It is often overlooked, but many of the manufacturers of vintage horticultural machinery were also involved in manufacturing an array of other items. Just because we know them for horticultural items doesn’t mean they didn’t have interests (or beginnings) in other products.
One modern example is Honda. We know them in horticultural circles for starting to make lawnmowers in 1978 (47 years ago as I write this!), but they also manufacture across a range of areas, including automotive, motorbikes, marine, aircraft, generators, and power equipment.
Going way back to the 1950s, Nutt Engineering of Cambridge, who made the Hayn mowers, had a sideline in producing wire-framed clothes horses – a world away from the Honda empire, but companies need to diversify to keep working.
You may know the USA ride-on mower manufacturers Huffy, Murray, and AMF (American Machine and Foundry), but did you know that in the early-to-late 20th century they all had an interest in the manufacture of bicycles? Indeed, there was a booming industry with bikes, followed by a similar interest in ride-on mowers and powered garden equipment. Manufacturers diversified, expanded, and invested where the market and profits were.
Like the ride-on mowers that Huffy, Murray, and AMF sold in the UK, many of the bikes they produced were sold worldwide.
I have found some USA adverts which show the bikes that these ride-on mower manufacturers made:
Huffy
1967 Huffy bikes and a Huffy Sheraton ride-on mower. At the back-left is the British-designed Huffy-Moulton luxury bicycle. In the foreground, the Huffy Rail dragster.
Huffy, who produced bikes throughout the 20th century, is best known in the UK for their diminutive yet well-engineered ride-on mowers in the 1960s and ‘70s. Along with the mowers, Huffy was advertising 55 bike models including tandems and trikes in America.
In the mid-1960s, Huffy collaborated with the English engineer Alex Moulton and created the Huffy-Moulton bike (see image, right), this was claimed to be the first basic advance in bike design in 70 years. The bike had small wheels, instant acceleration due to gearing and low inertia, and was said to be nimble with light steering.
Interestingly, in the early 1980s, Huffy signed an agreement with Raleigh bikes in the UK, which gave them exclusive rights to manufacture and sell the Raleigh models in the United States. Huffy also sponsored a professional BMX (Bicycle Motocross) team. BMX started in the early 1970s in the USA, and eventually, Huffy had a range of BMX bikes. The Anglo-American BMX Championship, held in the UK in 1982, included the Huffy BMX Racing Team.
It is reported that bikes for the Huffy brand are now made in China.
Murray
1970 Murray Eliminator
Murray is another name that we associate with mowers in the UK. In the 1970s, many Murray ride-on mowers and garden tractors were rebadged and sold as Mountfield-branded machines. In the 1930s, in the USA, Murray started producing bikes alongside car parts and children’s pedal cars. However, in 1985, F. H. Tompkins, the owner of the UK company Hayter, purchased Murray for the mower brand and production, then in 2005 Briggs & Stratton took over Murray. According to research, Murray bikes had been produced until the end of the 1990s.
AMF -American Machine and Foundry
The third company that had an interest in mowers and bikes was AMF. The company manufactured some of the Massey Ferguson lawn and garden tractors starting in 1966, as well as the first ATCO ride-on mowers in the early 1980s. They also produced models branded as Dynamark, which Westwood sold in the 1970s before creating their own range of ride-on mowers. AMF had purchased the Roadmaster brand of bikes from the Cleveland Welding Company in 1950. There were 41 bike models in 1970, and bikes were manufactured until the late 1990s.
1970 AMF Roadmaster bikes. The interestingly named ‘Flying Wedge’ on the left, and Aerobee Renegade. The Flying Wedge had a 5-speed stick shift.
Usually, the questions are quite random but this time they have a theme! How good is your machinery/manufacturer/geography knowledge as the questions and answers all relate to places around the UK and the World.
Reading the questions and answers it becomes apparent how widespread machinery manufacture is before the products even reach the shops in the UK. I’m also amazed how many machines manufactured abroad have had long journeys by sea, rail, road or perhaps air to get to their destination – they may be better travelled than many people!
A pencil and paper is handy to write down the answers. Many of the manufacturers and locations have been mentioned on the VHGMC over the years – also the pictures and captions may help with some.
As always, the answers (which are sometimes much longer than the questions) are at the bottom of the page.
Questions:
Q1: In which cities were Green & Sons located?
1: Thomas Green & Sons of lawn mower fame manufactured numerous machines. They had ironworks in Leeds, but which other city did they work from?
A: Birmingham B: London C: Coventry
Q2: Where was the Bean tractor made?
2: The Bean tool frame tractor was initially a mid-1940s machine but had design changes passing through several manufacturers. The first machines were built at the Blackburn Aircraft Factory, but in which county?
A: East Yorkshire B: Lancashire C: Lincolnshire
(Get this tricky one right and gain bonus points!)
Q3: Over the border to the Ginge factory.
3. In the 1960s the Danish company Ginge set up a new factory far northwards in the UK to produce their lawn mowers. They were still manufacturing in Copenhagen, and had an office in Croxley Green, Herefordshire, but where was the new UK factory?
A: Grantham, Lincolnshire B: Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham C: Irvine, Ayrshire
Q4: Where was Hahn located?
4. In the 1970s, the companies of Ransomes and Hahn had a two-way agreement selling each other’s machinery in their respective countries. Ransomes was based in the UK, but in which country was Hahn?
A: Germany B: USA C: Switzerland
Q5: Morrison didn’t have anything to do with Kangaroos.
5. Flymo had associations with Toro and Norlett in the 1970s. They also had a foray with Morrison selling their imported mowers in the UK in the 1960s. In which country was Morrison based?
A: New Zealand B: Australia C: Canada
Q6: Allett Mowers moved about.
