OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories AUSTRALIAN Reel Hand-Mowers CAMBRIDGE Reel Mower - c1940

Hello ODK history lovers,
This is a story and there are stories within stories.

This first part is the story of the Cambridge Push Reel Mower
as sold across Australia by a number of companies from the
1940s to the mid-1950s.

The Cambridge was a ‘traditional’ side-wheel mower but with
one significant difference: it had a unique feature that permitted
the direction of the reel to be quickly reversed for blade sharpening.



In advertising it was described as a “revolutionary self-sharpening mower”.
That would be somewhat true …

The mechanism permitted the reel rotation to be reversed,
enabling manual backlapping of the reel and bedknife.

The thing is that it is not clear who actually made the mower.
There is clear evidence that the Cambridge was made by the
`Cambridge Lawnmower Company’ of Sydney, but I have little
evidence of that company. There are other clues, though …

In any case, it was rewarding to identify the actual inventor
and his patents for this novel lawnmower.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART TWO – The Inventor
It was a chance find of a quality image on a 2013 auction sale
that gave me patent numbers to research the inventor of the
Cambridge push mower.



The surprise was that the Cambridge mower was an
interwar design invented by … a New Zealand sheep farmer …
and his name should be recorded – Allan Steward Cambridge.

Patent 104118 – Accepted May, 1938.
Patent 104841 – Accepted August, 1938.
Patent 108996 – Accepted November, 1939.

The two first patents are relevant to the first Cambridge
mowers sold here. The last patent is relevant to the later
Cambridge mowers sold here.

To be continued …

PART THREE - Cambridge Push Mower Images.
This 2013 auction set of images is the best photo record
of a Cambridge push mower I have found.

to be continued ...

PART FOUR – The Cambridge Made in Australia
So, how did a New Zealand lawnmower design get to be
made and sold by various agencies throughout Australia?

Of course, this is speculative but I think this is how events unfolded: -

The inventor, Allan Cambridge, formed a company with one
Alfred Hubero and that company was registered on 16 September,
1940. The factory was located at 5 Chisholm Street, Darlinghurst.
The company would be the Cambridge Lawnmower Company.



The thing is that a Queensland company was advertising the
Cambridge mower for sale two months before company registration.
That company was Queensland Pastoral Supplies [QPS].



I mention that fact because I feel there was some special
relationship between the newly formed Cambridge company
and the Queensland agent.

This might explain why QPS was an extensive advertiser
for the Cambridge push mower, and might explain how QPS
came to make a powered version of the push reel mower and
also had a rotary mower under the Cambridge brand
[see Related Reading].

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART FIVE – Clyde Industries Connection
My reality is that many lawnmower makers could not make
specialised major parts like castings. That seems to be the
case here.

It was a chance find of an image from the Clyde Engineering Collection
held at MAAS [Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences] that seems significant
here. You decide.

The image depicts a component breakdown labelled as
'Cambridge Lawnmower Parts’. The date is … 1939.


LINK: https://collection.maas.museum/object/371144

Did Clyde make major components for the Cambridge Lawnmower Company?
That’s my best guess.

TO BE CONTINUED …

PART SIX – Sellers
The Cambridge manual push mower was sold by major
outlets in key Australian states from the early forties to
the mid-1950s.

Sellers included the great Department stores of Anthony Hordern’s
and Knock & Kirby in NSW; Sandovers in WA; and Queensland
Pastoral Supplies throughout Queensland.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART SEVEN – The Final Years
So, what happened to the Cambridge push mower?

The answer comes in late 1954 when Queensland Pastoral Supplies
announced that it had been appointed “Sole Australian Manufacturers
of the celebrated Lawn Mower, Cultivators, Seeders and other farm
implements.” [see Gallery]

I guess The Cambridge Lawnmower Company was coming to an end.
That was confirmed by a 1956 NSW Government Gazette entry that
said the company had been struck off the register.

The significant thing about the 1954 QPS announcement is that
QPS were free to develop the Cambridge brand … and that they did!

QPS went on to sell a powered version of the Cambridge
reel mower, and also introduce Cambridge branded rotary
mowers [see Related Reading].

The end of the Cambridge was due to history: the rotary revolution
of the 1950s and the consolidation of rotary mower makers in the
1960s gave no space for the old, catalogue company that was QPS.

Both the Cambridge Lawnmower Company and Queensland Pastoral
Supplies had run their course. The rest is history.

The Cambridge (in later advertising) was claimed as being, not
only self-sharpening, but also as self-adjusting [see last patent above]

The other AUS reel mower to offer that was the Rexmow: -
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=61909


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