mowingbecomeselectra.org.uk
old electric lawn mowers  
 26th October 2002 - quick up-date as to electric Coldwell, and origins of  the rotary mower
last major revision and further photographs - 15th October 2001
It is hoped to bring this site up fully up-to-date by December 2002!
For some new electric machines, please click here

16" 1920's Ransomes Electra

1920's 16" and 20" (~41 & ~51 cm) Electra models.   The earliest
1926 production machines may have had a different cable pole
arrangement - as shown in the patent drawing and photograph
 referred to further down this page

 

Introduction

The aim of this simple site is to give an account of the history and development of early mains electric mowers.  Mains is taken here as being an external supply of about 90v or higher, either DC or AC.  The site started in January 2001 and is far from complete.  It is hoped that more will be added in due course.

For an important electrical safety notice concerning very old electric lawn mowers, please click here

New! - 24th October 2002  For a rotary mower that appears to pre-date even the date of application of the first Rotoscythe patent, please click here

If you are looking for some details about new electric machines, please click here.

For a list of pages with rare photographs of very old electric mowers, please click here

 

Stephenson-Peach's patented machines

The first mains electric lawn mower appears to have been suggested, at the very least implicitly, in 1895 by William John Stephenson-Peach, who died in 1919 aged 66.  He was a grandson of the Rocket's (the railway engine) designer and "uncle" of the famous original Morgan three-wheeler car (see Morgan's official web-site).  Stephenson-Peach, named as W.J.S. Peach in some earlier patent applications, then lived at Askew Hill, Repton.  He was a mechanical engineer with proper workshop facilities and "Teacher of Engineering" to Repton School and Cheltenham College.

[New! - 24th October 2002  There is a chance, presently unverifiable, that a major European electrical concern may have bolted one of their smaller motors onto a push mower prior to 1895]

Stephenson-Peach's first relevant patent was applied for in March 1895 and granted on 11th January 1896 under the reference No. 4830 of 1895.  This patent describes: "An improved combined lawn-roller and portable motor, together with apparatus connected therewith".  The machine looks like a scaled-down road roller.  The patent is clear that the motor could be an oil engine, electric motor, or any other suitable motor.  Electric motors were, of course, well known and in use long before 1895, as the patent makes clear in usual patent language when discussing electric motor control.  Importantly, the main thrust of the patent - as far as the specific use of an electric motor is concerned - concerns the device for taking up the slack in the electric cable and generally keeping it clear of the machine and the ground (see the body of the patent and Claim 2).  This device was clearly intended as a safety device and a method of prolonging the life of then expensive flexible cables.  Note there is no mention of lawn mowing capabilities in this patent.

Stephenson-Peach's second relevant patent was applied for in August 1895 and granted on 19th October 1895 under the reference No. 14,714 of 1895.  The title is: "A combined lawn mower, roller, and portable engine or motor".  The machine, which was slightly different in layout from the above  roller, could be used a mower and roller or just as a roller.  The illustration in the copy of the patent at the British Library is in a poor state and does not  copy well, though it is hoped that a better quality copy can be obtained and posted here in due course.  The mower was an attachment at the front of the "roller" whose cylinder was powered by the "roller's" motor.

The specification states that any kind of  suitable motor could be used, such as the oil engine as illustrated in the patent drawings.  This patent specification, however, does not refer specifically to electric propulsion, though the patent refers to the use of a steam engine.  However, given the roller patent which he applied for the same year, it would be perverse to say from an inspection of these two patents that Stephenson-Peach did not consider, or ruled out, the use of electricity for his combined roller and mower.  This second patent will be described in greater detail in a later update of this site.  Note that Stephenson-Peach also applied for a number of other patents at this around this time, but these did not proceed to grant.  Their subject matter is not on record as such at the British Library.

A picture appears below of what was initially identified as an American Coldwell steam powered mower made between about 1895 and 1905, then as a roughly turn of the 19th/20th century American Simpson and has now [8th April 2001] been identified by the Curator of its US owners - The Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association - as being a Coldwell Steam Estate lawn mower and roller.  The later of the two patent dates that appear on this machine is August 19, 1902.  The patents, especially the second, are quite consistent with the machine pictured below.  Coldwell steam units were, so it appears, at one point used on the White House lawns.  This particular 40" mower seems to have certain features in common with some of the non-novel design elements of Stephenson-Peach's machine.  The picture of the machine comes from a specific page of Rough and Tumble's web-site, and, with their kind permission, is reproduced here in a smaller size and lower quality for speed of loading:

 

Coldwell Steam Estate Mower and Roller

Coldwell Steam Estate lawn mower/roller -  see above
This machine seems to have certain design features in
common with that described in the Stephenson-Peach
patent.          Courtesy of Rough and Tumble and Jacob Merriwether

 

And then ...

