Willoughby Green - Patent 1384 - P01
Willoughby Green's Patent No 1384, confirmed on 6 June 1859, is one of the most important early improvements to the lawnmower. It describes the use of a pinion chain to transmit power direct from the rear roller to the cutting cylinder, thereby avoiding heavy, complex, and noisy gears. The resulting lawnmower was lighter and easier to use that gear driven models. It was also (as experience subsequently showed) less expensive to manufacture, easier to set up, and was generally more reliable because of the lack of gears which were prone to damage.
Thomas Green's market share certainly took off in the 1860s and sales grew rapidly. John & James Ferrabee had manufactured a total of around 8500 mowers between 1830 and 1863 but within a few years of the new mower's introduction, Thomas Green's annual production figures exceeded this. This may have been a factor as to why Ferrabee stopped production of lawnmowers in 1863.
DRAFT
A.D. 1859, 6th JUNE. N° 1384.
Mowing Machines.
LETTERS PATENT to Willoughby Green, of 2, Victoria Street, in the City of London, and of Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 15th November 1859, and dated the 6th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Willoughby Green at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th June 1859.
I, WILLOUGHBY GREEN, of 2, Victoria Street, in the City of London, and of Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mowing machines. For these purposes the axle on which the hinder or larger drum or roller is mounted has on it a chain wheel which gives motion to an endless chain, which takes into a small chain wheel on the axle of the rotatory cutter shaft.
In place of chain wheels and an endless chain, an endless strap or band and pulleys may be used, by which combination the driving of the cutter shaft is simplified and improved.PublicationPatent DocumentDateSourceGoogle Books/English Patents of Inventions Specification/1859Link