6. In 2021 Geoff Ravenhall restored Allett’s first ever MK1 production mower. It was made in 1965 and powered by a Reliant 3-wheeler four-cylinder engine and gearbox – read about it here on the forum.
Allett is firmly a British company with an amazing history of producing top-notch mowers, however, the company was sold in 1994 and moved north from its premises in Corby, Northamptonshire. But to where did it move?
A: Swansea, Wales B: Arbroath, Scotland C: Belfast, Ireland
Q7: Taking Le Qualcast over La Manche.
7. Qualcast sold their mowers all over the world. Although we are used to seeing English adverts, it stands to reason that they must also exist in other languages. Advertising for the Qualcast Model C in 1923 carried the heading “Le Secret Des Belles Pelouses Anglaises” – but in which country did this advert appear? (And for a huge bonus point can you guess the translation of the advert heading?)
A: Canada B: Austria C: France
Q8: Where were Rolcut secateurs exhibited early last century?
8. There are many secateur brands and designs in the UK. Rolcut made the anvil-type ones, but at which major show were they first exhibited by Rolcut?
A: The Chelsea Flower Show, London – 1927 B: Ideal Homes Exhibition, Olympia Exhibition Centre, London – 1949 C: The Royal Show, Newcastle – 1962
Q9: Where did the Merry Tiller originate?
9. It can be surprising to find that a machine (or design) has been imported to the UK rather than being home-grown – the Merry Tiller is one such machine. In which country did the Merry Tiller originate?
A: Australia B: Netherlands C: USA
Q10: Bobbing along on a Dixon ZTR.
10. Many horticultural machines (now vintage), as varied as the Dixon ZTR mower, Billy Goat, and Bluebird Scarifier, were sold from the Garden Machine Centre, Sunningdale, Berkshire. Which name is usually associated with this address?
A: T. Parker & Sons Ltd. B: Bob Andrews C: John Allen & Sons
Q11: Where was the Solo Multimot from?
11: In the early 1980s, Solo Power Equipment Ltd of Brierley Hill, West Midlands (later moving to Chorley, Lancashire) imported the Solo Multimot system – it was an engine that could be attached and removed to power various garden machines/attachments. But where was the Multimot from?
A: Germany B: Wales C: Australia
Q12: Where did the Piaggio trucks come from?
12: The usual odd question/answer to finish: The Piaggio 3-wheel commercial truck was sold in the UK in the 1970s and advertised in greenskeeper magazines and the like. It was ideal for golf courses, nurseries or large gardens where it would be useful with a tipping rear body and up to half-ton capacity. Where did the Piaggio truck come from?
1: B: London. Adverts for Greens lawn mowers often show the addresses Smithfield Ironworks in Leeds and New Surrey Works, Southwark Street, London – although earlier London addresses were shown in the 1800s for items including fencing, gates, and verandahs, and large items such as steam road rollers.
2: A: East Yorkshire. The Blackburn Aircraft factory, where the Bean tool frame tractor was made, was located at Brough, East Yorkshire. The town of Blackburn is in Lancashire…..but no aircraft factory.
3: C:Irvine. Ginge mowers were produced at a factory at Irvine Industrial Estate, Irvine, Ayrshire. In the late-1960s the cylinder mowers included the hand-propelled 12″ Prisma and 16″ Futura. Powered cylinder mowers featured the 18″ Meridia and 21″ Atlanta. The mowers were popular and in 1967 were said to have captured 6% of the British lawnmower market. Petrol rotary mowers followed in 1970. There is a VHGMC article about Ginge here.
4: B:USA. Hahn was based in the USA. Two garden-sized ride-on machines brought into the UK were the Hahn LTD 550 ride-on mower and the Hahn GT-700 multi-purpose tractor which could be fitted with a mower, snow blade, sweeper etc. There were Briggs & Stratton-powered pedestrian rotary mowers but these seem quite scarce in the UK.
5: A: New Zealand. Morrison was based in New Zealand. In 1980 the range of mowers advertised included 14, 16, 20 and 24″ Olympic cylinder models, and the M4B and Conquest rear-collect rotaries. In 1969 Gardening Which? magazine tested the Morrison Golden mower priced at £48, it had 4 wheels, rear grass collection, and a 3 hp Kirby/Tecumseh engine.
6: B:Arbroath, Scotland. In 1994 Allett Mowers was sold to Reekie Engineering. Production moved to Arbroath in 1995. Turfmech Machinery purchased Allett in 2007. The mowers are now made in Hixon, Staffordshire. You can read the detailed history of Allett Mowers on their website blog – here.
7: C: France. The heading is from a 1923 advert in France for the Qualcast ‘Modele C‘. The heading translates as “The secret of beautiful English lawns”. The mower could be purchased at L. F. Michon, 46 rue de la Bienfaisance, Paris.
8: A:The Chelsea Flower Show in 1927. The Rolcut secateurs were a success and in the 1930s advertised that they had an Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society and a silver medal from the National Rose Society.
9:C:USA. The Merry Tiller originated in the USA. It was designed by Clayton Merry in 1947. Wolseley in Birmingham had the manufacturing rights in the UK. In 1953 the USA-made Merry Tiller was introduced to the Japanese market and was an immediate hit as it was a simple and lightweight machine with lots of attachments and uses at a sensible price – one never knows which countries machines may end up in!
10:B:Bob Andrews. The Machine Centre, Sunningdale, is associated with Bob Andrews. A wide range of garden machines from an array of manufacturers and suppliers were retailed. John Allen & Sons are associated with Allen machines, Motostandard, Mayfield, and Roper. T. Parker & Sons sold many items but also imported the Australian range of Deckson mowers in the 1970s.
