Amish riding mower
- Thread starter DiskDoctr
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outnumbered
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- Aug 28, 2004
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Thanks bigpete for the photo links. I found out the horse drawn mowers were introduced about 1850 or so. Every drawing of the early ones I have seen shows them built in a fairly similar way if they had two wheels of equal size. A few designs had a single center metal wheel. All of the wheels were iron with some kind of cleat for traction. The typical sickle length was 5 feet. Some had longer bars but it created a lot more resistance the longer the bar so the 6 and 7 foot bars were much harder for the horses/mules to pull.
The only variation seems to be in the length and design of hand levers and whether or not the bar was hinged so that it could be raised to clear rocks, stumps etc. All seemed to have a metal seat mounted on a curved support attached to the unit. Some had the main driveshaft gear partially exposed which required frequent lubrication. The later ones had enclosed gear boxes to retain the grease. It's amazing how little the designs changed from the Civil War era originals all the way through the 1930's. There were actually a fair number of different early makers of horse drawn mowers. Most companies disappeared by the turn of the century.
The definitive source for info and photos appears to be the "Encyclopedia of American Farm Implements and Antiques" by C.H. Wendel of Mt. Pleasant, IA. He is on the board of the Old Threshers Foundation which is having its reunion there within the next few days. They offered to help me after the rush of their present event.
I found the book at Borders Book Store and it is an amazing resource of antique farm implements.
The only variation seems to be in the length and design of hand levers and whether or not the bar was hinged so that it could be raised to clear rocks, stumps etc. All seemed to have a metal seat mounted on a curved support attached to the unit. Some had the main driveshaft gear partially exposed which required frequent lubrication. The later ones had enclosed gear boxes to retain the grease. It's amazing how little the designs changed from the Civil War era originals all the way through the 1930's. There were actually a fair number of different early makers of horse drawn mowers. Most companies disappeared by the turn of the century.
The definitive source for info and photos appears to be the "Encyclopedia of American Farm Implements and Antiques" by C.H. Wendel of Mt. Pleasant, IA. He is on the board of the Old Threshers Foundation which is having its reunion there within the next few days. They offered to help me after the rush of their present event.
I found the book at Borders Book Store and it is an amazing resource of antique farm implements.
