The Lawn Master and the Diplomat - Oddities

Here, I want to single out two Australian machines as aberrations or anomalies in catcher design:
the 1950's Lawnmaster and the 1970's Scott Bonnar Diplomat.
Both of these machines employed rear catchers, but in different ways.

The Lawnmaster made by Sydney's Kelly Brothers will remain reasonably rare and
very collectable. There were two models: the Model A with 4 side wheels; the Model B with two
side wheels. In terms of catchers, As a 1950 advertisement said, it had an,
'ingenious built-in grass catcher'. And it did! This machine was very cleverly marketed.
The reality was that it was a side wheel reel mower without self- propulsion.
The Model A had a clever slide-in rear metal catcher; The Model B less so.

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

Scott Bonnar's Diplomat reel mower changed the conventional rules about reel/roller mowers.
Introduced in 1976 the Australian Design Award winning Diplomat turned convention on its head.
The convention with reel/roller designs was to use a front metal catcher. Yes, fabric was occasionally
used too. But the Diplomat had a rear plastic catcher and, most importantly, it had a rear roller!

Yes, it was possible for a reel to cut grass and throw the clippings over a rear roller and into
a grass catcher. The big feature, though, was safety. An enclosed reel at the front and the operator
could empty the catcher from the back. The machine was more manoeuvrable in tight spaces as well.
A clever catching design in vintage mower history.

[Linked Image]