OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Component Histories THE HUMBLE GRASS CATCHER

1956 - An Important Year

It appears that 1956 is a key year for Australian mowers with catching systems.
In the same year that Clyde was actually selling catcher machines two significant patents appeared:
one for a side-catcher; the other for a rear-catcher.

I will discuss these in turn in the next two parts.

Side-Catchers: Patent 23484 was lodged in late 1956. The inventor was Leslie Victor Deacon.
I speculate that it was a Queensland invention as the patent was lodged through a Brisbane Patent Attorney firm.
I further speculate that this is the first record of an Australian side-catcher design.

They did go into production and it appears that they were manufactured as the 'Emu Grass catcher'.
I include a photo that appeared on eBay this year. It was for a Model 5 with Emu catcher combo.
I have not yet found any other record about them ... when and where they were manufactured or sold.



Clearly no mower manufacturer took up the design as it appears in the patent but one wonders whether this
patent influenced or controlled the subsequent introduction of side-catcher mowers by many manufacturers
in the late 1950s. One clear defect is the lack of a protective cover for the catcher ...
not all dangerous projectiles may have been contained by the design.

I include the full patent with illustration.
The diagram appears to present a Victa Rotomo as an example machine that could be adapted to the catcher.