The History Of The Lawn Mower

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While many of us find mowing the lawn to be a nuisance, we often take this garden appliance for granted. Modern mowers make cutting the grass a lot easier than it would have been many moons ago. In fact, mower technology has gone through many evolutions over the years.

This post takes a brief look at the history of the lawn mower – from its humble roots to the cutting-edge technology of the present. 

The manual mower

The first lawn mower was invented in 1830 by English inventor Edwin Budding. It was operated by manually pushing it along. 

How did people mow their lawns before 1830? Did lawns even exist? There were certainly lawns before 1830, but they tended to only be found on sports grounds or the gardens of stately homes. Grass was cut using shears or scythes – which was incredibly labor-intensive. In other cases, grazing animals were used to keep grass short. Both methods were incredibly expensive, requiring either a team of landscapers or purchasing animals.

The manual mower might seem inefficient by today’s standards, but it drastically sped up lawn care with its revolutionary bladed cylinder. Further design improvements to this cylinder – including the spiral-bladed cylinder by US inventor Amariah Hills in 1868  – helped the lawn mower to become a popular garden tool that was much cheaper and more efficient than using scythes or goats.

You can still buy manual mowers today. They’re the most environmentally-friendly form of mower you can own and are very cheap compared to more modern mowers.

The steam mower

In 1893, James Sumner of Lancashire invented the steam lawn mower. It was the first true ride-on mowing machine – it used a boiler to generate steam, which turned pistons in order to automatically turn the roller. 

The steam mower wasn’t very successful, which is why you don’t see many of them nowadays. It was heavy and required a lot of maintenance. It also took several hours to get up to the right pressure and required a skilled operator to use it. 

Besides, just as the steam mower began to gain traction, a new style of mower was already in the works…

The petrol mower

The first commercially available petrol-powered mower was introduced by Ransomes of Ipswich in 1902. This mower was a game-changer, because it was much easier to operate than the steam mower. Back in the early 1900s, such a mower would have been very bulky and complex and would have still required a skilled operator. However, it was much simpler to get started.

The Ransomes mower quickly inspired other manufacturers to create their own gasoline mowers. Pretty soon, they were outselling steam mowers.

It wasn’t until the 1920s however that gasoline mowers became mass-produced. Advances in motor technology allowed mowers to be built in a greater range of sizes – including large ride-on mowers and small push-along mowers. Petrol mowers would have started to become a more common sight and sound on commercial lawns during this era.

When did regular people start buying petrol mowers for domestic use? This trend didn’t really take off until post-World-War-II. A boom in the construction of suburban homes turned the lawn into a symbol of the American Dream. More people had access to larger amounts of private outdoor space and increasing wages and disposable income allowed everyday people to invest in new appliances like washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers.

Having a perfectly manicured lawn became trendy and it was much easier to do this if you owned a lawn mower. Gasoline mowers that existed during the 1950s would have been similar to the gasoline mowers that exist now – if not slightly louder and less reliable. They remained popular throughout much of the 20th century. In fact, it is only in recent years that petrol mowers have started to see a decline in popularity, due to another type of mower…

The electric mower

Designs for the first electric mower can be traced back to 1895, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that they started to become commercially available. The Ransomes Sims and Jefferies Electra were both launched in 1926. As early as the 1930s, they were marketed as a quiet and clean alternative to gasoline mowers. 

Early electric mowers were not as powerful as gasoline mowers and did not sell as well because of this. Even today, gasoline mowers are still viewed as the more powerful option. However, growing environmental awareness has seen the electric mower rise in popularity in the last couple decades. Electric mowers don’t produce the same emissions and also create less noise pollution. This makes them a much greener option. 

The first commercially available cordless mower – introduced in 2013 – also changed the game. Until this point, all electric mowers had to be plugged in while being used, which limited their range and made them less easy to manoeuvre than petrol mowers. With a cordless mower, there is no need to worry about where the cable is or how far it will stretch.

In the mid-2010s, electric mowers began to outsell petrol mowers. Most of today’s electric mowers are still pushed along. However, a new mower is believed to dominate in the future…

The robot mower

The robot lawn mower has risen in popularity in recent years. As the name suggests, this lawn mower is fully automated – it uses sensors to determine the perimeters of the lawn and any obstacles, and automatically cuts the lawn for you. 

The first robot lawn mower, the MowBot, can be traced back to 1969. Robot mowers have come a long way since then thanks to improvements in computer technology. Many of today’s mowers are cordless and electric – with some capable of automatically returning to their charging station after use. A solar powered robot lawn mower was introduced to the market in the 1990s, but was not overly successful due to its limited power. That said, solar powered robot mowers are thought to be the future – advancements in solar technology are making it possible for more powerful mowers to run on this energy source, which means that one day you may be able to run your robot mower for free. 

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