Ferrabee Improved, No 7508

Ferrabee Improved No 7508 is on display at the Museum in the Park, Stroud, along with machine No 8043.

Advertisements published during 1857 claim that James Ferrabee & Co had sold around 6000 machines. By 1858, advertisements were stating that the "the seven thousandth mower is being sent out." In other words, machines numbered between 6000 and 7000 were being delivered that year. This would lead to an approximate date for No 7508 of late 1858 or (perhaps more likely) 1859, based on production being somewhere between 500 and 1000 a year at that time. 

Given the machine's likely age it is possible that it originally had two cast iron castors at the front, one on each side frame, rather than a full-width wooden roller.