11:A: Germany. The Multimot from the German company Solo consisted of a 1.5 hp 2-stroke engine that could be fitted to a number of different machines such as a hover mower, chainsaw, tiller, etc. There was an earlier Solo system before the Multimot. There are quite a few Solo machines including more traditional-powered rotary mowers in the UK.
12:A, B, and C. All three answers. Andrews Lawn Edgers Ltd, The Garden Machine Centre, Sunningdale, Berkshire, advertised the Italian Piaggio Vespa commercial trucks. The model VC600 could do 60 mpg and transport half a ton; the VC200 could carry slightly less but managed 100 mpg. Both were ideal for running around a horticultural or garden establishment but would later be replaced by machines like the Kawasaki Mule or John Deere Gator.
Footnote:
And that’s all the website front-page posts for 2024.
I was asked how long it takes to find and compile the twelve questions for December. Well, if we add up the hours then it will certainly total a couple of days. The questions were written in early September with this whole article page pre-loaded onto the website to publish itself on a set date in December.
It takes a while to find the questions (made harder this year because I decided to go with a ‘theme’ of locations and places), write the answers, cross-check everything for correctness, then find a picture for each and crop and upload, and a general bit of ‘nip and tuck’ to tidy up the questions and answers. And have the whole thing previewed on laptop/tablet/mobile to make sure it displays as intended.
To aid and assist….(or perhaps hinder)…the website spell-checks and grammatically susses everything out as I type but it gets very confused with manufacturers and machine names that it’s not familiar with. Then an analyzer (some AI malarky) decides to criticize the whole thing by giving a readability score out of 100. Anyway, you have read this far so the words must have been strung together right proper-like at my desk in Yorkshire. Happy Christmas!
This is the third in a series of ‘Guess the company’ quizzes – and is more difficult than the first two and the clues are not in date order. Can you determine which single company the clues refer to?
Clue 1: This UK company made most of their own gardening machines and by 1987 30% of production was sold abroad.
Clue 2: A successful company, the assets included a full-size helicopter in a brown livery with the company name.
Clue 3: The company started small in a former warehouse in High Wycombe in the 1960s, but nearly twenty years later it was eventually bought in a £9m deal.
Clue 4: In 1985 an unorthodox ride-on mower was produced. It was called the Clipper and had an engine protruding at the front. It had chain-driven small front wheels and strange steering. It was a short-lived model!
Clue 5: A slight deviation from garden machines, in the 1980s the company also advertised a range of small groundwork machines for DIY excavation projects. These included two four-wheel dumpers and a small digger.
Clue 6: Several small garden tillers/cultivators were made including the Gemini, Imp and Groundhog. In 1973 the Imp had a 15″ working width, a 2.5 hp Aspera engine and a centrifugal clutch, and cost £60+vat.
Clue 7: Although a range of pedestrian mowers was made, in the 1980s rebranded Ibea mowers started to be sold by the company. These included the Rotastripe (rear roller), County and Enduro (4-wheel).
Clue 8: The company is best known for their range of ride-on mowers, the early/vintage ones are popular and have a following of enthusiasts. These include the early W series models which were petrol-driven, in 1984 a diesel model was added. The W series was replaced by the S and T series.
Scroll down for the answer……
All the clues point to the company Westwood Engineering Ltd.
The company started in the late 1960s at Fryers Works, Abercromby Avenue, High Wycombe. Around 1973 they moved to Plympton, Devon.
The company originally manufactured many pedestrian lawnmowers and tillers, including the Sabre mower range and the Westwood Imp 2.5 hp cultivator with a 15″ working width. Westwood also listed the Rockwell electric hedge trimmers.
Westwood got into the ride-on mower market in 1971 with the launch of the Lawnbug. To have larger lawn tractors, Westwood sold the American Dynamark tractor range in the 1970s. However, by the mid-1970s the more familiar tractors that we associate with the W-series were manufactured by Westwood.
The Westwood tractors can be found worldwide, and in the 1980s were rebadged as Ginge in Denmark and Agro-Trac in Austria. They also had cosmetic changes and rebadged as the Honda-powered Lawnmaster made by Bartram Mowers Ltd in Norwich.
In 1985, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies purchased Mountfield for £9m.
Away from horticultural machines, the Westwood company advertised the ‘Muck Shifters – clue number 5 and illustrated below. These were diggers and dumpers for small projects – such as in a back garden where larger machines couldn’t gain access. The ‘Muscleman’ was a small digger that could dig down to 7′ deep; the ‘Muck Truk’ was a 46″ wide 4-wheel dumper that could carry up to 400KG; the ‘Skip Truk’ was a high-lift version of the Muck Truk that could lift high enough to tip into a skip.
Westwood Clipper (Clue 4), and the Muck Shifters with the Muscleman digger and the Muck Truk (Clue 5)
Earlier this year there was a discussion on the forum about how many different manufacturers (or brands) had produced engines that were fitted to horticultural machines. The list became long and would have been longer if I hadn’t stopped adding to it.
One engine name that didn’t get mentioned or added to the list was Vertex. Internet searches indicate that these engines had a Villiers connection.
The reason that I mention Vertex is that I have been researching Mountfield lawn mowers and these two-stroke engines began to be fitted to a few models in the mid-1970s – Mountfields own literature and price lists show the use of the 4 hp, 2-stroke engines in 1975. Although I have found a brochure showing these Mountfields with the Vertex engines, I’ve yet to find one of the mowers in real life – what happened to them all? If you are someone who owns such a mower and scouring the internet for info, then you have a rare survivor!
Mountfield M6 Power Drive fitted with a Vertex engine.
