The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

For the guys with a non super major tractor and you want a differential lock:

https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/hobby-en-v ... ousPage=lr

Oh boy. Pitty I don't have the money for it.

First time I've heard of this. How does it work?
Best, Adrian.

[url=https://postimages.org/][img]https ... .jpg[/img][/url]

Ahh just seen an old picture of me, taken from a Major at my friend Dies his yard.

I should of bought it then, take of the cover, put mine on it and sell it again.

How it works is hard to explane for me in Englisch. Maybe someone has a picture fron the bottom of the cover.

Never seen one of those
Doesn't Brevetto mean Patent in Italian? (IIRC it is 'Brevette' in French) which might identify where it was made.

Youre right it is Italian made.
The picture is used on a previs forum from tractor pages when we discussed this option.
I can't recale the story correct, but it had something to do with Manual from the 4wd axles that was used for the Fordson conversions.
On the heavy soil overhere in the south of the Netherlands it was a welcome option to use when ploughing.

https://onedrive.live.com/?v=photos&cid ... os&o=OneUp

here picture from the underside

Now that is a strange looking top plate - thanks Henk & Janus - I could do with a diff lock

janus wrote:https://onedrive.live.com/?v=photos&cid ... os&o=OneUp

here picture from the underside

There you can see it makes a connection (or lock) on the final gears.

So that's how it works. Effective, though strictly speaking not a diff lock.
As when using the diff lock, you'd have to be sure to stop before engaging to avoid chipping the gear teeth.
Best, Adrian.

I seem to remember these being reported on in a 1950's Farm Mechanization magazine, I will have to look through my old magazines. They worked by locking the bull pinion gears together instead of the bull pinion shafts as on the Super Major differential lock. Also at the back of my mind is a diff lock for the E27N, and were Vapormatic somehow involved?
I would not have thought that many would have survived, as the stress on the modified lift cover casting would be considerable, not to mention the lubrication issues.

So far from trawling through my old issues of Farm Mechanization I have found a report in the December 1960 issue on the preview of the Smithfield Show of that December.

This says that Vapormatic will be exhibiting a differential lock for the Massey Ferguson 35 and Fordson Dexta tractors. This is before either company was offering a differential lock for these tractors. The lock is designed by a Swiss engineer, Willi Salzmann, who appears to have a number of patented inventions credited to his name. The report says that Vapormatic hold the world rights for this invention, which can be fitted in about 3 hours with the aid of specialist equipment costing about £10. The lock itself was expected to cost about £45.

I will keep looking in earlier issues, I am sure I have seen references to a diff lock for the E27N in past issues, and also one for the Major.

"Brevetto" on the lift cover casting is not a manufacturer's name, it simply means that the cover is patented.

The "Practical Power Farming" magazine December 1960 issue also reports in their Smithfield review section about the diff lock invented by Willi Salzmann, and states that the lock will not only fit the Fordson Dexta and MF 35 tractors but also the Ferguson 20 range, again the lock is marketed by Vapormatic who have the exclusive selling rights.

If you Google for Diff lock for Major / E27N Shepp it brings up :-

Darlington / Salzmann Patent http://www.fordsonmajor.se/fordson_eng/ ... fflock.htm which does not appear to be this Italian one, it slides a female splined coupling across by hand lever which locks both bull gear shafts together rather than a geared layshaft coupling the gears.

Can't so far fool Google into finding (other than this topic) this one - might help if we knew the patent number & country involved, I shudder to think how many diff lock patents there must exist from steam days to now.......................

Without your access to back issues of farming mags I can't think how else to help try and run this to ground - at least we know how it works now

Hi Rick

Thanks for that, the Darlington lock looks an interesting one, and again the name of Willi Salzmann appears! If you google his name he appears to be involved with a number of patent applications, mostly related to automotive and engineering designs.
The Darlington lock works in a similar way by locking the bull pinion gears together but at a different point, and at least it will have the benefit of some lubrication at that point.

I will keep looking in my old magazines for this particular "Brevetto" cover.

Good luck finding chapter & verse shepp

Its around one step up from the old traction engine 'pin in or out of the wheel hub for cornering' more a diff override than a diff lock as we now know it

I've a century old lathe where the back gear is engaged by an eccentric mounted gearshaft swinging into the matching headstock gears and it shows surprisingly little wear on the tooth tips so I suspect the Italian version was probably pretty robust and probably could be engaged on the move without too much damage.

Amazing the diversity of variances they came up with to escape the constraints of someone else's patent, when paying a license fee would have been cheaper.................