OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Antique Machines Finger type mower

Could anybody shed some light on the mower in the avitar of this topic. A mate of mine has one and I would like to be able to give him some details on it. It does run and works well

Hello Norm

I'm yet to write about them. In the meantime ...

Sickle mowers were big business post WWII.
There were a few brands that competed in this market.

The most popular was the British Allen.
Scott Bonnar had the exclusive agency, and these were
sold all over Australia.

Hope this helps.
-------------------------
Jack

Gee, an OH&S nightmare there I reckon. I wonder what would happen if it was "climbing a steep reservoir or railway embankment" and the engine stalled? Would the "twin pawls" be enough to stop it tumbling back down over the top of the operator?

Thanks Jack, where do you dig up all this info, just amazing. If they were big business after the war, any idea what were they used for? Was it for hay cutting?

Hi Norm
I guess the answer would have to be 'yes' to cutting hay, but that wasn't the major use.
Prior to the rotary revolution, it was only the motorised sickle mower that
could cut high grass. Post war, there was an influx of ex-soldiers that
settled on smaller farm lots.

The sickle mower was a good land clearer - "long grass, bracken, weeds, brambles,
rough matted and tangled growth, besides ... cultivated crops."

These machines were bought by councils for verge work, and cutting steeper embankments.

The heritage of the sickle-bar mower is, of course, agriculture.
'Hay mowers' were just larger versions, powered by horses, and then tractors.
Hay mowers were heavily advertised and were on most farms in Australia.

The downside of the design was maintenance. Sharpening a set of fingers on
a special grinder took hours. The other problem was the tendency to clog
or jam in some applications.

Sickle bar mowers were still being sold in the 1960s and '70s, but
the reality is - their popularity was ended by the rotary slasher mowers.

The smaller machines, like the Allan, were sold on the basis of cheapness
and versatility (attachments). They were a crossbreed between the agric-
ultural hay mowers and the horticultural lawnmowers.

Cheers
----------------------
Jack

[video][/video]


Some attempts were made to make sickle bar mowers look respectable for cutting grass...

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=51254#Post51254

Yep, CJ has it nailed there. Tractor-powered rotary hay mowers first came on to the Oz market in the late 1960's-early 1970's. Before that, it was all sickle bar units.
So these mowers were an adaptation of existing, proven technology, which had ready service backup in rural areas. BTW, grain headers still use the sickle bar system.
Not quite true - it wasn't the pointed fingers that need to be sharpened [tho' they could break, and need replacement], it was the edges of the blade knife segments on the sickle bar.

Which had to be pulled out of the mower to do it. A workshop, not paddock, job. But with the dedicated grinders that were made for the job, about half an hour to do one. Of course, keeping a few spare sharp sickle bars on hand, to change out in the paddock, 'kept the mowing going' pretty well. They were still high-maintenance compared to rotaries though, as knife segments would break, and replacements have to be fitted by cold riveting. These mowers didn't handle stones, star pickets or other 'non-cuttable' items at all well. As headers don't, even now.
Yes, they lost out to the likes of the Whirlwind [which used sickle bar knife segments for blades!] and Mobilco Heavycut
rotary slashers. Deckson, Cox and Masport also made this type of slasher in the 1970's.

Brilliant Gadge!

I knew a 'farm boy' would know this!
Yes, sorry, the fingers were static. The sickle bar reciprocated.

I would like to add something on the Whirlwind using sickle bar knife segments.
This is so true - and it seemed so logical. I guess the blades could have been
reversed as well.

However, I currently believe the British Hayter was the 'grand-daddy' of the
slasher mowers that influenced Australian designs.

The Hayter rotaries - walk behind and tractor mounted sold here from
the early fifties (possibly before). These used sickle bar blades,
and Whirlwinds were good Hayter copies.




All very interesting.
---------------------------
Jack

The "Allen of Oxford" sickle mower was in every council works dept. During my apprenticeship in the 1950's we had many of them but the most popular was the American "Gravely" with plug in attachments like front reel, roto-tillers, front rotary slashers, chain trenchers too. They were a very versatile machine.
regards ray

I would think there would be no machine built in the fifties and sixties that would be allowed to be used these days due to OH&S requirements