OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories UK & EUROPEAN Reel Hand-Mowers SHANKS - Talisman Push Mower - c1901

Hello ODK History Lovers

This is a special History Record, in that it is followed by member
sb30inch's story of his own Talisman, a machine saved and collected
with original patina and some very interesting provenance.

"I saved this mower from a burning tip on a golf course I worked at in 1986.
The Talisman is 15" cut with 10" wheels.The companies logo is cast in metal along with
the tag that says "Anthony Horden & sons sole distributor" It has single pawl drive on
each front wheel and gear drive from cutting cylinder."

sb30inch continues his story in Part 4 below.

The rest is history.
----------------------------
Jack

Hello ODK History Lovers

The Talisman was a side-wheel push mower made by Alexander Shanks and
Company, of Arbroath, Scotland. Introduced in 1901, they would stay in production
for three decades, probably with WWII hostilities ending production.

These machines were sold in Australia but should be considered extremely rare
now. Whilst numbers sold here will remain unknown, these were not like the
American side-wheels that dominated the mass-market at this time in the USA,
the UK, and on these shores.

The Talisman was Shanks� counter-measure to the American dominance of the
side-wheel design. Ironically, the side-wheel was a British design: Follows
& Bate made their Climax in 1869, as a cheaper design to the original Budding
reel/roller lawnmower of 1830. In essence, the rear roller was morphed into
two sidewheels, and power transmission was simplified.

However, a rigid-class-system really stifled the side-wheel design in the UK,
thus enabling the more universally democratic United States to perfect the
design for mass consumption in America and their Western trading partners.
The side-wheel was a lawnmower that was classless. Well, almost �

The Talisman, though Scottish, was a copy of the very best American side-wheels.
It is known as an �intermediate gear� design in that it has a middle gear set
mounted between the wheel drive and the reel drive. It didn't come cheap.



TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TWO- Specification

These machines were available in sizes from 10 to 18 inch (in 2 inch increments)
for the standard 6-blade version, and from 15 to 21 inch (in 2 inch increments)
for the High Wheel 7-blade version. The High Wheel was introduced in 1904.
These are 1914 Catalogue illustrations:-




TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART THREE - The Talisman in Australia


More Information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisman

Shanks lawnmowers were one of the first names to be sold in Australia.
The earliest advertisements I have date from the 1870s. By the turn of the
20th Century, Shanks had secured a reliable importer in the name of W.D. Grant
& Son of Melbourne. They were proactive in creating an Australian dealer network.

One of the earliest State Agents was the famous retailer Anthony Hordern & Sons
of Sydney. In this 1925 advertisement the Talisman High Wheel is offered for sale.
Note that the price � at close to �12 (pound) - was almost as dear as a Shanks
top-end reel/roller Caledonia lawnmower.

Who would have bought them? Well, not the working class, that�s for sure.
The High Wheels were marketed to golf clubs for cutting tees and surround work.
Perhaps a well-off middle- class residential household might have procured them
as well.



TO BE CONTINUED �

Here is sb30inch's story of his Talisman:-

I saved this mower from a burning tip on a golf course I worked at in 1986.
The Talisman is 15" cut with 10" wheels.The companies logo is cast in metal along with
the tag that says "Anthony Horden & sons sole distributor" It has single pawl drive on
each front wheel and gear drive from cutting cylinder.

The cylinder is nice with ornate spacers.Reel to bottom blade adjustment is via a
pivoting sole plate (back off one nut and tighten the other). Reel bearings are interesting
with a bronze collar with 8 balls and a tapered retaining cone.These bearings are held in
place via a 3 piece bearing housing. I used the mower to maintain a small lawn once and it
did a lovely job.

The golf course probably used it for their greens or tees.I used to have a copy of a sales
brochure for it once but it's gone missing.If anyone has any more information on it I would
like to here about it. Hope I have the terminology for various parts correct.
Enjoy the pics.

Here are a few more pics:-

Hello sb30inch

It is a first on these great forums that we have a Shanks Talisman.
The great Scottish manufacturer has a long history with lawnmowers,
and were a well-know brand on these shores.

That it has an Anthony Horderns' nameplate makes this machine extra
special. Horderns' had a long association with Shanks and held the
NSW agency. The importers would have been W.D. Grant of Melbourne.

The Talisman oozes an expensive quality, and I hope to tell its story
shortly. I will provisionally say here that the Talisman was a 'copy'
of an American 'Pennsylvania' design. Whilst the British may lay claim
to the invention of the side-wheel mower in 1869, it is the Americans
that perfected that design, and influenced all other makers of side-wheels.

In this photo (courtesy of the UK's Old Lawnmower Club) we see that the
Talisman was fitted with a front catcher and deflector. The large diameter
drive wheels produced taller gearing to increase the cuts per yard of
the reel. Hence, these were sold as 'bowling green' mowers.



I would like to thank sb30inch for sharing this historically
significant lawnmower with us.

All very historical.
-----------------------------
Jack

That's brilliant sb30inch!

I have a couple of things to say:

The Scottish Thistle casting on the handle is fantastic, and would
fetch a pretty penny for the thugs that remove them and sell them at
auction



Beautiful, Fierce and Robust ...
It's the National symbol: http://www.scottish-at-heart.com/scottish-thistle.html
Shanks was a company very thoughtful of symbolism; particularly
in their naming their mowers with metaphysical names:
Wizard, Fairy, Dragonfly, Firefly, Jehu, Rajah ... Talisman.

The Anthony Horden's plate is also significant.
It helps date this machine to the 1920s. It is only the third one
I have seen, and it gives valuable provenance to your machine.



Great story with great information.
A highly collectible and historically important lawnmower.
They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

The rest is history.
------------------------------
Jack

Links pending


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