In 1977 and while the engines were already being fitted to their mowers, G. D. Mountfield announced they were now taking over production of these engines and would produce them at their Maidenhead premises, they were marketed as ‘All-British Built’. In fact, in 1977 Mountfield advertised for Skilled Production Machinists to start immediately to set up and run the recently-formed Vertex Engine Division at a new production facility being built in Maidenhead – the advertised wage was £4000 plus relocation expenses.
Mountfield were quite upbeat about their engines. Apparently, they had exceptionally high torque over the whole working speed range giving unmatched power. One trade report (AMJ) stated that the engines would be ‘…a welcome replacement to the engines of US and Italian extraction as seen in previous models’. However, people who maintained Vertex engines in their line of work have told me that they weren’t the best!
Classed as medium-sized professional mowers, in the late ’70s, the three models fitted with the Vertex engines were the 18″ M4 Professional, 18″ M4 Power Drive, and the 21″ M6 Power Drive as illustrated. All three machines were fitted with snorkel air cleaners, and polythene grass boxes were optional. In 1975, Mountfield had listed the M6 Power Drive 2-stroke at £177.50 – which was £19 more than the equivalent 4-stroke.
In the early 1980s, the Vertex models were still advertised, but with other new mowers being more important, an always-evolving market, and whatever issues the Vertex engines may have had, they seem to have soon vanished.
One thing is certain: even with relatively modern machines, some do not appear on the scene or on auction websites. Machines don’t have to be old to have disappeared into obscurity leaving only some fleeting bits of literature and adverts behind.
But I do wonder where all the Mountfield Vertex mowers went!
Let’s see a show of hands for everyone who has owned or used a domestic garden strimmer. This tool has become essential in many gardens, selling in large quantities over the years. But just how long has the garden strimmer, with its nylon cutting line, been available? And who came up with the idea, and when?
After the invention of the lawn mower, the next challenge was dealing with the grass that mowers couldn’t reach. While a well-designed garden and lawn can minimize these inaccessible areas, the simplest way to tidy up around shrubs, trees, or obstacles has always been with shears – a method that still works well today. However, if there is a mechanical or powered way to mow the lawn, why not have a similar tool for trimming those difficult-to-reach bits of grass?
1960s Greensleeves Swivel Cut Lawn Edge Trimmer
It’s worth noting a few early inventions that preceded the strimmer, as untidy bits of lawn have long been a pain in the grass. In the 1960s, a mechanical device called the Swivel Cut Lawn Edge Trimmer was marketed by Greensleeves (Illustrated). This tool featured a pair of shears mounted on two small wheels with a long shaft, allowing the gardener to push it along. At the top of the shaft was a spring-loaded, squeezable handle used to open and close the blades. The long shaft eliminated the need for the gardener to work on their hands and knees. The shears could be used vertically for lawn edges or horizontally for flat areas. Around the same time, Wolf of Ross-on-Wye produced a similar tool called the Orbital Long Shears, which had a 40″ shaft and a squeezable handle.
Powered machines for cutting small patches of grass did feature quite early, but they relied on steel blades as their means of cutting, and many were wheeled or required to be resting on the ground.
1957 Trusty Whirlwind
Introduced mid-century, Tarpen Engineering Co. Ltd had the electric-powered Grassmaster and Vergemaster models (Illustrated below). These machines, with long shafts enabling the gardener to work standing, were ideal for mowing awkward places where a mower could not be used and for clearing weeds and long grass.
In 1957 Tractors (London) Limited launched the Trusty Whirlwind (Illustrated). This two-wheel machine was marketed as a weeding tool and at wheel level had a 1/3 hp JAP engine that powered a 6” steel disc via a v-belt; the operator was in a standing position.
Many other machines designed primarily for trimming vertical lawn edges had been developed. These include the battery-operated Andrews Spintrim (Illustrated), which featured ‘fast spinning blades’ that finely chopped the lawn edge clippings, eliminating the need for cleanup. It was claimed that the Spintrim could handle one mile of edging in an hour. Advertisements for the Spintrim also suggested that manual grass shears were ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘time-wasting.’
Tarpen Grassmaster and Andrews Spintrim
Eventually, a couple of entrepreneurs had a Eureka moment and realized that using a thin nylon line would be a much better, easier, and safer solution than metal blades. The nylon line could cut closer and cause less damage to the objects it encountered. It could cleanly cut up to hard surfaces like walls and rocks, trim around small items, and tidy lawn edges, while also being suitable for larger areas of grass and weeds. This marked the decline of small domestic machines with metal blades, as many manufacturers quickly adopted nylon line trimmers. There was likely a lucrative market for branded trimmer line replacement spools, though I can’t prove that!
When did nylon line trimmers appear in the UK?
Trade magazines generally state that nylon line trimmers debuted in the UK in 1975/76 – that’s nearly 50 years ago as I write this – although the first two models, detailed below, had been sold abroad before this time.
The first UK-retailed model is regarded as being the USA-made Weedeater. This was followed by the Adlus UFO from Germany. However, other manufacturers may have seen the nylon line machines abroad and started their versions in the UK but had not yet become mainstream.
The Weedeater, introduced in the USA in 1972, was invented by George Ballas of Texas. He was inspired by the individual nylon brush strands on a drive-through car wash that would clean a car without any bodywork damage. It was reported that a prototype cutting head (a beer can with strands of fishing line) was attached to his electric trimmer instead of the steel blade – and it was a success.
Initially, the Weedeater models introduced here in 1975/76, which looked like today’s strimmers, were retailed by Allen Power Equipment Ltd, Oxford. The mains electric models included the nicely-named ‘Snippy’ at £24.95 ex vat in 1978, and in 1980 a rechargeable model with a battery charger became available priced at £47.50. Petrol models were marketed including a 14cc lightweight model suitable for domestic gardens.
