Gas Powered Lawn Mower History

platefire

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Now here are some early 40's exceptions to the reel mower. Some of the first vertical shaft to rotary blade flat decks:
Lauson Company.jpeg
Micro Devices.jpgTehnopol.jpg
 
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platefire

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Just thinking remembering Grandpa on mothers side had a pretty large yard and he always had a powered reel
mower. On my Dad's side Grandpa had a small yard and always had a non-powered walk behind
push reel mower.

Happy Fathers Day to all you Dads & shade tree lawn mower mechanics o_O (y)
 

platefire

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Think this will wrap up the 40's Era mowers. This Toro Homelawn below is pretty good example of what ruled
the roost from the 30's throughout the 40's and dare say extended even into the 50's and 60's. I recall my Grandpa using his reel mower up into the late 60's.

The Homelawn was introduced in the mid 1930’s as Toro’s first power mower designed for the homeowner. It was expensive and heavy and once war production started the tooling was packed away. Like Most manufactures once war production ended Toro picked up where they left off. Toro use primarily Briggs and Stratton engines however Briggs had labor issues and long strikes would halt production. This 1949 model used a Continental engine. Continental an airplane engine manufactory was a minor player in post war lawn equipment engines. These is a very rare mower however when I needed parts to repair the engine we had them in our parts department.
Toro 40's ad.jpg
Toro 40's a.jpg
Toro 40's b.jpg
 

7394

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These are so cool to see, most for 1st time..
 

platefire

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Thanks! This is something I wondered about for a long time but just never took the time to do it. I never cared
about history of any sort when I was a kid but here in my old age I find history of all sorts very interesting. The
development of gas powered lawn mowers go back further and was more advanced than I first suspected. So this is good fun to me:>)
 

platefire

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Here We go "50's Mowers Begins! This first one is not your ordinary mower but may as well start off with
a "Bang"!!! Here is some info on plus a picture:

In this AP photo the "Power Mower of the Future" is demonstrated in Port Washington, Wis., Oct 14, 1957. The lawnmower has a five foot diameter plastic sphere in which the rider sits on an air foam cushioned seat. It has its own electric generating system for operating running lights, a radio telephone, air conditioning and even a cooling system to provide a chilled drink on a hot day. It can be used for many purposes. It can mow the lawn, weed it, feed it, seed it, spray for insects, plow snow and haul equipment. It can even be used as a golf cart.

A similar color photo with the man driving while his wife and child watched was featured on the cover of the March 1958 issue of Mechanix Illustrated.

50's Mower1.jpeg
50's Mower 1a.jpeg
 
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