The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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Automaton Timeline

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Clive1997 Wed, 06/05/2020

Further to my posting of two Automatons on the 'Virtual Annual Rally 2020', this is the timeline so far, comments welcome.

1866

The first Automatons manufactured & tested by Royal gardens & large estates.

1867

Now on sale to the public, available in 10,12,14,16,18 & 20in all designed for manual operation by one or two people.1000 were sold in first year of production.

1869

2400 sold to date Now sold under the name of Ransomes Sims & Head

1870

4000 sold to date

1871

5000 sold to date with an 8in model now advertised

1872

6000 sold to date

1873

8000 sold to date

1874

9000 sold to date

1875

10,000 sold to date. Various improvements were made the notable ones being ’Adjustable Handles’ & removable concave for back delivery, this being a cast plate that required 4 bolts to be removed. See images below…                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

1876

12,000 sold to date

1877

14000 sold to date. Larger Horse & Pony machines introduced

1878

16,000 sold to date

1880

Introduction of the more ornate gear cover, sheet iron concave, longer handles & larger capacity grass box, this had cast internal brackets that formed the ornate handles, see images…

                                       

 

 

 

 

1884

Name change to Ransome Sims & Jefferies with the New Automaton in both gear & chain drive being introduced the following year, 1885.

Forums

Keith Wootton Fri, 08/05/2020

Great information there Clive, thanks.

Although the primary intention of the Automaton theme was to bring these early models together at the rally, I believe we also wanted to include all forms of the "Automaton" through into the 20th century. Does anyone have a list of the various subsequent models and the date range in which they were made?

hdtrust Sat, 09/05/2020

Yes thank you Keith,and also corrections on years and sales figures to which Clive has added,as we have copies of Ransomes ledgers!

You cannot go on advertisement sales numbers.Ransomes are not the easiest of companies to research,as they were masters of their own version of the truth.

Kind regards

Andrew

Archivist,The Hall & Duck Trust