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The Collect-O-Matic

So far I have said that an Australian catcher mower was being sold in late 1956.
This was the Clyde 18" rear-catcher machine [Major & Minor].

I have also said that a significant patent for a side-catcher machine appeared in 1956.
This was the Emu, apparently manufactured in Maryborough. I do not know when it was first sold.

Here I want to present another 1956 patent. This time a rear-catcher design.
Patent 23537 of late 1956 is for a complete mower and catcher.
It would be produced as the Sydney manufactured Exceller 18" Collect-O-Matic.
[The patent is attached to this post below]

Granted, It clearly was not the first Australian catcher mower (see Clyde above).
But it re-introduced a feature from the British Rotoscythe and it introduced a feature that
we will see more of in current mower designs.

The Collect-O-Matic re-introduced the concept of the high-arch that the British Rotoscythe
clearly had in 1932. It would take the key Australian mower manufacturers another decade and a half to get it!

Most significantly, the Collect-O-Matic patent envisaged a non-metal grass catcher - in 1956!
The two great features of the patent were that the collection system catcher be large
in capacity but light in weight. The 'flexible container' would be assisted by lift blades and
a 'flange' [arch] in the chassis to assist grass delivery to the catcher.

The patent accommodated the large bag capacity by having it supported by a sheet metal tray.
The patent tells us that the bag would be a natural material - 'canvas'. An amusing part of the
patent is that engine exhaust gases might assist grass collection . . .

The actual machine that resulted from the patent was clearly ahead of its time.
The Exceller Collect-O-Matic had a synthetic bag - the new space-age material - nylon!

The earliest machines were manufactured from early 1957. The first machines were powered
by Hurricane engines but the later machines were powered by Victa Tiger engines.




Significance: I have singles out this early Australian vintage mower because I believe it
was the first Australian machine to continue the legacy of the radical 1932 Rotoscythe.

Second, the patent clearly envisaged that you did not need heavy metal to make a grass catcher.
Yes, Turner introduced the plastic catcher in the late 1960s, but Collect-O-Matic had a lighter
catcher solution a decade before.

In turns of significance, the use of synthetics in bagging systems has become all-important.
Just sashay down to your local mower store or Bunnings and count the synthetic catcher machines.

In my view it solved not two but three problems: it is light, has large capacity, and it permits
economical packaging. In the 1980s a rear catcher machine required two boxes - one for the mower;
one for the catcher.

The Collect-O-Matic solved the third problem - packaging. We persevered with a split-piece plastic design
that has not been entirely successful. Increasingly mowers - both walk behind and ride-on - rely on fabric
bagging systems. Many countries have adopted the idea.

Was the Australian Collect-O-Matic the first to use fabric catchers? No. This post has said that fabric
rear-catchers were used on side-wheel reel mowers from the late 19th century. The Australian Platypus
roller reel mower used one unconventionally at the front in the 1940s.

The Collect-O-Matic was advertised as, "the world's original grass-catching rotary mower!".
I hope I have dispelled that myth. But there is something enduring about the design that should be
recorded and remembered. It had many features that were ahead of any other Australian mower
made at that time, and some features that would be considered 'modern' by today's standards.

All very catchy.
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JACK