and inventive design.

In 1955 the company acquired the long-established firm of Harrison, McGregor and Guest Ltd. of Leigh, Lancashire, whose range of Albion farm machinery products (notably mowers and binders) had previously earned them high international esteem.

In recent years the Meltham and Leigh plants had been extensively modernised and extended. In July 1971a new tractor assembly complex - the most modern of its type in Europe - was completed at Meltham, containing many unique features and production techniques with particular emphasis on quality control.

The revitalised Leigh plant became the main supplier of large tractor components for the Meltham plant and also designs and builds basic tractor-mounted implements: front loaders and rear-mounted ditcher/digger/loader.

By this time the David Brown company had become Britain's third largest farm tractor manufacturer. The company held the Royal Warrant and has win several Queen's Awards to Industry for export achievement (four out of every five David Brown tractors are sold overseas).

In 1976 the company's unique Hydra-Shift semi-automatic transmission won a Design Council Award - the first such award to be made in respect of farm tractor design.

The year 1972 marked another significant milestone in the company's development. David Brown Tractors Ltd. was acquired in that year by the international conglomerate, Tenneco Inc. of Houston, Texas, and was affiliated to another world-famous Tenneco subsidiary, the J I Case Company, of Racine, Wisconsin, USA.

Under the Tenneco banner, David Brown Tractors and Case were actively and successfully co-ordinating and expanding their combined production, marketing and distribution facilities. Early visible evidence of this powerful new alliance came in 1973 with the adoption of a new unified colour scheme throughout the full range of David Brown and Case farm tractors; a combination of orchid white, power red and black.

DBT Distributors and Dealers in the UK and in several parts of Europe now offer selected machines from the Case companies complementary range of farm tractors. In other parts of the world also many joint DBT/Case franchises are being established. Additionally, an increasing number of Case construction equipment products employ engines and transmission units manufactured by David Brown Tractors Ltd.