[hdtrust]

Hi
Dates for lawn mower manufacture can be acquired freely by coming to The Hall and Duck Trust, go to our web site http://www.hdtrust.org and send an email from there (the site is being changed so take no notice of dating costs)
Regards
Andrew Hall Archivist

[hdtrust]

Nothing like lighting the touch paper then standing well back!
As said previously you own it, so please do what you see fit, there are no hard or fast rules. Just one point I need to pull you up on. original condition is brand new, not pulled out of a barn with rust on!
There are those which say they conserve for the future (what ever it holds) I’ll keep my thoughts to myself on that one.
In our end of the field the age of the machines we handle are mostly irreplaceable, with parts missing where we have to have parts made at the foundry, then machine them out, so painting is part of the process but again its not for everyone. What ever you do you’ll make a lot of knowledgeable friends here!

[hdtrust]

Hi mitzygolf
The number you have indicated on the casting is its part number not a machine number.
Atco never had registration numbers.
Your Atco 22 inch Standard started production in 1921 and finished in 1929, although Atco dealers were still selling the model as new to as late as 1932.
Through the production time line of the Atco Standard 22 inch, there were various modifications, mainly with the engine cc capacity and secondly to the carburettor used, most changes took place between 1921 and 1923, your machine dates to the latter production 1923 – 1929, as can be seen in your picture as it has the later Villiers carburettor.
If you wish to see a timeline in picture format then the best web site to view your machine is on http://www.hdtrust.org
Also you will be able to read the history of Atco, and also see pictures of the original prototype Atco Standard of 1920.
The only other way to identify your mower more accurately would be to have the original bill of sale, which some would say a tall order!
The adjoining picture is of the only known example of the Atco Standard 22 inch prototype 1920, take a close look at the frame

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[hdtrust]

You are a little off track over the Sturmey Archer engine history.Ransomes purchased the Sturmey Archer engines up to 1932, but from that date they gained a license to make them, nothing to do with Raleigh as their intervention came later, there are some engines which are floating around which Ransome’s made under license which have no markings on the crank case, which date to 1933.

The plough you are showing in your photo looks like an early Brinley made in the USA

[hdtrust]

I’m sure somewhere in our store I will have an original copy, I will have a dig and let you know
Andrew

[hdtrust]

Yes a bitsa in America they call them doodle-bugs. The engine is a 350 cc JAP which possibly came off a late 20’s Raleigh motorcycle, as they were belt driven. JAP did produce a 2 stroke with chain drive to the magneto called an Aza but it is not this engine, the gearbox does look Albion of sorts. Lawn mowers were made by back street engineers so why not 2 wheel tractors
Andrew

[hdtrust]

Thank you Marc
I think the main problem again when identifying early machinery is always matching it to any paperwork that is available, and peoples memories, As has been stated already in their history that the early days, the cost of producing the machinery nearly broke the company. also unlike in the modern world we live in, every machine made would have had slight differences, and in some cases their development went backwards.
Its like the history of who owned this machine in the past few years, just because my great friend John Little in Edinburgh looked after it, did not mean that he owned it! That was the perception of others.

[hdtrust]

Well done Robert, what a fine start, just goes to show, if we put our trust within our younger members, after all they are our future!

[hdtrust]

Hi
Yes we will have all the manuals you require in our archives, but would help if you add a photo as there were different models post-war, you can contact me via our web site http://www.hdtrust.org

[hdtrust]

Hi
What model do you have? the answer is yes but without your model it is difficult to point you to the correct source
Kind regards
Andrew

[hdtrust]

Try a picture of the whole lawn mower with the engine on, it just might help

[hdtrust]

A true gentleman and a fountain of knowledge not only with Mayfield products but was a highly respected member of The Small Holders Society, his interests spread far to include buildings of antiquity abroad, he will be sadly missed by our team here at The Hall & Duck Trust.

[hdtrust]

I would suggest your answer is in the title of your machine, the tractor unit was designed for one use, that of lawn mowing, nothing else.
Yes it will have certain power, but not the kind you are expecting, most certainly I would not stick a snow plough anywhere near it, as the chassis of the tractor is not designed for snow ploughing, you will only have to hit a raised bit of concrete under the snow and you will buckle the whole tractor

[hdtrust]

Hi send me some photos of your machine and the lawn

[hdtrust]

Nice picture. This machine was introduced by Thomas Green of Leeds & London, known as a Greens Patent, also in the Patent it says Silens Messor (Silent running coming from the chain drive) The style of the chain drive on this machine depicts the Improvements which were added in 1862. From the picture it is difficult to work out the width of cut, but they were made in 3 sizes 24 – 26 and 30 inches to be pulled by a donkey.
Looking closely at the chain, its design is called inverted as there are forms of teeth which sits on the sprockets on the chain gear wheels.
By the 1870’s the design had altered again to what most people can recognize as a Green’s Silens Messor
Allowing for the history of photos, I would say the mower in the picture could have been 20 years old by the time the picture was taken

[Author]

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