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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

MP051: Shanks Ivanhoe

The Shanks Ivanhoe was introduced in 1927.

The Ivanhoe was introduced in 1927 by Alexander Shanks of Arbroath and London. The mower was available for domestic use on ordinary lawns but Shanks also had in mind the professional sports ground market and produced special versions for use of golf and bowling greens.

The Ivanhoe was designed and manufactured to a high specification compared with similar models from other manufacturers at the time. It incorporated a high-precision gear drive enclosed in an oil bath to provide protection and lubrication. This new concept was also being employed on mowers made by JP, Drummond and Ransome among others.

The cutting cylinder had eight blades. In combination with high gearing this produced the large number of cuts for each foot of forward motion that is necessary for fine turf mowing.

The cylinder was mounted using ball bearings instead of brass or bronze bushes found on earlier machines. This made it easier to set the machine and helped reduce cylinder movement during use for more accurate and finer cutting.

Another trend of the period exemplified by the Ivanhoe is ease of use. The cutting height could be adjusted by simply turning cast iron handles at each end of the front roller to raise or lower the mower. Similar handles were used to set the cutting cylinder against the bottom blade. Earlier machines required a small spanner to make the same adjustments but these could be easily lost and the operation was more fiddly.

On early machines the handles attached to the top of the side frames but this proved to be a bit of a weakness. From 1929 the handles were attached to a new mounting at the back edge of the side frame.

The Ivanhoe was built in three sizes, 12", 14" and 16" priced at £7-10-0 to £9-15-0 including the grass box in 1928. The 14" and 16" models were also available with thinner bottom blades (allowing the cutting height to be set closer to the ground) for use on golf and bowling greens. These were priced at £9-10-0 and £10-15-0 respectively.

The Ivanhoe continued in production until 1935 when it was replaced by new designs from Shanks.

The Ivanhoe is less common than many similar machines of the same period from other manufacturers. However, a number of collectors have examples in their collections.

Advertisement for Shanks Ivanhoe and Caledonia mowers dating from 1927-29.