David Brown Ltd.

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David Brown Santasalo, formerly David Brown Engineering, is a British company that mainly makes gears and gearboxes. Its big gear plant is in Huddersfield, near Lockwood station, and the firm is named after its founder, David Brown, though it’s closely linked with his grandson Sir David Brown (1904–1993).

The business began in 1860 as a pattern shop. By 1873 it focused on gears, and by 1898 it specialized in machine-cut gears. In 1902 it moved to Park Works in Huddersfield, where it is still based. After David Brown died in 1901, his sons Percy and Frank expanded the range to complete gear units, gear-cutting machines, tools, bearings, shafts and worm gears, with a foundry making steel and non-ferrous castings.

From 1908 to 1915 the company helped design the Valveless car and, in 1913, formed a U.S. joint venture with Timken for Radicon worm drive units. By the end of World War I the workforce had grown to about 1,000 as the company built propulsion units for ships and drive systems for weapons, and by 1921 it was the largest worm gear maker in the world. In 1930 it took over P R Jackson, another local gear maker and steel founder, and in 1934 it moved to Meltham.

Brown began tractor production in 1936 in partnership with Harry Ferguson, creating the Ferguson-Brown tractor. The company developed its own engines after an early Coventry Climax engine, and produced the famous VAK1 tractor during World War II, selling thousands. The Ferguson split led Ferguson to Ford and the later Ferguson Tractors.

During the war Brown also made aircraft tugs and tracklaying machines for the military. After the war the company grew into a major tractor maker with a large Meltham plant, but faced tough competition and economic downturns. In 1947 Brown bought Aston Martin, followed by Lagonda and Tickford, and concentrated Aston Martin production at Newport Pagnell. The Aston Martin DB sports cars became famous in James Bond films. Brown also had ties to Vosper shipyards and other machinery firms.

In 1972 the tractor business was sold to Tenneco (owner of J.I. Case), and other companies were sold off. The Aston Martin/Lagonda/Tickford businesses were sold the same year. The tractors name lived on under different owners, but the Brown family sold their stake in 1990, and the company went public in 1993. Textron bought David Brown in 1998.

The Huddersfield operation became David Brown Engineering, supplying heavy transmission systems for industrial, defense, railway and marine use, including gear systems for Challenger 2 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. A China joint venture, Jiangsu Shinri David Brown Gear Systems, operates in Changzhou.

In 2008 Clyde Blowers purchased David Brown Gear Systems and related units for about £368 million. In 2016 David Brown merged with Santasalo to form David Brown Santasalo, now owned by N4 Partners. The company continues to provide heavy transmissions worldwide.