The competing Adlus UFO (Illustrated on the right) from Germany was a different machine from the Weedeater yet worked on the same cutting principles. Again, a design by someone who figured that nylon line would be ideal for grass trimming. However, rather than being a standard trimmer design, the Adlus UFO was a handheld device (like a small shrub pruner but with a trimmer head) that had the option of an extension handle to make it a trimmer that the gardener could use when standing. The handle was priced at £4.72 + 12.5% VAT in 1976; the trimmer was £29.50 + VAT.
The Adlus UFO was designed in the 1960s and sold across Europe. Although its introduction to the UK is often cited as occurring in 1975/76, advertisements for it appeared in UK newspapers as early as 1972. Initially, the UK agent was IXP Ltd, Yeadon, Leeds, which sold the UFO trimmer by mail order for £18.30 in the early 1970s. By 1976, Ameeco-Broby Ltd, based in Basildon, Essex, had taken over as the agent.
Both the Weedeater and the Adlus UFO used nylon line but it was much thinner on the Adlus and would wear out quicker. The thickness of the line was reflected in the price of a new nylon spool – the Adlus spool cost only 98p + 8% VAT, and the Weedeater spool was £2.95 +12.5% VAT in 1976.
Were nylon line trimmers an instant success?
The Weedeater and Adlus UFO gained popularity, catching the attention of other manufacturers. As a result, nylon line trimmers quickly became the next essential mechanized tool for lawn care.
Manufacturers were falling over themselves to get a slice of the action, this was propelled by Black & Decker who ran TV adverts in the summer of 1978 for their ‘Strimmer’ (String trimmer and thus the strimmer name became often used and now in common parlance) – essentially anyone with a lawn and a mower was a target for needing a Strimmer. Their models were the B&D D409 (Illustrated) with a 9” cut (£19.95) and a deluxe version that upgraded to 12” and automatic line feed priced at £45.
So popular was this new nylon line idea, that two years after the launch of the Weedeater and Adlus UFO, the Institute of Groundsmanship Exhibition in 1978 had a whole host of mains-electric nylon line models on show, although quite a lot of brand engineering was going on.
Some models at the exhibition were:
Danarm had a model that was bought in
Flymo (Illustrated below) had two models but the smaller one was a rebranded RotaShear
Hyett Adams was selling genuine RotaShear strimmers
AL-KO had a rebranded model
Toro (Illustrated below), sold by Autoturfcare, had a range of Toro strimmers.
Others at the time were the Graswip Lawn Trimmer from the Village Blacksmith range sold by Thomas. A. Edison, Coventry
Solo Power Equipment offered the Solo engine with various attachments including a monofilament safety head
Wolf Tools, Ross-on-Wye, marketed their 240w 9” Wolf-Trimit Standard, and the De-Luxe version with a 340w motor and a 16” cut
PaiceSetter were selling several petrol models
Poulan petrol strimmers had the Trimette grass cutter attachments
Husqvarna had petrol models ideal for the handyman and around the garden
Exhibited in 1978, left, two early Flymo strimmers – the small one being a rebadged RotaShear. Right, an early Toro strimmer
Petrol models also marketed in 1978 included the Italian-made two-stroke 28cc Tiger 40 from E. P. Barrus, Bicester, and the brilliant Homelite lightweight model ST-100 2-stroke which utilised the hollow handle as a fuel tank (Illustrated, right). Stihl and McCulloch got in on the lightweight petrol-powered nylon line strimmer idea with many adverts in the 1980s.
The late 1970s Homelite ST-100 nylon line strimmer had a hollow shaft which was the fuel tank. Many manufacturers produced lightweight strimmers which would appeal to the householder, this Homelite model was no exception and weighed just over 7 lbs or 3kg.
Many manufacturers who had previously offered steel blade brush cutters now also added nylon-line heads, in 1977 this included PaiceSetter, East Grinstead, Sussex who advertised their new Elta/Fuji models which had a ‘super safe cutting head’ and two high-strength, low-cost replaceable nylon filaments.
There were alternatives to the nylon line. In 1980, Hemming & Wood of Lichfield introduced Duralon blades to complement their Sawtec range of grass trimmers and brush cutters. These Duralon blades were pivoted when mounted on a central housing. The blades were claimed to offer a longer lifespan than nylon line and were suitable for both grass cutting and lawn edging.
Other ideas for trimmers included ATCO which in the early 1980s advertised a 12-volt strimmer that could be attached to the electrics on their garden tractors. This enabled the gardener to tidy around the trees and borders when out mowing and away from mains electric.
One of the Wolf ‘Rotomat’ strimmers from 1989, in bright and appealing colours.
In 1987, Flymo observed that many strimmer owners were ready to purchase replacement machines. This segment represented 25% of the market, with buyers seeking ergonomic designs and improved features. In response, in 1987, Flymo introduced the standard Mini-Trim with an 8-inch cutting width and the Multi-Trim. The Multi-Trim featured a twistable horizontal cutting head for vertical lawn edging, assisted by a built-in roller for guiding along the lawn edge. To be fair, other manufacturers, including Wolf with their Rotomat ‘Vario’ in the mid-1980s, had already marketed rotating head trimmers. By 1990, the Flymo Multi-Trim range had expanded to three models with 8, 10, and 12-inch cutting widths. Many of these models are likely still in use today, as they perform all the functions expected of a garden strimmer with ease.
Nylon line trimmers, petrol or electric, can be found in almost every garden across the land. The cutting design and idea haven’t changed much although there are minor advances with guards, guides and handles. One can say that the original strimmer idea was a complete success!
Looking back at the article, has anybody got an original Adlus UFO or one of the first Weedeaters or the 12-volt strimmer that ATCO sold for their tractors?
