Hello
ODK History Lovers
This one will involve a lot of problem solving.
I have found but
one advertisement for the
Clean Sweep rotary mower.
The ad was an exciting find; in that it also depicted an
Automatic Grasshopper.
Here is that ad, from the
Cumberland Argus of
late 1957.
The mower is labelled
(F) in the news print. Have a good look at it and compare it to the
Grasshopper (B).A keyword reference should be made to all the lawnmowers that appear: the
Ogden Motamatic;
the Automatic
Grasshopper; the
Villager Automatic; the
Austral-Villiers Motor Mower; the
Villager Standard; and the
Cleans Sweep Automatic.
This was an impressive line-up at
Murray Brothers of 197 Church Street, Parramatta �
in the heart of 1950s �
Mowtown� in Western Sydney.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/images/jack/cleansweep/1957_11_cumberlandargus_20november_p9.jpg)
The
Clean Sweep appears to be fitted with a
Kirby 2-stroke that I have written about in these forums
[see Related Reading].
Of particular note is the snorkel and filter arrangement fitted to the engine!
A first point would be that the engine is �automatic� � meaning it had a governed engine, but without a hand throttle.
This was a silly idea � in my view - that appeared to be all the rage in 1957. By the next decade, the nonsense
would be over � with governed engines appearing with complimentary hand throttles.
A final point must be the
chassis similarity to the
Grasshopper (B). It is tempting to think that Grasshopper
made both machines �
The rest is history.------------------------------
Jack