Man Driving a Ford-Ferguson Tractor with Ferguson Combine Attached, August 1940

Ford Motor Company introduced the 9N tractor in 1939. It featured the "Ferguson System:" a 3-point hydraulic hitch-and-lift system invented by Irishman Harry Ferguson. Ferguson's revolutionary hitch kept agricultural implements, like the combine seen here, in line with the tractor. It also provided stability. By 1940, nearly 8 percent of tractors sold in the U.S. were 9Ns.