After 1895, the history of the development and/or manufacture of electric lawnmowers appears to be rather silent until about 1925.  It was relatively widely accepted [in the UK] that the Ransomes Sims and Jefferies Electra, launched in 1926, was the first production job electric lawnmower.  However, it appears that an American machine appeared the previous year.

 

The Coldwell Electric Mower

It presently seems that the first mains-electric machine to be made as a production job was the Coldwell.  Coldwell was a very well-known manufacturer of mowers in the US.  Jim Ricci, of the Reel Lawn Mower Historical and Preservation Project in the United States, has kindly let me know that the electric Coldwell was first announced in 1925 and was still being shown as being available in 1930.  A magazine article in September 1925 said that the machine had been "recently" released after two years of development.  To see an illustration of the machine which gives leading particulars, click here.

New! - 26th October 2002   The mower, and especially its cable take-up reel system, was invented by Alvin Smith who applied for a US patent in August 1925.  This was granted in April 1931 - USP 1,802,358.  The patent was assigned to Coldwell.  I am also grateful to Jim Ricci for this patent information.  It is likely that Smith was employed or in some sort of consultancy agreement with Coldwells as both were of Newburgh, NY, USA.  The language of the patent description and any possible bearing it might have on the question of the existence of earlier electric mowers or proposed mowers will be discussed in a later update of this site.

 

The Ransomes Electra

Ransomes Electra - Fig.1 UK patent 268,504

Fig 1 of the UK Patent showing
 a novel feature of the Electra

Though it has to be possible that more than a few enterprising owners added mains electric motors to their mowers before 1925 without publicising the resulting contraption, there appears to be no well-known record of any such machine, and certainly no UK or US production machine.  The first machine to be made as a full production job in the UK was the Ransomes Electra, which was quite widely advertised towards the end of 1926.    The Electra was covered by both UK and Australian patents.  The UK patent was No. 268,504.  It was applied for on 11th February 1926 and granted on 7th April 1927.  The final ("complete") specification had been submitted on 30th September 1926.  No US patent appears to have been granted (and one assumes none was applied for), though Ransomes did obtain US patent protection at this time for some of their other products.

The most distinctive feature was the method(s) of keeping the electrical supply cable out of harm's way - though it appears that at least some owners soon removed this tram (street-car) looking feature.  The details will be added later, though it can be stated that they were different from Stephenson-Peach's patented method and that of the Coldwell.  Ransomes, who also made electric motors and were well-known for their electrically powered factory trolleys, etc, were already producing their first trolleybuses by the time the Electra was launched.  The designer of the Ransomes cable pole mechanism was William Scott Murdoch.

As stated in the caption of the 16" and 20" Electras at the top of this page, and as can be seen from the above patent illustration and company photograph of an early experimental Electra, the layout of the cable clearance pole system of most (if not all) production Electras was different from the prototypes and possibly the very earliest production machines.  Ransomes' own early experimental photographs, very early Electra publicity material and the above patent drawing show a machine with the somewhat taller and larger cable clearance arrangement.  However, in this earliest publicity material, it is stated that the machine as supplied would look like the illustration (of the usual smaller arrangement) shown in a loose insert.  The differences will be set out at a later stage.   A copy of this publicity material including insert is available for inspection at the Rural History Centre at the University of Reading in their Ransomes' Collection (the Institute holds the extensive surviving records of Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies up to 1975).  The smaller usual arrangement is that shown in the photograph at the top of this page.

In fact Ransomes also experimented with a swing pole mechanism before the Electra was first launched.  Mowers that appeared on the market somewhat later made use a similar swing feature, such as the Qualcast Super Panther Electric lawnmower.

The Electra was first sold in 16" and 20" sizes;  The "lighter" and somewhat cheaper 14" (~35.5 cm) model was added to the range a little later.  Unlike the larger machines which were essentially electrically-powered versions of existing Ransomes petrol (gasoline) mowers, the 14" Electra was essentially an electrically-powered version of the sturdy Ransomes Countess manual mower.  The original photograph of the 14" machine in Ransomes' formal photographic records (now at the Rural History Centre) is captioned: "Countess Electric L. Mower".   The machines were marketed as "Elektras" in the important German market.

