Hello
ODK History Lovers
The British firm
Farmfitters Ltd made the most unusual machines.
Their purpose-built rotaries appear not to have sold here, but their cultivators
(residential tillers) appear to have found a niche market.
The
Varsatiller was a 'versatile' tiller that permitted attachments for other
functions, including a
lawnmower and
saw blade.
They were not unusual in this ...
with
Landmaster's Gardenmaster,
Rotary Hoe of England's Little Digger, The
British
Shay's RotoGardener, Australia's
Vinco Blitz, and NZ's
Morrison and
Masport's Home Gardener, all taking a slice of the emerging consumer market
in residential cultivators.
These machines were always a
compromise in function, but they did gain some
popularity post-WWII, before the more stringent safety considerations of the
1960s. These restrictions certainly did not ban tillers, but guards around
many accessories made them problematic - and moved many of the accessories
into 'specialist', 'experienced' user products.
The Versatiller appears to have been made on these shores under some sort of licence agreement.