Our team of specialists may be able to help with general queries about your old mower. Before you contact us read these notes.
Click on one of the manufacturers listed below to learn more and find out how to contact the relevant person:
Atco (Charles H Pugh)
Greens (Thomas Green & Son)
JP (Jerram & Pearson)
Ransomes (Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies)
Shanks (Alexander Shanks)
Hand (Non-Motorised) Mowers Not Listed Above
As a general guide our specialists will only help with lawn mowers made in the UK before 1970. Please read these notes.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about an Atco mower. Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone.
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
1921-1939
It is not easy to date Atco mowers made before 1939 with any precision. The company does not appear to have numbered its mowers or used any systematic dating process. There were relatively few Atco models and it seems that the company was able to run its extensive service operations by simply knowing the type of mower and the cutting width. From this could be determined the spare parts required and there was no need for any further complications.
All Atco motor mowers produced during this period had either Villiers two-stroke or JAP four-stroke engines. Both engine manufacturers numbered their engines and it is often possible to date a mower from these, bearing in mind that the original motor could have been replaced at a later date. The numbering and dating of JAP engines is covered by this list of JAP engine dates and this alternative list of JAP engine dates. Dating Villiers engines is slightly more difficult for two reasons. First, it seems that engines were supplied in batches. Second, many engines were supplied with a special number prefix which denoted their use on lawn mowers but offered few clues to their date. For example, many Atco Motor Mowers (The Atco Standard) from the 1920s have Villiers 147cc engines with "H" prefixes to the numbers. Later, and into the 1930s, smaller Villiers "Midget" engines have CY or similar prefixes that also seem to be mower specific.
For these reasons it is normally only possible to date Atco mowers to an approximate age within the known production period. Experienced collectors and enthusiasts can often give an assessment of a mower's age based on small variations in design.
1945-1970
Like many other manufacturers Atco ceased mower production during the Second World War to concentrate on other products. When mower production resumed around 1947 the company adopted a systematic approach to numbering its machines using a small detachable brass plate on the frame. This was typically located at the end of a frame cross-piece and held in place between the nut and frame. All mowers were given a basic identification number with the format AABB/C where AA is the cutting width in inches and BB is the last two digits of the year of production. So, for example, 1247 would indicate a 12 inch mower made in 1947.
The final number after the / is not always present and there is some debate among collectors over its significance. When it is present it is typically one higher than the second "B", for example 1455/6 or 1754/5. The most likely explanation is that it was used to signify that the mower was made or sold at the beginning of the season and hence followed the same design as the preceding year. Occurrences appear to support this theory.
Atco used the same numbering system across it complete range. As with pre-1939 machines there was little need for a more complicated system as the company produced a relatively small range of standardiused designs. However, it should be evident that the basic numbering system did not allow differentiation between different models (or completely different types of mower) with the same cutting width. For example, the company made 12 inch conventional, rotary and battery mowers at the same time and needed to make a distinction between each. The simplest solution was to use a series of suffixes to the main numbering system.
This numbering system appears to have fallen out of use by the late 1960s and, as far as is known, no mowers produced after 1970 were supplied with these designations.
Atco made relatively few different designs at any one time so simply knowing the size and year would be enough to identify the specification of the machine and which spares might be needed to repair it. When rotary mowers were introduced by the company in the late 1950s they were designated with a similar number followed by an "R" - for rotary - to avoid confusion with conventional machines.
One consequence of this numbering convention is that it is possible to find very many mowers with seemingly the same serial number.
The Atco instruction booklets supplied with the mowers used the same coding system with one minor difference. For mowers with a different cutting width but otherwise identical specification the manual would have carried what might be called a compound number, for example 14172055 to designate the booklet for the 14inch and 20 inch models from 1955.
1970 Onwards
It seems that Atco began to emply a longer serial numbering system from the late 1960s onwards. We do not have any details of this at present.
Spares for Atco lawn mowers can be difficult to obtain, although the following notes may be useful:
Mower Specific Components
Parts specific to the mower, such as frames and handles, are no longer available and the only option is to use a second machine as a donor.
Generic Components
Items such as bearings and roller chain were often sourced from third party manufacturers and can often be replaced with a modern equivalent. Roller and ball bearings, for example, can be found at most general engineering suppliers. Roller chain is also widely available from engineering and transmission stockists. Original bottom blades and cutting cylinders are no longer available but a few specialist companies can supply replacements from stock or using existing parts as a pattern.
Engine Components
Spares for Villiers engines back to the 1920s are widely available from a number of specialist stockists as well as online sites such as eBay. JAP spares are also available but less readily. Spares for Suffolk engines used on Atco mowers in the 1950s and 60s are difficult to obtain and the best option is to strip an existing unit.
Carburettors
A number of specialist companies can help with spares for carburettors and auction sites such as eBay regularly have items for sale. Very early Senspray and Atco carburettors from the 1920s can be found but prices are rising. Later Villiers carburettor spares can often be obtained from engine specialists.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about a Thomas Green & Son mower. Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about an JP m Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about an Atco mower. Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone.
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Operating Manuals & Machine Dating
The Museum of English Rural Life at the University of Reading has an extensive archive of Ransomes information including operating manuals and sales and promotional literature. The museum can normally supply copies of some of this information and provide a basic machine dating service for a nominal cost which covers copying and postage.
When contacting the museum please have a note of any serial numbers from the mower and/or its engine. Patent numbers can also be useful. Motor mowers can generally be dated more accurately than hand machines because the production records compiled by Ransomes (and now retained by MERL) are more specific.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about an Shanks mower. Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone.
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
Use the links below to contact specialists in The Old Lawnmower Club who may be able to help with a query about an Suffolk mower. Clicking on a link will either open a new page or allow you to send an email.
Click here to read these important general notes before contacting anyone.
General Advice
Our specialist will be able to provide basic identification, dating and historical information as well as some technical advice. Click here to send an email.
Spare Parts
Spares for engines, clutch cables and fuel systems may be available. It is unlikely that other spares (especially for the mower chassis or body) will be readily available. Click here to send an email to our spare parts specialist.
Selling Your Mower
We can advertise mowers to collectors in our quarterly Grassbox newsletter. Information can be submitted for inclusion by clicking here.
If you cannot find the answer and would like to contact the club, please click here to send a general enquiry email. Before sending your email, read these notes first.
Our team of specialists will be pleased to help with your queries but we ask that anyone contacting us bears the following in mind:
Please look at our FAQ Page to find answers to many questions about the Old Lawnmower Club.
There is lots of information on our website about the history and development of the lawn mower. Use the search box (top left of page) to find all pages that mention specific machines.
For information and advice about restoring old mowers, please look at the Restoration Section of our website before contacting our specialist team members.
Please use our specialist help service to contact us with a query about a particular make of machine. If you send an email to the wrong person or ask for help about a different make of mower you may not receive a reply.
Allow plenty of time for a reply. All of our specialists are volunteering their spare time and may not be able to answer your query straight away.
We do not provide valuations. The specialist you contact may occasionally be able to offer an estimate of recent auction prices as a guide.
We cannot enter into detailed correspondence about mowers you wish to sell. We will be happy to include details of any suitable mower you may wish to sell in our quarterly newsletter. You can supply all the information we need using our online advertising form.