In this day and age, the ride on mower is a common landscaping and gardening tool. Today these powerful lawn mowers can be found in almost every type of setting, from large sports arenas to tiny suburban backyards. The versatility of these machines in our modern society can be linked closely to their popularity. These lawn mowers make cutting grass as easy as possible and require little to no manual labour, combined with the fact that they are more affordable than ever before thanks to mass production, it is easy to see how these effective mowers have become so popular.

 

At BS Power we understand the popularity of ride on mowers well and strive to provide our South African consumer base with the best the industry has to offer. We stock only the best riding mower brands, from Honda to Husqvarna. We can guarantee that our machines are top of the line and ready to handle all your landscaping and lawn care needs. However, we are also acutely aware that the rides on mowers we sell today are the product of a much longer historical lineage.

 

We at BS Power are proud to be part of such a long and illustrious history and believe that we are contributing to that story. In this article we want to examine this history in greater detail, we will investigate the beginning of the ride on mowers and some of the technological developments through the ages that made the machines what they are today.

 

The First Ride On Mower: Where It All Began

 

Before we can begin discussing the history of the ride on mower, it is critical here to highlight two important notes. Firstly, that riding mowers and the lawn mower are two different machines, although their functions are similar, the machines differ greatly in how they are used, namely the lawn mower must be pushed from behind in order to operate, where as the name suggests the ride on mower is a sort of vehicle which is operated from a seat which has a steering wheel and controls, making it vastly easier physically to use.

 

Secondly and importantly for this section the history of mowers, both lawn and ride-on is deceptively long and spans almost two hundred years, this of course excludes the earliest lawn mowers – which were grazing herds of sheep and cattle. Here let us then look at the remarkable history of ride on mowers.

 

Mowers In General

 

As we have already stated, the history of mowers can be traced back almost two hundred years. This is of course from a European lens, as there may have been other inventions in other parts of the world that historians have neglected to include or were unaware of.

 

The very first mower was of course a lawn mower, and was unpowered, rather it was a manually operated mechanical machine first developed and patented by Edwin Bear Budding in 1827. However, these lawn mowers would only see manufacturing in 1830 when Budding paired up with John Ferrabee. The two of them would begin selling the machines publicly and by 1863 sold over 5000 lawnmowers.

 

An interesting fact about Budding’s machine is that the first model produced was actually used to cut the lawn of one of the earliest zoos, the Regent Park Gardens in London.

 

The First Riding Mower

 

The lawn mower itself would undergo many changes from how it operated to making it lighter, and by 1893 introducing a steam powered version. However, the history of the first ride on mower is a little hazier than its lawn mower counterpart.

 

Today we agree that the first ride on mowers was invented by either JP Engineering or Ransomes. However, it is the popular opinion that Ransomes Automaton invented in 1902 may have been the first riding mower. However, in 1900 Ransomes had also developed a chain-driven mower which could be pulled by horses, while the driver sat on the machine, this close release window of two different machine prototypes is where some confusion about the origin of riding mowers is created. However, the 1902 model actually utilised petrol as its power source, and therefore for the purposes of this article can be considered the first real ride on more as we understand it today.

 

Early Adoption

 

It is interesting to highlight here the slow adoption of ride on mowers, especially when considering that the earliest models were around from 1902. Here we can list two main causes for the hesitancy of the public to invest in these machines:

 

The beginning of the twentieth century saw Europe embroiled in its first great war, from 1914 – 1918. This conflict not only drew many potential consumers into the war and away from home, but also led to a surge in poverty for many Europeans. The lack of consumers and disposable income limited those willing to invest in luxuries like the riding mowers.

 

Another obstacle that is not well discussed, is that the 1902 Automaton actually used petrol, in the early twentieth century ride on mowers may really only have been a practical purchase for groundskeepers of the rich European aristocracy whose country-side manor houses had large sprawling gardens and could also afford these luxurious mowers. However, the groundskeepers were hesitant about using petrol powered machines on their finely attended lawns and were more likely to use horse powered mowers.

