THE FIRST MECHANICAL LAWN MOWER
Edwin Beard Budding's 1830 patent combined with Ransome's 1932 production of the design made the lawn
available to the new middle classes. It was no longer just a province of the rich.

The design radically reduced the labour required for lawn mowing ... goodbye scythers, goodbye rakers,
goodbye sweepers, goodbye collectors with baskets. All of these operations were reduced to one mower
equipped with a catcher.

Below is the famous illustration of Budding's patent machine.
Note the flat tray catcher on the front. Yes, the first lawnmower also featured the first catcher.
Later catchers would become concave at the front, as machines became more efficient in design, lighter,
and more powerful - with the use of animals and then mechanical, petrol, and electric power mowers.

[Linked Image]

A Note on the Deflector Plate
Right from day one (Budding's patent) a concave deflector plate was needed to direct cut grass
forward and into a front-mounted catcher. This was against the physical tendency for grass
to want to flow naturally to the back of the machine.