Context When I started researching vintage Australian mowers I shared the myth that many Australians hold - that Mervyn Victor Richardson's Victa was the first Australian rotary mower.
It was only after a number of years that a serious anomaly questioning the myth gradually took form. There was overwhelming evidence of the role that electric rotaries played in the four years prior to the Victa release in September of 1952.
The machine I discovered to be Australia's first rotary mower was the little 10 inch Tecnico released in mid-late 1948. The frustration was that I had no name or face behind this large Australian company that could be deemed the 'inventor'. This all changed with the 2012 re-release of a 1951 film that explained many things, and I had a name and a face - Cyril Thomas.
Cyril Thomas We know pretty much nothing about Mr Cyril Thomas. He's not in the history books. In fact, he seems all but forgotten everywhere. The film tells us he lived in the Sydney suburb of Mortdale, and that with a 'glass of beer inspiration' the AUS rotary was born.
The film says he worked as a Machine Shop Superintendent and showed his plans to Senior Executives. Note the framed picture of an aircraft in their office - this was Tecnico.
Here is that film:-
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Note on this film The NTFS (National Film & Sound Archive) released this film for public viewing in 2012. Made by the Australian Government National Film Board in 1951, this important film provides new and cogent evidence identifying our first rotary mower.
Note on this research I first posted this research as Victa: An Inconvenient Truth, January 16, 2013 on vintagemowers.net
In this post I would like to correct and explore the enduring myth about Victa. However, at no stage do I intend to undermine Victa's earned status as an Australian icon.
It is a complimentary video to the one above I want to show you now. Presented by Ray Martin, Our Century (1999), presents Clever Australian Inventions. The Victa Story comes early, but the whole video is worth a look. There are great close-ups of the Peach Tin and more . . .
[video][/video]
In this video there is a challenge to the first video that you saw in the first post. The inconvenient truth is that I disagree with 'the Victa story' as presented by Ray. It does present the 'accepted view' though. I think the history books are wrong.
Let me take the issues head-on by making a few points:
First, Ray says that what Mervyn Richardson did was, "improve the existing design of an engineering friend [Lawrence Hall]. Merv's genius was that he also knew how to sell it."
I think the last statement is very true: Merv was a marketing genius! The first statement, however, that Merv took the existing design from Hall is tenuous, or just wrong. If the statement means that Merv could turn a horizontal shaft petrol engine on its side to produce a vertical shaft petrol engine then point taken. But what else did he take?
He didn't take the rotary design from Hall. Sydney folk, as the rest of Australia had, had been accustomed to rotary action mowers for years in the form of domestic rotary electric mowers and, to a lesser extent, Tractor drawn and petrol powered rotary agricultural mowers [Hayter].
He didn't take the idea that mowers needed to be lightweight from Hall. Hall's mower was ridiculously heavy. The story is that two people were required to use it! The idea that rotaries should be cheaper and light was already being demonstrated by the electric rotaries.
The credit must go to the first electric rotary manufacturers. The penny dropped for Merv. After two years (or more) of trying to sell his 14" reel mower, Mervyn Richardson finally saw that there was no future in the reel mower, given the competition and Australia's grass conditions. He realised that a petrol powered rotary could turn grass into lawn for most applications of grass cutting. Reel mowers should be for 'fine lawns'.
He turned one of his horizontal shaft Villiers engines on its side, made a few mods., sat it on a primitive steel frame with billy cart wheels and BINGO! The Victa was born [Hallelujah chorus now]. It's what he did next - the vision - the marketing - that made Victa an icon. That's my point.
Correcting History: My second point is the one I am emphatic about. This is where history is wrong. Ray says, "Cyril Thomas thought that he had the answer," ... "But it never took off."
Well, it did Ray! Research clearly shows that electrically powered rotaries were BIG business in the four years - 1948-1952 - leading up to the Victa petrol rotary in late '52. but prior to this iconic event, electric rotaries had sold in their tens of thousands and in all States of Australia.
Established Network: Electric rotaries sold very well. One reason is that the manufacturers had established dealer and distribution networks. Many were radio manufacturers: Tecnico, Tasma, Mercury, Breville ... We had Grasshopper and the flying saucer British Ladybird.
Australians embraced this new electrical appliance on-mass, as they had embraced vacuum cleaners and floor polishers and electric shavers, and a myriad of other electric appliances.
Merv's secret ingredients were: take the electric mowers' rotary action, lightweight frame and lower cost, add Lawrence Halls vertical shaft petrol engine and disc plough base, and have width of cut and add more than a dollop of MARKETING. The Victa Rotomo was born to an adoring public.
As a light-hearted conclusion I note that Ray said, "Had history been different we might be turning grass into lawn with a Cyril". No Ray, following your logic, we'd still be turning grass into lawn with a Mervyn!
