Hello
ODK History lovers
Look! ... Down on the grass ... Is it a man or animal? Why it's ... a
Manimal!The
Ransomes Manimal was a power reel-roller lawnmower made for
animal draught or for
man power. Made in
20-in and
24-in sizes, it was probably intended for
the export market - to developing countries (like India) that still had not
fully mechanized to motors and tractors, and had plentiful supply of beasts
of burden and cheap labour.
The amazing thing is that this was a mid-20th-century machine, probably
introduced in the late 1930s, but still being manufactured in the 1950s!
A single catalogue page I have (undated and in poor condition) says that the
Manimal was, "
introduced to take the place of our well-known range of Pony and
Bullock Mowers, our 24-in Patent Chain and Patent Gear Automaton Machines, and
the larger sizes of the Countess model."
In other words, it was a
modern anachronism - a remnant from another age of vintage
lawnmowers that still held a small place in the modern age of power lawnmowers.
TO BE CONTINUED ...