PART SIX - Analysis & CommentThe Loyd Motor Sickle was misnamed by our modern understandings.
It wasn�t a sickle mower at all � it had rotary action cutting as the key
cutting feature. It did, however, use the triangular-shaped sickle blades
though � rigidly fixed � just like on the sickle-bar mowers used widely in
agriculture. Early post-war rotaries adopted this style of blade (before
the use of swing-back blades).
Regardless, the first post-war rotaries in this country were of British
make � the
Rotoscythe and
Ladybird as domestic lawnmowers, the
Hayter and
Loyd as agricultural machines. Both the Hayter and Loyd would influence
our first slasher mowers � the
Marino Mowall, the
Mobilco Heavycut, and
the
Whirlwind machines of the 1950s.
ADVERTISINGThe Loyd was advertised honestly � it was designed for cutting heavy growths,
including bracken and brambles and saplings. It was no lawn mower (as such).
However, a significant point I make is that advertising used with these early
agricultural mowers did influence the advertising we would see with residential
(domestic) rotary lawnmowers.
In the early-mid 1950s it was typical for Australian lawnmower makers to
advertise their lawnmowers as being able to cut
any height of grass. This
�frontier� mentality meant that residential mowers � like Victas � were
advertised as jungle clearers! Quite irresponsible.
The
Loyd Motor Sickle is largely forgotten today.
Collectors miss it and its significance as an early rotary mower; probably
because it was never a �lawnmower�, but an odd, lethal machine found on farms
and the like. It worked well on pineapple farms!
The rest is history.----------------------------------
Jack