The 14" appears to have sold in greater numbers than the larger versions, though it is fair to say that the Electras did not exactly electrify [!] the market place, especially not the British domestic market.  The original 16" and 20" models continued to be shown as being available until about 1936 when they cost £47.10.0 and £57.10.0 respectively.  Those models had been joined a little earlier by an expensive (£85 in 1936)  heavyweight 30" (~76 cm) model available to "special order".  A very few exported examples apparently survive, and at least one seems to have ended up in South America where, according to one reader of this site, it is still apparently used (with a "new" motor).  The 30" machine's electrical control gear - one cannot generally control motors of the size (3hp) fitted to the 30" by means of just a simple on/off switch - was modified during the "production run" of this large mower.  An illustration is available  here of such an altered 30" model.  The 30" model also seems to have disappeared in late 1936.  The factory also produced at least one interesting 24" (~61cm) model during 1935/6 - see photographs 8946/7.  Whilst the original 14" machine (£27.10.0 in 1936) was shown in company brochures as being domestically available as late as 1940, Ransomes had announced further electric lawnmowers towards the end of 1936.  These were the Lawnic and Bowlic which had been developed during 1934.  A photograph of the development machine that was to become the Bowlic is given here.  The Bowlic was advertised as being particularly suitable for bowling green use.  Neither the Lawnic nor Bowlic had drive to the land rolls nor any special cable clearance mechanism.  These machines were exported under the Anglec and Cellec names respectively.  However this dual appellation caused some confusion within Ransomes (their then spares and photographic sections) and, initially, with the present author(!).  Some evidence of this confusion can be gleaned from the company's records at the Rural History Centre.  A suggestion made in a feedback comment to this site that some new mowers marked "Cellec" were sold domestically remains to be confirmed though it is possible that there were a few "frustrated export" orders during the 1938/40 - and especially post August 1939 - period.

The Electra was still available after 1945 in various versions, but essentially for the export market.  As an example, see this 24" 1945/7 Electra photograph.  Other interesting machines were the superficially attractive JP Super mains electric, especially when fitted with a Brook Cub 1/3hp capacitor start single phase motor, and the electric Rotoscythe.  Though a rotary, albeit the first practical English one (see immediately below), all Rotoscythes are interesting from the engineering and patent points of view.  A photograph of an electric 14" [sic] JP Super will be added in due course.  Please see the electrical Safety Notice below concerning elderly electric machines and which very much includes some electric JP's seen by the author.

 

 

New! 24th October 2002  - Rotary Mowers and the Rotoscythe

See also the next sub-heading

I am particularly indebted to an American correspondent for letting me know about the actual manufacture of the following mower.

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.  As indicated just above, 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, of which at least one example also exists.  Photographs of the Tecnico will appear here soon.

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.

 

New! 24th October 2002  - Rotoscythe and the Australian Victa mower

Since posting the brief amendments to this site during early afternoon 24th October 2002 a viewer has (the same day!) raised the question as to whether the Australian Victa rotary mower of Mervyn Victor Richardson was in fact the first "working" or at least "successful" rotary.  Quite apart from the Hayter unit, the Victa appears to have been first marketed some nineteen to twenty years after the Rotoscythe.  The Louisville Electric Mfg. Co's machine was, so it seems, first marketed even earlier.  But do not just trust what I say!  For further information, see:

IP Australia - click here for the particular Victa page.  IP Australia is the Australian equivalent of the UK Patent Office or the US Patent and Trade Mark Office;

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald referring to the 50th birthday celebrations for the Victa;  and

An account of the Rotoscythe on the Old Lawnmower Club's site

 

 

A potentially important pointer arising out of the Electra's patent?

Interestingly, Ransomes' UK patent states the following in its provisional specification (i.e. February 1926):  

"This invention relates to electrically driven lawn mowers which are provided with a flexible cable for the supply of current.

Hitherto [emphasis added] the cable has been allowed to trail on or close to the ground and in the path of uncut grass and, consequently, not only has the operator been impeded in his work but also the cable has been liable to become damaged"

However, the following is then stated in the patent's full specification (i.e. September 1926):

"This invention relates to electric lawn mowers namely those which have the cutting mechanism or the propelling mechanism, or both driven by an electric motor or motors [emphasis added], current for which is supplied by a flexible cable trailed by the machine.

Hitherto [emphasis added] the cable has been connected to the machine, so that it is trailed in such manner that when the machine is turned to begin a return journey the operator is impeded in his work and the cable has been liable to become damaged"

As the patented Stephenson-Peach machines only had one motor which drove both the rollers and the cutting cylinder and did have suitable means to "protect" the cable [rolling the two patent descriptions into one machine], the use of this language in the 1926 patent application may indicate that there was already an electric machine available in some market which "trailed" its cable in the way described in the full specification and/or that an electric machine of this kind had been described in a publicly available document before February 1926.  Further, the 1925 single motor Coldwell electric mower had its own cable protection device, namely a powered rotating cable reel mounted on the machine.  It seems that the cable at the end remote to the Coldwell was to be fixed in such a way that the cable should not have been in the path of uncut grass ready to be cut by the cutting cylinder if the remote end was anchored correctly and the powered reel working properly.

