OK, so I am starting this thread to help better the "Thesis" I am writing to investigate the history of Victa.

I have had a few articles up now to help get the information flowing, however this thread is aimed at being a little more of an organised discussion following the thesis as it is created section by section.

As I complete each section, I will post it up here for comments, input and adjustments, to help not only get the information as accurate as possible, but to also make this a true whole forum effort of which we can all be proud!

Here is the first section:

Quote
INTRODUCTION
In 1952 Mervyn Victa Richardson took a small, 2-stroke Villiers engine, applied it to a simple frame, with for Billy cart wheels, a peach tin for a petrol tank, and two blades attached to a rotating bar, creating the Victa �Peach Tin� Mower, a lightweight, simple, petrol rotary mower, with it�s engine positioned so as the crank shaft stood vertically.

This has often been mistakenly viewed as the birth of the rotary mower, however, this is indeed not the case, as not only did rotary mowers exist prior to this, there can indeed be found examples of Petrol Rotary mowers, with a vertically positioned engine, some with advancements far exceeding Victa�s �Peach Tin� mower.

Indeed the Victa peach tin was not the first rotary mower, nor the first Petrol Rotary, or even Vertical shaft petrol rotary. In fact, Victa was not even the first Vertical Shaft Petrol Rotary Lawnmower to be made in Australia. The Victa Peach Tin Mower was the first locally produced, lightweight and simple, Vertical Shaft Rotary Petrol Lawnmower, this, coupled with marketing success, was the key to the beginning of an Icon and legend.

No pure element of the Peach tin was original, its engine was taken from another mower, its manuverablility common to electric rotaries, the orientation of the engine was seen on electric rotaries, the Mowhall, and overseas machines and the concept of a rotary mower can be taken at least as far back as 1928.

Further, the combination was not unique, the idea of a vertical shaft petrol rotary lawnmower existed prior to 1952, as it did in a compact and lightweight form in the US, and even here, the Mowhall had been demonstrated to Mervyn, A vertical shaft petrol rotary, that�s limitation was its weight.

In fact, prior to the invention of the peach tin, many later Victa advancements were already in existence, the covered rotary deck, the rear catcher, self propulsion, replacable blades, alloy bases, and lightweight designs were all applied to one Vertical shaft petrol rotary or another before 1952, in some cases over a decade earlier.

The point of this analysis is not to defame, or discredit Mervin or Victa, but simply to help establish the true history of the rotary lawnmower. At the end of the day, Victa cannot be discredited for it�s success, for quite simply, it�s success is true, Victa is an Australian Icon, and that will always remain.

Mervyn was and always will have been a genius, in his creation of the Peach Tin, he did not invent a concept out of thin air, but more so he was able to recognise that there was a massive gap in the Australian market, one not filled by international options, or electric alternatives, after witnessing the display of an interesting machine, he was able to take elements of many existing technologies, and combine them together in such a way as to create a machine that filled this gap perfectly, this, combined with an amazing knack for sales and marketing, brought to life an Aussie legend, and cemented Mervyn as a genius, a creator and an entrepreneur!

Cheers
Ty

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