There are many horticultural items that we now take for granted. These include secateurs with their introduction in the early 1800s (read more about them here), and rotary mowers with the early Rotoscythe being described as unorthodox with the suggestion that it would never catch on (see Rotoscythe in the gallery).
With newly launched machines the marketing folk had a great deal of input when thinking up names, slogans, icons, logos, and advertising. How about Howard with their clever palindrome word ‘rotavator’, or Wheel Horse with ‘Get a Horse! Wheel Horse Of Course!’.
We also take for granted a lot of instructions, icons and safety stickers on both old and new machines and which we easily understand these days. But there’s one that we all have seen but that I cannot find the source for – when did the hare & tortoise symbols, depicting fast and slow, first appear on machinery throttle controls?
The hare and tortoise symbols, possibly inspired by Aesop’s fables although in that scenario the steady tortoise wins the day, are popular on lawnmowers but did they also appear on other machines first? And were the rabbit and hare symbols a home-grown idea or imported from the USA, Europe or China, or even an invention by an engine manufacturer? Does anybody know?
When did the first Hare & Tortoise throttle control symbols first appear?
You may be wondering why there’s a picture of a stuffed green frog in this article, but more about that later…
I’ve concluded that nearly every garden, certainly those with a lawn, will have felt the presence of a garden lawn fertiliser spreader at some point. In particular, one of those plastic spreaders given away if one purchased a significant amount of granular fertiliser. Several of those plastic freebie spreaders had the unfortunate ability to block up if there was even the slightest bit of moisture on the grass that got onto the distributor. But some adverts worked in reverse where the fertiliser was free when a spreader was bought; and others just offered a free loan of the spreader.
Over the decades there has been a significant number of push lawn spreaders, plastic and steel, which have promised to give the perfect amount of lawn care product to lawns. They all work on much the same principle of non-slip wheels, a hopper, some sort of regulator to distribute the goods evenly, and a handle.
Cunningly, as with most of these domestic spreaders, there was often a range of weed and feed products that also went with them (not forgetting that some of the cheaper spreaders were calibrated for their own products) – and once one had the spreader then it would be easier to keep buying that manufacturers’ products year after year and trust that the system of looking after the lawn worked….and it did work, a foolproof way to look after the lawn with ease.
Briefly, here are a few companies that sold lawn spreaders:
Sisis started to produce a range of their Truspred models in the early 1960s – Click for advert image. These were available in 20″, 24″, 36″ and 36″ Super, although the range was of a professional quality and often aimed at sports pitches and the like. A smaller more domestic-friendly 15″ model was advertised in the late 1960s for £8 15s. Many models were promoted for ‘accurate, consistent spreading of seed and modern fertilisers’ regardless of manufacturer. They were also good for applying lawn or surface dressings and rock salt to de-ice drives and paths in winter.
ICI Lawn Plus Spreader 1970
ICI promoted their ‘Plus’ Lawn Spreader in the 1970s. Often a 12″ model, it was priced at 45s in 1970, but if the gardener had signed up for the ICI Garden Savers Plan there was a 6s refund. By 1980 ICI was selling a 12″ lawn spreader for as little as £8.
Wolf produced different spreaders in the 1970s and ’80s – Click for image. The model WE 16″ distributor had a curved metal hopper with a tough green-coloured stove enamel finish. The WE 18″ had a PVC hopper, while the WD was all steel. In the 1990s, Wolf produced the 17″ WE251 (Illustrated, below), sold in B&Q priced at £29.95.
Fisons is a popular name in the gardening game. The range of chemical products in the 1970s included the Evergreen 80 for a weed-free lawn, also Lawn Food, Lawn Peat and Velvetone Spring Dressings. Accordingly, Fisons also had a lawn spreader, sometimes in a blue paint scheme – Click for Image. But they also had a budget 12″ spreader advertised in 1970 for only 35s when bought with a combined purchase of Evergreen 80 and Fisons Rose Food – an odd combination but maybe the rose food wasn’t a big seller?
Wolf Lawn Spreader model WE251 in 1990
PBI had lawn spreaders through the 1980s, but they could also come coupled with a product. In 1989 the spreader came with a free pack of their Toplawn 600sq feet pack of Weed & Feed for £16.
In the 1990s both Levingtons and Scotts spreaders appear in advertising. Scotts models being the Accugreen and Evergreen. And today, a vast range of spreaders with different branding are marketed.
And what about the stuffed green frog shown at the top of this article? Well, who remembers the Fisons Evergreen TV adverts from perhaps 20 years ago, with a cartoon gangly-legged frog sprinkling some lawn feed around? I think the song went ‘If the lawn is a farce, and the weeds a right pain in the grass….‘. I bought some lawn feed, got a free lawn spreader (which is gathering spiders and dust in the back of the barn), also filled in and sent off a form, and amazingly this stuffed Fisons Evergreen frog turned up in the post – forget expensive vintage sales merchandise and paraphernalia because I’ve got a stuffed green Fisons frog…now that’s proper advertising!
From the eight clues can you name this famous company?
Since the December quizzes are always popular, here are some clues to pass a few minutes and work out the company name. The answer and a more detailed explanation of the company at the bottom of the page.
Which single company do all these clues refer to?
Clue 1: This company started to manufacture their machines in the UK in 1964, with the first adverts pricing the models around £35. The machines were a success and the company was acquired by a much larger entity in 1968.
Clue 2: The machines they produced were ideal for use on bankings, gradients, orchards, and other grassed areas.
Clue 3: The first models had two-stroke petrol engines, but in 1969 electric-powered models started to be introduced – these were ideal for the domestic garden where a power supply would readily be at hand.
Clue 4: One particular colour is usually associated with these machines, but early models were blue.
Clue 5: Models used the mulching principle, but in 1979 an electric-powered model was launched that was capable of collecting the grass clippings in a rear fabric grass bag. This model was advertised on television.