 

However, as the ride on mower developed and groundskeepers began to see their effectiveness in cutting lawns, adoption did happen and by 1930 became a more common practice. However, it would not be until the 1960s – 1970s with markets in the USA opening up and the invention of smaller cheaper models of riding mowers like the Junior Motor Triple (1964), that could be used in suburban settings that these machines really began to take off.

 

 

Technological Development Of Ride On Mowers

 

From the 1930s onwards, the ride on mower did grow in popularity slowly, and with an increase in sales for both riding and lawn mowers, more and more manufacturers looked to add their own products to this growing lawn care market. Although it should be said here that Ransomes, who was credited with developing the first model, remained a dominant competitive force well into the 1970s.

 

However, the increase in competition also saw an uptick in development as the manufacturers tried to gain one over on their competitors. The ride on mower as we know it today is the product of many technological advances and innovations that occurred during the latter portion of the twentieth century. In this section let us look at some of the most important.

 

Changing Fuel Types

 

One of the most varied changes was fuel type. This is a rather unique situation, as the early adoption of petrol, a fuel source that is used in many modern machines, would be changed up and many other fuel sources would also be tried in parallel to the use of petrol. Some of other types of fuel sources included:

 

Horse Drawn: Although we no longer refer to horse drawn riding mowers as a ride on mower but rather as a “gang mower”, as we saw in the previous section horse drawn power mowers were still popular even with, he introduction of petrol powered machines, and would continue to develop in conjunction with other fuel sources for a long time.

 

Propane: Petrol was in many ways a new invention in the early twentieth century and like with the groundskeepers discussed above, many did not adopt petrol (or gasoline quickly) as a fuel source for some time. Therefore, Ideal Power, an American company developed an alternative mower that utilised propane rather than petrol, as an alternative. Although you can still find propane powered motors today, they are not as popular as petrol or electric powered motors.

 

Electric: Today it is commonplace to find an electric powered ride on mower that makes use of batteries, in fact we at BS Power sell a few ourselves. They are also growing in popularity, as they are a greener fuel source than a petrol motor. However, the technology has also been around a long time with archaic mower models using electricity as far back as 1930, however as with petrol this was only slowly adopted, and would require further development in battery technology before mass appeal was achieved.

 

Steering Mechanisms

 

One area in which the ride on mower changed dramatically over the years is in its steering mechanisms. Although at first, changing the way these machines steer may not seem like a major development, it allowed for riding mowers to become more efficient and provide a cleaner cut and manoeuvre in tighter spaces. The change in steering is arguably one of the reasons that a ride on mower can be used in a suburban setting today.

 

Dating the changes to steering is difficult as many of these mechanisms would be employed by some manufacturers and not others, and many of these systems were being sold at the same time, but here let us review four of the most important developments in steering technology for the ride on mower.

 

Direct Steering: The earliest steering mechanism on a ride on mower, was akin to a two-wheel drive vehicle today, it was referred to as direct steering as the steering wheel was connected directly to the front wheels and only controlled them.

 

Differential Steering: Direct steering was not efficient as it could only be used in areas with lots of space to turn. There is record of some early models adopting differential steering which allowed for the two back wheels to be controlled separately from the front wheels, which allowed for the machine to turn more easily.

 

Hydrostatic Steering: A rather major development in steering technology saw the introduction of hydraulic technology. Unlike older models that used a mechanical system to adjust wheel speed, the hydrostatic system used pressurised liquid to control the steering which allowed for tighter and more smooth turning options.

 

Zero-Turn Technology: Developed in the 1990s, zero-turn technology is one of the most important advancements in ride on mower technology and is still used today over twenty years later. This system actually allows you to be able to control both rear wheels independently from each other allowing for a zero-degree turn radius. This means the machine can swivel on the spot and allows drivers to be able to work in even the smallest garden spaces.

 

 

The Modern Riding Mower And BS Power

 

Today with improved technology there are a wide variety of riding mowers on the market. You can easily find electric, and petrol powered ones, and some even use diesel if you are looking for a machine that can handle even tougher jobs.

 

Whatever your needs, our friendly team at BS Power is ready to help you out. At BS Power we are proud to be an industry leader in the space, offering a wide range of top brands with a mower for every family and for every need. So If you are interested in being part of riding mower history and purchasing one for yourself, don’t hesitate to contact us today.