I�ve written previously about Mason & Porter�s first mower, the
Masport Rapid hand mower
and their first powered reel mower the
Masport Power Mower (basically a hand mower with an engine on top).
This third article discusses the
MASPORT ROTACUT- their first rotary motor mower.
By the early 1950�s hand mowers were still the company�s biggest seller but there was a growing demand for powered lawn mowers.
The Power Mower had been replaced by the more modern looking Lawn Sprite range.
Their design team continued to try to improve and develop their products in an effort to keep ahead of the market.
Regular overseas trips were made to study modern trends, a trip to the USA led to the development of a major export market for vacuum dairy pumps.
It was during one of these trips that a Lawnboy rotary lawn mower was brought back to Auckland.
It was thought that this type of mower would be very effective in cutting some of the tougher grasses found in NZ lawns.
A mold for the prototype ROTACUT was cast directly from the Lawnboy in the Foundry. The first examples were only 17 � inches wide instead of 18 as they initially couldn�t stop the shrinkage.
The first ROTACUT produced for sale, the Standard, was manufactured in April 1955 and was powered by an Iron Horse two stroke engine.
This early model lacked a grass catcher as the grass was directed out through a chute on the right hand side, in front of the wheel.
The wheels were bolted to the chassis on one of the three holes available. To adjust the height the operator undid the bolts and put them into another hole.
Later models had an individual wheel adjustment.
The second Standard model produced had the chute on the side between the wheels and was powered by a Briggs and Stratton engine and available in 21 and 18 inch models.
Masport experimented with a number of different ways to expel the grass through the back so that a catcher could be used.
The De Luxe ROTOCUT Models 1 and 1A had the grass catcher offset which gave it a lop sided appearance.
The Model 1 had the catcher supported on the handles by means of a hook while the Model 1A had the catcher supported by handle brackets.
Masport had expected that there would be a decline in hand mower production because of the increasing popularity of motor mowers but it did not expect the ROTACUT to prove such a instant success.
The sale of motor mowers offset the decline in all other departments making up 60% of all sales in 1956-57.
In the 1957-58 year the Company for the first time had a turnover exceeding �1,000,000 mainly due to the continued demand for motor mowers especially the ROTACUT, which sold well into the 1960�s.
Information contained in this article came from the very informative book �Masport � 100 YEARS IN THE MAKING 1910-2010�
written by Jim Allnatt and used with kind permission from Masport Ltd.
