[citation needed] In 1913, they established a joint venture in America with Timken for Radicon worm drive units.

By the end of World War I the workforce had increased from 200 to 1,000 as they started building propulsion units for warships, and drive mechanisms for armaments.

Frank's eldest son, Sir David Brown, became managing director in 1931 following Percy's death in June that year.

The business formed another overseas joint venture with Richardson Gears of Footscray, Victoria, Australia, in 1934.

David Brown became one of the biggest British tractor manufactures in the post war period, with a major manufacturing plant at Meltham, West Yorkshire England.The Ferguson-Brown had many innovative features, including the use of cast alloy for many the components, which was light but prone to damage.

It is said the David Brown Tractor is the only one to be built onto a sturdy cast iron chassis where other makers bolt components together to form a chassis-less construction which is weaker.

These tugs are distinctive, with truck like tyres, wrap round body work and HD bumpers front and rear, some being fitted with winches.

The DB4 was built for the army engineers and solved some of the problems found with the VTK, and got round an embargo on imported machines for military use.

[7] A worldwide recession saw tractor sales slump, and after braving the storm and with the debt of a brand new building and production line to finance, it was inevitable that the company was put up for sale, bought by Tenneco who also owned the US tractor firm J.I.

All hope to see the factory prosper was dashed when it was announced that survival was a competition between Huddersfield and the International Harvester tractor plant in Doncaster, with the odds stacked in the latter's favour, especially with access to the motorway network on the doorstep.

In 1947, Brown saw a classified advertisement in The Times, offering for sale a High Class Motor Business.

The David Brown years saw production of the legendary DB series of Aston Martins, which were featured in some James Bond films.

This business, trading as David Brown Engineering Ltd and headquartered in Huddersfield, remains a supplier of heavy transmission systems for industrial, defense, railway and marine applications.

[8] In September 2008 it was announced that David Brown Gear systems and associated companies, David Brown Hydraulics based in Poole in Dorset, Maag Pumps of Switzerland, and Union Pumps of the USA were to be sold to Clyde Blowers of Scotland — owned by entrepreneur Jim McColl — in a £368 million deal.