Early Push Reel Lawn Mower Technology

By Steven Blades Platinum Quality Author


Ever since man has had grass on the front lawn, man has looked for ways to keep it trim and neat. In the early days, landowners would till the grass with scythes. Later on, many landowners realized that relying on nature was far easier than spending hours outside trying to cut grass, so they would allow their livestock to go out and graze. Over time, this grazing would give the yard a trimmed, even look that homeowners have been trying to emulate ever since.

The first lawn mower was invented in 1827, although it is debatable as to who was the man who originally conceived the idea. Some say it was an English engineer named Edwin Beard Budding, while others claim it to be another Englishman, an inventor named Richard Meleady. However, while the lawn mower was patented in 1930, they did not begin to go into widespread production until sometime in the 1860s. The longest-lasting design for the lawnmower is the push mower. While push mowers of today almost exclusively run on gas or electricity, push mowers of the 1860s were far simpler devices that are still used to this day.

The basic push mower design was a simple one: a wooden push handle attached to a long wooden stick. At the other end of the stick were two rods that connected to the wheels. As the mower was pushed and the wheels rotated, the blades would rotate as well. Early mowers had upwards of six rotating blades that would cut the grass at an even height. The drawback to these mowers, which is still a problem today, is that the blades would dull rather quickly and require frequent maintenance to sharpen. Another drawback was that you would still have to exert lots of energy to push the mower across your whole lawn. However, as technology evolved, so too would the lawn mower.