PART TWO – Specification & Gallery I have only ever found one advertisement for the Brown Rotary Lawnmower – from the NZ Herald of 5 November, 1955.
New Zealand rotaries never followed the Australian penchant for ‘toe-cutters’ in the 1950s. Instead, NZ rotaries appear to have mostly used skirted bases (the less-favoured design for AUS rotaries in the 1950s.]
A second difference is that more early NZ domestic rotaries favoured belt drive, whereas most AUS domestic rotaries favoured direct drive.
Note that the Brown had a single point height adjuster in 1955! This one’s a bit different – using eccentric axles and solid wheels, with the front and rear wheels connected by outside crank rods – like on steam engines.
Note the piped under-deck exhaust pipe and the reference to ‘safety’ in the ad’s copy.
I have three images of a Brown rotary – with sincere thanks to NZ collector Greg Stokes. Yes, some minor differences between advertisement and images.
