The Budding Patent Lawn Mower

[hdtrust]

After just finishing packing away from the Gloucester Steam Extravaganza, I thought you might like to see a picture of our Buddings Patent lawn mower re-build (not a copy) I say that as if a true copy it would then have been 19 inches wide, this one is 17 inches with a reason.
The history behind the mower , was that Guy Martin had a set of programs depicting inventions, for the program, a company which made the props for the gadget show, were asked to make a copy from the original drawings, but they had a problem when it came to making the cutting cylinder. A further person was brought into help, Brian Radam from the British lawn mower museum. The way out was to use a cutting cylinder from a 17 inch Suffolk.
After the show went out, there was a further 4 machines commissioned. The cutting cylinder was too light for the mower, so on ours Michael rebuilt a heavier cutting cylinder. Ours is the only one finished to resemble Ransomes licensed model of 1832 which sits in the Science Museum London

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[andyfrost]

With all due respect , if a company can’t make a relatively straightforward cutting cylinder , something is seriously wrong with them.
It would be a doddle for any reputable engineer.

Andy.

[hdtrust]

Hi Andy
In answer to your thoughts, the truth probalby being something to do with the time they were given by the production company filming. Cutting cylinders are harder to make from scratch than a lot of people think. We’ve constructed many over the years and getting them right can call for a lot of head scratching at times.
Although 5 in total were made its the first one in the bunch, that they struggled with, the other 4 were commissions through Brian Radam of The British Lawn Mower Museum, a museum worth seeing and if Brian is there worth speaking to with his knowledge of the industry as he was apprenticed with Atco’s.
As I say we made our own cutting cylinder to make it more authentic but also to get over another flaw, the 17 inch Suffolk cylinder was too light in weight, which meant the distribution of weight was all wrong, the mower tended to tip backwards on its handles, so no good.
There is always something when constructing copies, that is never straight forward, as was probalby the same that Budding had when first inventing the lawn mower

[Author]

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