Skip to main content
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

New User from Germany with Bunse Lawn Mower

Enter a word or two to search the forum section and click the Search Forum button.

I am the Reinhardt in Berlin. I restore a reel mower by the company Bunse 1953. It is powered by a 100cc engine with ILO driven with 47cm cutting width. The engine was rusted and was overtaken again and running. Currently I am building the mower back together.Picture https://plus.google.com/photos/100859529173961910062/albums?banner=pwa

Best Regards,
Reinhard

gtc Wed, 15/04/2015

Welcome Reinhard.

Unfortunately, I cannot see your photos. I receive this error message: "You do not have permission to view this album". Perhaps that album is not set to "public"?

gtc Wed, 15/04/2015

You've done a great job on that mower.

Is that gearbox noisy in operation?

 

Seb Wed, 15/04/2015

It looks like a lovely mower, and certainly not one I have seen before.
from what I can gather it was patented in 1950 with a patent number DE854598 C and application number DE1950B0003122, the patent is titled "Rasenmaeher mit Grasauffangvorrichtung und mechanischem Auswerfer" which I understand translates as "Lawn mower with grass catcher and mechanical ejection".

The grassbox is particularly fascinating, as it has a paddle system which is reminiscent of those used on large ransomes and shanks mowers between 1900 and 1920, however with one crucial difference, whereas they both have paddles which slide across horizontally, yours appears to move through a sector of a circle, Although I have not been able to drag up the actual patent drawings I would guess that this was specifically mentioned in them.

Regards

Seb

reinerm60 Wed, 15/04/2015

Thanks for the compliment and welcome greetings.
Today I painted the Grassbox. Tomorrow I have to grind the bottom blade, I can assemble everything.
The transmission makes no noise and runs very quietly. It is lubricated with gear grease. The gear cover can only be installed if the lower blade is installed.
Reinhard

wristpin Wed, 15/04/2015

That looks like a quality bit of engineering. I assume that the JLO being a two-stroke is fairly high revving , hence the need for the attached reduction gearbox plus the side gears. It seems an odd mixture of quality engineering but with a grass collection/ejection system had long been superceded by tip boxes on the UK machines that originally used it.

I'm guessing that it was an expensive machine in its day; would it have been sold to both domestic and commercial users and was it part of a range of machines from that manufacturer?

A great find and a restoration to be proud of!

It appears that Bunse may also have invented an interesting  grass clearing device for rotary (rotory) mower decks in the 1970s. A bit of an advance on the usual bit of string or bungey cord hooked onto the grass ejection flap!!

http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US3514931. " In the prior art practice it was necessary to stop the mower and manually remove .... Fritz Bunse, Rasenmaeher mit Grasauffangvorrichtung und mechanischem ."..

 

reinerm60 Sat, 18/04/2015

hello together, yesterday I finally can assemble the lawn mower. This was followed by the first test drive - It mows like new, absolutely clean cuts. For the lower blade grind I still had to build myself a grinding device, which also has worked perfectly, the knife is absolutely sharp and flat. See my pictures on Picasa: www.google.com/+reinerm60

Regards,

Reinhard

gtc Sat, 18/04/2015

Did you set your images to public access?

gtc Sat, 18/04/2015

Great job. Well done!

Are you a member of a local vintage mower or vintage machinery club? Will you be displaying your Bunse?

 

 

reinerm60 Sun, 19/04/2015

Hello, I'm not a member of an oldtimer club. I would, however, may take part in the 16th and 17th May at your annual rally in Milton keynes museum with my Bunse. I need to login to for participation?

wristpin Sun, 19/04/2015

Not only is the mower a credit to you but I really like your bottom blade grinder - simple and effective! Did you sharpen the cutting cylinder blades yourself or was that a job for an engineering works?

Was  there a front roller option or did all those machines come with what we in the UK would call " high cut. " side wheels?  Possibly it is not intended to cut as short as we would do with a cylinder (reel) mower.

reinerm60 Sun, 19/04/2015

thank's for the compliments. i am working in a engineering works and have the cylinder blades sharpen in the lathe. There are over the Bunse Unfortunately no documents. i have only side weels for the mower.
Sorry for my bad english.

regards

Reinhard

 

gtc Sun, 19/04/2015

Your English is okay; we can understand you :-)

I guess you are asking if you need to register to attend Lawnmower Day.

I don't know the answer to that, but the Admin here ought to. I'll ask him to chime in on this thread.

I expect your Bunse would attract quite some attention at that event.

olcadmin Sun, 19/04/2015

I have contacted Reinhard direct with details of the event.