Ransomes Edgers

Many will be familiar with the often seen  Ransomes edger owned by several members with the exposed gears, this model having been introduced in 1900 & continued into the 1940's, quite often seen in auctions etc.

An earlier version with a conical roller was introduced in 1885 until the late 1890's, then a chain drive edger appearing for possibly one year in a similar design to the later open gear version referred to above..

I have recently acquired a second edger with conical roller, at first i hoped it was totally original, but it may well have been re-painted possibly over 70 years ago, having been in the same family for that time.

These edgers are particularly rare, probably only around 6 or so known to exist, one of those being in New Zealand, plus the 2 I now have and others held by members in Suffolk & Bedfordshire, also no doubt there may be one or more in Somerset collection. 

When I first came across the conical edger I didn't fully understand the reason for the unusual roller, however on obtaining a copy of the original instructions I found that to adjust the depth of cut, simply tilt the machine on the roller!

As always I would be interested to learn of any others.

Seen below, new acquisition & two restored examples.