OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Collectors General Discussion Further history of rotary: Rotoscythe 30's & 40's

To add more to the discussion surrounding the history of the rotary lawnmower, I have found in my research some very interesting Rotoscythe material, as well as discovering that apparently Rotoscythe began in 1933, as mentioned HERE!

Item One, is a simple machine made by rotoscythe as early as 1949, it is a lot more like the basic principal rotary mowers recently under discussion. in this image we see a restored (Incorrect wheels) 1949 Rotoscythe County.



Second to this is the photograph I have refered to showing a Rotoscythe in an australian newspaper in 1946, this picture is from the Brisbane Courier-Mail, 16 Sept 1946.



Next we have the earliest reference I have been able to find to Rotoscythe sales in australia, an add from the 20th of september 1937, in the west australian.



and finnaly the attached PDF, a 1936 UK Rotoscythe catalouge, which can be viewed HERE!

Hi Ty, just to add further to the story, I found this whilst researching this morning:

It is often said that the English Rotoscythe, first made by Power Specialities of Maidenhead, later of Slough and then taken over by J. E. Shay of Basingstoke, was the first practical rotary mower. J. E. Shay Ltd, a large concern with major interests in fork-lift trucks, had been founded by Sir Emmanuel Kaye and John Sharp.

Some of the very early Rotoscythes were electrically powered. The inventor of the Rotoscythe was David Hamilton Cockburn, a recognised engineer who had already had patents granted to him in other engineering areas before he applied for the first "Rotoscythe" patent on 29th February 1932. That first patent was granted on 29th December 1932 - GB 385,473.

However, a design of Joesphus Miller of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, pre-dates the Rotoscythe. The machine was sold by the Louisville Electric Manufacturing Co under the name Pioneer. US patent 1,831,681 was applied for by Miller on 19th October 1928 and granted on 10th November 1931. The machine featured a horizontal cutting blade directly connected to a vertically mounted electric motor. The height of cut of the described lawnmower was adjusted by moving the entire motor/blade assembly up or down as required.

The blade was described as being either a single one sharpened at its "diametrically opposed" ends as in many modern rotaries, or as a transverse bar to whose extremities cutting blades or circular cutting disks were attached. The mower seems to have cut (and at least one example apparently still cuts) grass adequately.

Unlike the Rotoscythe, the Louisville mower did not feature any grass collection system nor were the cutting blades completely surrounded by the deck (or otherwise) of the machine. The patent drawings bear a resemblance to the rather later (I presently assume) and interesting Australian Tecnico electric lawnmower.

Also see US Patent 1,992,494 applied for by Walfred Lundin of Maplewood, Oregon, USA, on 7th March 1932 and granted on 26th February 1935 for a more advanced electrical rotary mower which featured a castor-wheel at the front. I do not presently know whether this machine was ever built, either as described in the patent or at all. The well-known UK Hayter concern was also making rotary mowers from about 1947, as you have addressed Ty.

It would appear, combining your research and mine, we could indeed come to the following assumptions.

1)The first example of a rotary mower comes from the 1928 Miller patent.
2)The first example of a petrol rotary mower comes from the 1929 Beazley patent.
3)The first example of a vertical shaft petrol rotary comes from the 1931 rotoscythe patent.

Of course, these are just assumptions, and may yet prove false.

Hi Ty, Deejay and ODK members,

This is a great debate.
First, I would like to discuss the Rotoscythe County model.
When I first met this machine I recognised its significance. I was excited:-
[see images below]

This was a machine produced by the second Rotoscythe owners, Shay Limited of Basingstoke.
It was a 'utility' mower with a rear discharge.

I have no doubt that Rotoscythes were the first rotaries sold in Australia.
They were sold pre-War from 1937 and post-War from 1946.

They were moderately advertised, and sold across Australia.
I think Ty is quite right in implying that Rotoscythes were not in public consciousness
though. The reasons being I think:

[1] Pricing - the average rear-catcher Rotoscythe was priced as high as a top-end domestic
reel mower. They were for middle-class Australians., not the vast majority of the time.

A cheaper non-propelled model was introduced in the early 1950s, but its price was
still well above the Victa. The County model was priced in-between but still too high.

[2] Marketing - these machines appear to have been imported ad-hoc, with no National
importer. In many cases they were marketed as agricultural implements rather than
horticultural. Dealers never saw the domestic market potential [with exceptions].

All very interesting.
----------------------------------------
JACK

They are quite an interesting machine, the one I used to own had a lot of features that only appeared on Victa's much later, and only on the high end models.

It was a cast base, hi arch, rear catcher model, and it had a high capacity catcher.

It had a self propelled mechanism, with an internal drive system (the rear roller was driven and clutched from inside, unlike the first Victa self propelled or the first Rover self propelled, both driven by friction dogs touching the wheels.

It had a simple, one hand drive control lever, engaged by squeezing, this was not seen on Victa's till the second half of the 70's.

It used a vertical shaft two stroke, had the muffler exhausting under the deck for quiet, had tuned handles for best grip, used replaceable blade ends, had a fan system on the blades, and had handles at a good height for the operator.

Overall, if it were not for it's irregular distribution, and it's price, it may well have taken off here, in the UK, the cylinder mower was too dominant, however here, due to our grasses, the cylinder was having issues for many users, if it had been obtainable, and well advertised, the rotoscythe could have become quite popular, especially with the county model available.

Hi Ty and ODK members,

I couldn't agree more.
If ever there was an anomaly in vintage mower history it was the Rotoscythe.
It was a machine way ahead of its time, and that may be why it was not such a commercial
success.

I so much appreciated your observation that, "in the UK, the cylinder mower was too dominant..."
In fact, that mindset still exists today. They love their hybrid reel/rotaries - the Hayters,
Mountfields and Hondas - that have rotary cutting and roller action.

Here, we rejected it.
Pace Mowers tried it, WA's Ings Engineering tried it, Masport tried it - but none
captured our AUS imaginations.

The Rotoscythe was largely a lost opportunity here.
---------------------------------------------------------
JACK

It is rather interesting to notice how Rotary mowers still variate between markets.

In Australia, the most common set up is a simple steel base, four wheels, non propelled with a single height adjuster, till recently the most common engine was two stroke, however cost and environmental factors have changed this.

In the US, from my understanding, the most common set up is a belt driven, non catching, bar blade, 4 stroke rotary, with four wheels set by independent height adjusters.

In the UK, the Rotary mower seems to more often than not be a rear catcher device, with a combination of either two front wheels and a read roller, or a front and back roller, self pripelled by the rear roller.

Indeed the rotoscythe itself fit's this bill, and while we view it as a rather heavy beast, at the time in the UK, it would likely have not been considered so, it is lighter than many cylinder mowers, and due to the prevalence of cylinder mowers and a reluctance to simple non catcher electric rotary's, it would have had far less lightweight competition back in it's day.

Interestingly, it still was not a phenomenon over there in the way Victa was here, but it holds the base design principal that still sits firmly at the heart of modern rotary's in the UK.

I would go so far as to say that the simple, pressed steel, rear catcher baseplate we are so used to seeing today, is still, uniquely ours, at least in it's popularity, while the idea of rollers on your rotary remains something specific to the UK.

A History Record is now available for the Rotoscythe County. View that record:-
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69693


This record is now closed and locked.