OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum The Old Soap Box Is this the Mowhall?

Is this the fabled "Mowhall"?



I came across this image here:

http://keystone.collectionsaustralia.net/publisher/Outreach/?tag=mowhall

Reading the article, and assessing the whole picture, It seems to me it might well be. It looks heavy, it's wheels are small, and would make it hard to move, and I think I see a bar comming out of the front that could be a "Pulling" handle.

Does anyone have the capacity to head to THIS MUSEUM to see if this is indeed the Mowhall, and if so, take a few pictures?

Hi Ty and ODK members,

Yes, that's the Mowhall.
There is a direct connection to the Hall Company that still exists,
though probably no longer in Hall family hands: - Hall Food equipment

Two articles are of direct relevance:

All very interesting.
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JACK

Wow, I'm loving this.

Overall, I'm not sure the mowhall has that much to add to the history itself, it seems others had already covered it's idea, such as the rotoscythe, and further, it was inconvenient to use, and overall flop.

However, it does still appear to be the first petrol powered rotary lawnmower built in Australia, and I do still find it very, very interesting.

I do wish I could find clearer photo's of it, it seems like such an interesting contraption, and while it does not seem to hold any major advances itself, it does mark a major milestone for Australia's mower history!

Well, a little creative searching, and I have a couple more images:

That last photo is enough to confirm for me that this indeed was a vertical shaft set up, Like the Rotoscythe and the Peach Tin.

It also appears to be water cooled, and started by the arm at the front, further with both the fuel and water tanks filled, it looks like it would be a little unbalanced

Which would make this the first Vertical Shaft Petrol Rotary Lawn Mower to be Made in Australia, as far as I have found.

In fact, I am also led to the impression that at this time, even with the rotoscythe around, the Idea of a Vertical Shaft Petrol Rotary was still something rather unheard of, possibly due to the lack of competitors to the rotoscythe, and it's high price.

Essentially, if the rotoscythe, a self propelled rear catcher machine was common and affordable, would you try to sell a two man, push & pull mower?

Hi Ty and VM members,

Great research! I've never seen a side-shot before of the Mohall.
Yes, in my books, the Mohall is the first AUS petrol powered vertical shaft rotary.
It would have had a Hall marine motor.

I do want to make one point relevant to Ty's project.
There is one other thing I believe Hall gave Richardson ... the idea for a cheap base.

The story goes that Hall used an old, heavy plough disc.
Richardson, I believe took this idea and made it lighter.
He had his bases formed from a lighter gauge steel.

This 'toe-cutter' utility base defined the look of many 1950's rotaries,
but it stifled the development of the catcher.

The downside is, in terms of the development of the catcher, these bases were
entirely unsuitable. Yet Victa stuck with them for the whole of their first decade.

The Americans and the British had already grasped the idea that you needed a skirted
base of more depth to effect a chute for directing grass flow.

It would be other AUS makes that would see this.
Here, the Clyde and the Collect-O-Matic were, I think, the key players in
early AUS catcher designs. We're talking 1956.

All very interesting.
---------------------------------------
JACK

I notice the greatest difference between the chassis designs, aside from engine mounting, is the position of the handles.

To me this seems less an idea for the design of the machine, and more a necessary adaptation to compensate for the amount of weigh on those handles.

I still can't get over the water cooling, I mean aside from one experimental creation, i have never seen a water cooled mower, and I struggle to see how he came to the conclusion that this would be successful.

He worked in engines, and small two strokes on cylinder mowers were common, turning the carby seems a reasonable thought process, and he must have realised he needed to go for lighter if he ever wanted to compete with the nice, light, electrics.

Hi Ty and ODK members,

I have to agree.
I don't think Hall would have thought, though, that this would be
commercially viable. He knocked it up to cut Mum's lawn.

The biggest wake-up for me - these last couple of days - is the impact
that plough disc base had on the 'look' of many 1950's mowers.

I often wondered why New Zealand rotaries from the 1950s adopted such
a different approach to us and that their bases were more similar to
UK and USA ones. I better understand why now.

I now think the shallow, small-skirt, base used on the first Victas was
taken from the Hall design and that designed influenced the majority
of 1950's rotary manufacturers - the 'toe cutter' look.

It is quicker to list the exceptions, and these exceptions used alloy
bases that featured low skirts with small discharge chutes.

Victa, when it went to alloy, still stuck with the plough disc shape,
rather than go with a skirted base that did not need a ring guard.

They had to radically re-think their bases for their first catcher models,
and the most beautiful Sheerline was born.

The rest is history.
-----------------------------------
JACK