Clue 6: This company also produced electric-powered small cylinder mowers in the 1970s, and professional cylinder mowers in the 1980s, although the professional models were just rebadged Norlett machines.
Clue 7: From the late 1970s, a range of 4-wheeled rotary mowers were advertised. Many of these models used steel decks rather than the polymer material which the company is famous for. The Lawnchief, which did have a polymer deck, was a very popular rotary model with a 16″ cutting width and a 3.5 hp Tecumseh/ B&S engine or electric power.
Clue 8: Through the years model names have included the Contractor, Professional, Pilot, Minimo, Hovervac, Sprinter, Lawnlady, Chevron, and Ventura, to name just some.
Scroll down for the answer……
This 1969 photograph shows a Flymo, fitted with a wheeled undercarriage, being used to mow roadside verges.
The eight clues all point to one company which is Flymo.
Flymo started producing their hover mower range in 1964 at a factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. Just four years later, in 1968, Flymo was bought by Electrolux. The Flymo range has been successfully developed and expanded over the decades.
The initial Flymo had a 2.5 hp 2-stroke Aspera engine and a 19″ hardened steel blade within a tough plastic hood. The ‘Professional’ version gained a power increase to a 4 hp engine. Other petrol engines in the hover mower stable have included Briggs & Stratton, JLO, Tecumseh, and Kawasaki.
A huge amount of electric hover mowers have been available. These have been staggeringly popular and cover a wide range of options, these include collectors such as the DXE which was launched in the late 1970s (clue number 5) and was advertised on TV. The DXE could either leave the clippings behind or collect them in a fabric grass bag that hung between the handles. In the 1980s, the Sprintmaster range could also collect grass clippings. The 1990s Hoverstripe models gained rear rollers. The smallest electric hover mower was from the Minimo range with a 10″ cutting width.
Flymo also produced a range of domestic cylinder mowers in the 1970s (clue number 6), they were called Lawnlady and Princess. These were very basic machines with small-sized cutting cylinders. In the 1980s, Norlett Precision cylinder mowers were rebadged as Flymo.
A large range of four-wheel rotary mowers complimented the hover range. They started in the late 1970s and covered many cutting widths, engine choices, push or self-propelled, and some early models that were front-wheel drive.
Here we are at the beginning of a new year and it won’t be that many weeks until the shows and events start. The first main event is Tractor World at the Three Counties Showground at Malvern on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of February – more information: https://tractorworldshow.co.uk/
If anyone needs a log sheet for their machines for any show – whether a main event or just a local show – then they can be downloaded from the VHGMC.
The VHGMC log sheet can be either filled in online and then printed, or can be downloaded to your computer.
Often members of the public will spend more time looking at an exhibit if there’s a log sheet that provides more than basic information. I recall watching members of the public perusing the horticultural exhibits at Newark tractor show a few years ago, the exhibits with interesting log sheets with date of manufacture, place of origin, a bit of background, and perhaps a story to tell, held the attention of the viewer far longer than those that just showed a basic machine model and name. We also saw that people take a photo of a log sheet as well as the machine it’s attached to. Remember that you can always add a page or two of restoration photos or extra information to go with your log sheet.
These very random questions relate to horticultural items; technical knowledge is not required but a bit of guesswork might be useful.
A pencil and paper is handy to write down the answers.
As always, the answers (which are sometimes much longer than the questions) are at the bottom of the page.
Questions:
Q1: What colour were Dixon machines in the UK?
1: An easy question to start with: All sold in the UK, the vintage Dixon ZTR (zero turn mowers) and the Ford and Homelite ranges of lawn and garden tractors used what paint colour?
A: Blue B: Green C: Yellow
Q2: Wolf rechargeable tools?
2: In the 1970s, Wolf Garden Tools were advertising their Power Pack System. This consisted of a rechargeable battery that could be used with a range of attachments – a very popular system used by major manufacturers today but appears not to be a new idea as Wolf was advertising it fifty years ago. Items were a shrub trimmer which could have a long handle attached for also being a grass trimmer, and a 35cm double-sided hedge trimmer. A third item that used the same rechargeable battery was also sold – but what was it?
A: Torch B: Powered secateurs C: Garden sprayer
Q3: Who did Allen buy in 1983?
3. After Flymos’ hover mower patent ran out, many manufacturers started to produce similar machines. Allen Power Equipment Ltd, which is known for making numerous models of horticultural machinery, eventually included hover mowers. In 1983, which manufacturer of hover mowers did Allen purchase?
A: Crown B: Flymo C: Black & Decker
Q4: What did Westwood sell?
4. Before starting to manufacture their Gazelle lawn and garden tractors in the 1970s, which American-made lawn tractors did Westwood Engineering Ltd import and sell in the UK?
A: Countax B: Wolf C: Dynamark
Q5: Which decade?
5. Electric strimmers/trimmers seem to have been around for a long time and early domestic models have been made by Black & Decker, Qualcast, Toro and AL-KO. But in which decade did Flymo decide to join the game and introduce its first electric trimmers? The models were the Mini-Trim and the Multi-Trim. And for an extra bonus point, can you name the exact year?
A: 1960s B: 1980s C: 2000s ……………………..and in which year?
Q6: What did Zundapp make?
6. The German company Zundapp made a range of motorbikes, scooters, microcars, and outboard motors that were sold in the UK in the 1950s and ’60s. But in the 1970s they also made which horticultural item that was sold in the UK?
A: Lawnmowers B: Woodchippers C: Hedgecutters
Q7: What colours are Bolens machines?
7. Starting in 1959, Bolens lawn and garden tractors and rear-engine riders have been available in the UK. But what colour schemes have they been painted?
