PART SEVEN - The Record Today - & My Thoughts, Cont'd
I concluded PART FIVE with this statement: -

Quote
Whatever Merv Richardson took from Hall's Mohall must be found
- in my view - by comparing the one-off Mohall to Richardson's first
production machine - the Rotomo.

[Linked Image]

I think this is the comparison that highlights Hall's contribution
to the first Victa rotary, and Australian rotary lawnmower design.

Hall's Mohall did not totally influence the direction Australian
lawnmower design was taking in the 1950s. Hall's biggest contribution
to design must go to base styling - Hall influenced the 'toe-cutter'
base that featured on the first production Victa Rotomo, and the
Rotomos of the 1950s.

Of course, Merv did not use a heavy plough disc from an agricultural
implement, but merely saw that 'spinning' (deforming thin steel by
physical pressure) was the cheapest means of producing a lightweight
lawnmower base. Merv copied the famous disc shape that would define a
few lawnmower makers of the 1950s.

The majority of 1950s AUS lawnmower makers did not follow this style.
They followed overseas trends in casting alloy (or steel pressing)
skirted bases. By 1960, skirted bases had won the safety argument.
The once dominant 'toe-cutter' became the small volume 'utility'
lawnmower.

TO BE CONTINUED ...