In addition, it seems that Kirby-Lauson engines became the more favoured engine on HGP's in the later years.
G'day
vint-mowI think that is right. The 4-stroke vertical lawnmower engine made its mark in the 1960s.
Turner introduced the 4-stroke rotary to Australia in 1959.
Everyone followed suit - including Victa. Victa's use of Kirby-tecumsehs was profilic.
Of course, Victa never used the Kirby 2-strokes (for very obvious reasons).
Kirby-Tecumseh is a better name to describe what happened in Australia.
Kirby-Lauson was a deliberate marketing tactic employed by USA's Tecumseh -
simply because Lauson (acquired by Tecumseh in the 1950s) was better-know
and a respected brand. The plan was to remove 'Lauson' from Tecumseh engines
from about the mid-1960s. This is what happened here too!
It is true that Kirby had a
broader reach than Briggs in the 1960s.
That would change within a decade.
The best
supporter of Briggs engines in the 1960s was
Rover mowers.I also point out that Rover needed access to larger engines ... being
an early manufacturer of ride-on lawnmowers. In the USA homeland, Briggs
offered a superior range of larger engines to its main competitor, Tecumseh.
This translated to the Australian situation.
Many thanks
vint-mow for the observations of
Walter Barr wheels.
It appears that
Walter Barr and
Olympic were major Australian companies
manufacturing wheels for Australian lawnmowers.
Companies, like
Turner, used Derlin wheels, licensed to the North American
Dupont giant. I do not know whether Derlin wheels were made here or were
fully imported.
I am working on an article about
Walterer Barr at this time.
It is a surprising story.
A great topic!------------------------------
Jackp.s. vint-mow's original post images reveal an intact section behind the
lawnmower base. This is a great example of how Palmer's offered a
secondary skirt (for safety) on a 'toe-cutter' base.
Victa took another approach at this time. Their 'ring guard' turned a toe-
cutter into a skirted base, but Palmer's solution, gave more space at
the rear, between the blade tips and the outer rear base.
This is a great example of early rotary lawnmower safety design.
Many of these rear guards were removed and lost.