A: Red and white B: Gold and white C: Green and white D: Green and Yellow
Q8: What was the Huff-N-Puff?
8. Bob Andrews Ltd, The Garden Machine Centre, Sunningdale, Berkshire retailed a varied range of labour-saving machines. These included the popular Cyclone lawn spreader, the Spintrim lawn edger, and the Spurspike lawn aerator (it had a bucket at the front which could be filled with stones or sand etc to give added weight). In the late 1970s, Andrews sold a machine called the Huff-N-Puff, but what was the Huff-N-Puff ?
A: A petrol-powered outdoor vacuum that could suck up leaves and blow away litter. B: A handheld electric leaf blower that could convert to suck up leaves into a barrow or trailer. C: A pedestrian-pushed rotary brush that created a blowing effect as it swept. …..Three intriguing answers above, but which one seems most likely?
Q9: What was the Farmer 300B?
9. The AL-KO Farmer 300B, Texas TV3, and Mountfield M1 Gardener are all examples of what type of machine?
Q10: What year did Honda launch their mowers in the UK?
10. In which decade did Honda launch their first range of lawnmowers in the UK? And for a bonus point can you name the year?
A: 1960s B: 1970s C: 1980s ……………………..and in which year? Have a guess!
Q11: What was Spearwells’ lawn rake called?
11: In the late 1960s, Spearwell Tools Ltd (a combination of the companies Brades, Elwell and Spear & Jackson) were advertising a hand rake that was used for scarifying a lawn – it had curved tines (as in the image). This tool was pushed and pulled through the lawn to remove dead and matted grass and thatch. What was this lawn rake called?
A: The Scrake B: The Moss-Boss C: The Thatcher-Catcher
Q12: How much did this Texas hosepipe cost in 1980?
12: We probably all remember the DIY superstores called Focus DIY, Great Mills, Do-It-All and Texas DIY; it doesn’t seem that long since we were shopping in them. The domestic garden machines and products they sold are immortalised in archives of newspaper and television adverts. In 1980, Texas DIY was advertising many things including the £14.99 Yeoman Ballbarrow which was a small galvanised barrow with a football-sized sphere instead of a solid tyre – these barrows will now be 43 years old! They were also selling ‘Texas Reinforced Hosepipe’ which came in 50′ lengths. How much did their 50′ hosepipe cost?
A: £3.49 B: £10.99 C: £15.49
Answers:
1: A: Blue. Dixon, Ford and Homelite all used blue as one of their main paint colours although all three also used white/cream for other tinwork and wheels.
2: C: Garden Sprayer. The rectangular-shaped sprayer could hold 3 litres and had a lance and nozzle much like a normal pressure sprayer. Complete with a battery and charger it cost £52 in 1978. The battery could recharge in 40-60 minutes.
3: A:Crown. Allen purchased Crown Horticultural Equipment Ltd, manufacturers of 2-stroke, 4-stroke, and electric hover mowers, in a £500,000 deal in May 1983.
4: C:Dynamark. Westwood sold the USA-made Dynamark lawn tractors in the UK in the 1970s. The range included the 32″ cutting width D32R, 36″ D36R, and D36E and D1036E with electric start. There were also rear-engine rider models, though none appear to have survived in the UK – but the top-spec 8/36E with electric starter and headlights was £365 in 1973. For answers A and B, neither are USA makes, Countax being UK and Wolf being German…although Wolf did sell USA Yard-Man riders and lawn tractors rebranded as Wolf in the UK in the 1970s.
5: B: 1980s (1987). Flymo introduced their first electric strimmers in 1987. The models were the Mini-Trim and the Multi-Trim. The Multi-Trim could be converted to a lawn edger by twisting the cutting head. With an investment of £500K, the two models had taken three years to develop.
6: A: The German company Zundapp branched out into making lawnmowers. Several models of their two-stroke and electric-powered mowers were advertised and sold here in the early 1970s, but none seem to have survived. The mowers had yellow mower decks, red engine covers, and chrome handles.
7: A, B, C, and D: All the answers are correct. To mention a few: the Husky 800 and some Ride-a-matics were painted gold with white wheels; the early Ride-a-matics were green with yellow wheels; the Estate Keeper and Lawn Keeper were white with red wheels and detailing. Later Bolens were white and green.
8: A:The Huff-N-Puff was a petrol-powered pedestrian-pushed vacuum leaf collector – a mini Billy Goat vacuum for the smaller garden. It sucked the leaves or debris into a rear grass bag that hung from the handles. An optional wand (a flexible pipe that attached at the front end) enabled suction in confined spaces; the wand could also be attached at the rear, instead of the bag, and then it would be able to blow puddles off driveways and paths or “dislodge stubborn litter from shrub beds”. The Huff-N-Puff was £199+vat in 1979.
9:B:Garden Cultivators. In the 1980s, the AL-KO Farmer cultivator was available as a 3.5hp petrol or 1000-watt electric model; the Texas cultivators were advertised with 3hp – 5hp Briggs & Stratton engines, and the Mountfield M1 Gardener was shown with 3.5hp and 4hp Briggs & Stratton engines.
10:B:1970s (1978). Honda launched their first mower, the rotary HR21, in the UK in August 1978.
11:A: The Scrake. Spearwells’ lawn rake was called the scrake – a portmanteau of the words scarify and rake. However, I think they should have called it the Moss-Boss, they really missed a marketing trick there. In 1968 the scrake was priced at £2.13s.6d – but the Moss-Boss name would have commanded a greater price.
12:A: £3.49. 50′ of reinforced hosepipe from Texas DIY in 1980 cost a bargain £3.49, and had been reduced from £3.99. Currently, in 2023, B&Q are selling a similar product for £19.95, I guess it’s all relative.