 

 

Late 1920's 14" Ransomes Electra

The simpler small Electra, complete with exposed chain!
Originally intended to be named the Electric Countess

 

 

ELECTRICAL SAFETY NOTICE

Electricity, even at 110/120 volts, can kill

Quite apart from the well-known dangers of using any mains electric machines in damp or wet conditions, and the danger (even in the dry) of cutting the mains cable, elderly machines call for even more care, attention and continual checking than their modern descendants.  Cables may, amongst other matters, be frayed, perishing or completely perished and/or otherwise have electrically deteriorating insulation.  Some or many of the individual strands making up one of the conductors within a cable may be broken.  The machine may still work, but the cable may overheat or worse.  If some of the earth [ground] conductor's strands are broken, a very  dangerous condition could arise in fault conditions.  The internal wiring in any switches, switch boxes, control boxes, connectors or motors themselves may show or reveal on test similar dangerous signs.  Replacement internal and external cables - very likely on older machines -  may not be sufficient to cope safely with the current they have to pass, or the mechanical stresses (such as being pulled or yanked) to which they will usually be subjected.  Further, the actual motor, resistances (if any), capacitors (if any), switches and/or control boxes themselves may be "leaking" electricity, overheating or have internal insulators that are about to collapse or break down electrically.  Electrical connections may be loose or corroded.  This can lead to overheating and/or conductors working themselves free potentially grave consequences.  Resistances can be replaced or, in appropriate cases, rewound.  Capacitors can be easily replaced, though note that modern equivalents are typically rather smaller.  Motors can be rewound.  Quite often, a motor can be rewound to operate at a different voltage, though there may a slight loss of performance and/or reduced life of certain components.  In each case, take the advice of competent local motor repairers/rewinders.  Many may not be interested in a one-off job, may say the job is impossible (always get a second opinion!) or may charge rather a lot.

VERY OLD ELECTRIC LAWNMOWERS ARE MOST TYPICALLY NOT DOUBLE INSULATED - there MUST BE A GOOD and RELIABLE EARTH (GROUND) CONNECTION on such a machine.  An "earth-trip" "differential (current)" safety cut-out of no more than a 30mA trip level, typically an RCD (residual current device), RCB (residual current breaker) or ELCB (earth leakage current breaker), should always be used - and regularly tested by means of the device's test button or lever.  Very preferably use a device that also trips when the mains fails, so that there is no chance of the machine starting by itself when the mains is restored.  However, always seek competent local advice if your mains supply is or might be one where the neutral line is "bonded" to earth, as in certain "rural" areas.

NOTE that the presence of an earth conductor at the plug end does not necessarily mean that the earth at the machine end has been properly connected, or even connected at all - as the author has seen in a couple of JP mains electric mowers where the earth wire was neatly cut back at the machine end.  Cables may also not be securely attached to the machine by clamping, etc, to their outer sheaths.

From the above, if an old mains-electric machine is to be connected to the appropriate supply (as regards DC or AC, voltage, and frequency for AC), the importance of having the machine and cable tested by a competent person with knowledge of the local regulations and conditions cannot be over-emphasised.  Further, the machine and cable - including connections - should be regularly re-checked.

 

New! - 24th October 2002   3-Phase Mowers - Additional Safety Warning

My strongest advice concerning any old three phase lawnmower is NOT to use it at all unless it has been completely tested and declared safe by a competent local electrician.  This even applies if you are proposing to use it from a single phase supply through a converter (of whatever sort).  Also check that your proposed (or any) use of such a mower is permitted by local regulations.  In the past, very few machines were sold in 3-phase form, though several were converted from petrol (gas) engines to three phase motors.  Be especially careful with such a machine.  I have been told about a particularly lethal-sounding 30" (?) Dennis Z type that was used in Surrey about 40 to 50 years ago!  If it still exists, please do let me know!

 

Comments

If you have any comments, thoughts or pictures of relevant old lawnmowers, please do send an e-mail to me, Richard Hodgson.   I can also be faxed on + 44 (0)20 7353 0722.  As this site is viewed by many in countries where imperial units have either "never" been used or not used for a good number of years, I have tried to refer to both imperial and metric units.  Where I refer to hp, this is the British hp, which is roughly equivalent to 0.75 KW (in fact about 1/2 % less).  I am aware that the general modern convention, even for historical engineering papers, is only to use SI units.  I am also quite aware that "metric" units were, at times, the actual working units used even pre-1939 by certain pre-war British electrical and other companies - even if final dimensions were stated in imperial units.  Interestingly, most of the comments I have received about units concern the use of hp!

 

Thanks

I would like especially to thank Dr. Brown and his staff at Reading University's Rural History Centre for giving extensive help and making various indices and other material relating to Ransomes readily available for inspection.

 

 

Other pages on this site:

 

Links:

 

Links to some new Electric cylinder (reel) Machines:

 

 

7th January to 26th November  2001