OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Component Histories EMU GRASSCATCHER - circa 1955

Hello ODK members,

This post examines what I believe to be one of the earliest grass catchers fitted to Australian
rotary lawnmowers. It was an after-market catcher and it sold under the name Emu.

This was a patented invention. The Application was lodged in late 1956, Published in 1957,
and Accepted in late 1958. Given that most patents are applied for after manufacturing has commenced,
and given that the accompanying illustration looks like a Victa Rotomo base, it is very much possible
that the Emu catcher was being made and sold well before the application date.

My best guess is 1955. Here's the general idea:-


THE INVENTOR
The Applicant and actual inventor was Leslie Victor Deacon. Yes - there is some amusement
in that Deacon's middle name was the same as Mervyn Victor Richardson, the creator of the Victa mower.

I know nothing about the inventor beyond the belief that this catcher was a Queensland invention.
I say that because of three pieces of evidence. The first is an exact genealogy check; the second is
the location of the Patent Attorney; and the last is that one was advertised a couple of years ago,
on an auction site, and the location was Queensland.

A trace on the name revealed a genealogy of a person born in 1921, one of nine children,
born to Edward Deacon and Lily Seabrook. Leslie's Grandfather emigrated to Maryborough,
Queensland, from Brighton, Sussex, England.

The patent attorneys for Deacon were G.R. Cullen and company.
That company, Cullens, Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, founded in 1936, is still in business today,
with offices in ... Brisbane.

The Patent will be discussed in the next section.

THE PATENT

The intention was to patent a container -with the principle object of providing a grass catcher
for a rotary mower of the general type ...

The patent was written in broad terms and the design, -subject to many modifications of
constructional detail and design without departing from the scope and ambit of the invention"

Here is my summary of the patent features:

- Simply mounted and removed
- Deflecting lip to push grass clippings upwards
- The front of the container is curved rearwardly (to deflect clippings).
- The patent covered a 'supporting wheel'

I have provided a copy of the patent as a pdf document (below).
Here is the illustration that accompanied the patent:-

SIGNIFICANCE

I believe the Emu was our first catcher for a rotary lawnmower.
However the race for the first Australian catcher is a close one and not definitive at all.

Another Australian manufacturer, G.M.F. Electric Motors, would lodge a patent just two days later
on 28 November, 1956, for a complete lawnmower with a rear catcher. That machine, however, would not
go into production until 1958 (best guess).

Most importantly, there is the issue of the Clyde Major and Clyde Minor motor mowers.
I have good evidence that Clyde Industries were manufacturing rotaries with catchers from early 1956!
There is little information at this time on these rare machines.

We can fairly say that grass catchers only became popular in Australia for the 1960-61 season,
with all the major brands offering them as an optional extra. The rise and popularity of the
side catcher was short-lived. By 1963, the advent of a wide variety of Australian
rear catcher machines would dominate the domestic lawnmower market from that time forward.

The rest is history.
--------------------------------------
JACK.

PHOTO RECORD

The clear limitation of the EMU was not in its poor safety (the open top would not contain solid object projectiles),
but in its attempt to catch grass from lawn mower bases not designed to collect grass. The flat,
skirtless bases that were popular in the early 1950s would ultimately give way to skirted bases.
It would only be through better base design that grass could be efficiently collected.

This is an UPDATE.

I have found a few advertisements for the Emu grass catcher from 1960!
And they come from Sydney dealers at Cabramatta and Fairfield. Clearly,
we now know the Emu catcher was sold interstate.

Note that the Emu could be fitted to many popular makes: Victa, Villager, Pace and Pope.
The illustration still shows an open top. I guess this would be the last year the Emu catcher
would be sold: two reasons - manufacturers were now offering their own catchers; the word
'safety' was now featuring in marketing and, therefore, also in improve, fully enclosed,
grass catchers.

The Humble Grasscatcher
Blade Quick-Changers



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