OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Cylinder Showing off

Here are a couple of videos of my Atcos at work on my front lawn. Nothing original, just me with too much time on my hands.

Mick

Are you sure the one with the short muffler is older? The long muffler is the same as the one that was on my 12" ATCO, and I'm told 12" ATCOs weren't made after 1936.

I honestly do not know. They are both 14 inch cut. The one with the long muffler has cast metal handles, while the one I was told was older has turned wooden handles. What should I look for in order to date them?

My 12" ATCO had the cast aluminium handles, as well as the long muffler. My only reasons for thinking that combination came before the short muffler are first, some old ATCO information I saw said they didn't make 12" mowers after 1936, and second, the fact that the short mufflers seem quite a bit more common. We've had a number of threads featuring short mufflers on ATCOs that looked like 1950s, and none of them had cast aluminium handles. They often didn't have handles at all, which is consistent with the original ones being pretty flimsy. Off the top of my head I can't recall a picture of a long muffler in an Outdoorking thread.

Edit: Note this is incorrect, ATCO made 12" mowers through the 1950s.

I do not know the full history of either of my mowers. Having said that, they both look pretty original. I put the red painted clutch on the one with the long muffler (from my parts mower). This third one had cast handles also and always appeared to me to be newer that the one with wooden handles. The cutting blades on all three measure 14 inches, not 12. When did the 14 inch models start?

Mick

I think the 14" model was a pretty traditional and popular ATCO product, Mick. It was the 12" one that was not popular and seems to have been dropped for that reason.

Edit: ATCO made 12" mowers until after 1960. See later post in this thread.

Thanks for your input. I have some useful parts on the third mower. You can have first pick if you need anything.

I just found a new and better source of what ATCO made after WW2:
http://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/mower/mower-listing

As you can see, they made 12" mowers until the early 1960s. The "typical illustration" of a 1950s version had the aluminium handles, but it had a short muffler. I no longer have any clear idea of when my ATCO 12" was made. If I hadn't sold it in about 1969, I'd look at the model plate and find out. If you have model identification plates on your mowers, the first 2 digits are the cutting width and the second two are the model year.

Hi grumpy, I had an ATCO model 1451 back in the late 60's that had a long round muffler with a smaller tube sticking out one end. This was slightly squeezed at the end almost like a fishtail...

Hi Deejay, I've always known that a 1451 would have been a 14", but I learned this morning it would also have been a 1951 model year mower. Did it have cast but polished aluminium hand grips?

I've seen the squeezed exhaust pipe after the muffler on some engines, notably pre-war Velocette motorcycles, but I don't recall seeing it on an ATCO mower. Maybe I have missed it, or maybe it was a tenant's improvement. Was it a 2 stroke? I think I've only seen the short style muffler on 4 strokes, but I could be wrong.

Hi grumpy, it had the cast polished aluminium hand grips and a Villiers kick start 2 stroke (Midget I think)
It had the Royal coat of Arms on the catcher with "By appointment to HM King George VI" The catcher was all aluminium as well....quite a lively little machine...the gearing was all wrong...you almost had to run after it whilst in operation.

Wasn't the Midget a sloper, Deejay? I don't think I've ever seen an ATCO with a sloper, I'm used to that appalling cast iron cylinder 2 stroke Villiers with the porthole in the flywheel. And an 18 mm spark plug, unless mine was an unusual one. That little Villiers should have been used as a power source for dirt compactors, it was the vibratingest little engine I can ever remember encountering. It was also hard to start, and extraordinarily difficult to time, having no keyway on the crankshaft or flywheel. There's nobody like the British for making things that are so crummy they should be thrown over the fence, and so heavy they can't easily be thrown.

Hi grumpy, yes, that was it with the appalling cast iron cylinder 2 stroke Villiers with the porthole in the flywheel and of course the 18mm plug...obviously the same engine as yours. As yes, mine was equally as frustrating....it would never start when you wanted to mow...and eventually I got rid of it and got my first Scott Bonnar...a petrol Model 17 Supercut 18"....great machine...I wish I still had it.

Deejay, after that Villiers ATCO used, Scott Bonnar did not have a hard act to follow - though I think they used some pretty unattractive engines too, until they got to the Briggs during the Model 45 production. However, that Villiers was in a class of its own. It was just nasty.

Hi grumpy, have a look closely at the long muffler in the second video....it has the squeezed end as mine...

Hmm, it certainly does. And my memory from the 1960s isn't all that crystal clear on the subject, either, though I thought it was round. Incidentally the one in the video sounds even worse than mine, though it doesn't vibrate any more than mine.

Took some more photos of these two, since you guys are right into them.

This one has a brass plate bolted on with 'Machine Reference 1448 (inside a black oval) and Made by Charles H Pugh, Birmingham England.'

And you were right, it has a squashed pipe on the exhaust. I have heard it referred to as a torpedo exhaust. You can almost make out the Villiers name on the base of the aircooling casting of the head.

The red clutch is from my third (spare parts) mower which has the same cast aluminium handles.

This is the second one, with the smaller exhaust and the wooden handles. This one has a steel roller drum. (The other one has an aluminium roller.) The engines in the two appear identical. The carbies are slightly different, but not much. They have similar magnetos, this one has the spark lead coming out on the top rear, while the other one has it coming out at the front and below the crank shaft height.

The only changes I have made to this is the braided fuel line, which I replaced. The original(?) was braided, but much finer.

Neither is restored. They are both as I got them in most respects. They have been cleaned up and some minor parts replaced or repaired. They are working mowers and I run one of them over the front lawn at least weekly. I have two catchers, and both are steel sheet construction. One has ATCO in an outline of the map of Australia, but almost faded completely away.

The brass plate is the model identification plate, so that mower is a 14" 1948 model (which I think was produced until replaced by Deejay's model in 1951). My recollection of my 12" seems to include a shorter clutch than that, coloured dark red. (That is, like your wooden handled one, not a long clutch like on your aluminium handled one.) If your wooden-handled ATCO has its plate also, that will give its model date.

Incidentally my catcher was completely made from aluminium, including the rod around the perimeter. The rod had been MIG welded in the top corners - either as reinforcement or (more likely) as repair.

I agree with the hard to start part. I stripped a starter gear early on. The kick starter engages with a gear on the end of the crankshaft. Inboard of this gear is a pair of spring loaded teeth and three one way cogs. I stripped these to the point where I could no longer attempt starting. That is when I came up with electric starting. I have since found spare parts (in an old shed in Warrnambool) and I can kick start it if it stalls once hot.