Hello
ODK History Lovers
The great Australian engine historian
Eric Schulz posted an image of
a
Mobilco Rota Cruiser on
ODK in April of 2019. I had never seen nor
heard of this one. Here is the image Eric sent me …
This is a great story about how I, in fact,
missed a vital clue.
I had written a
History Record of the
Mobilco Cruiser reel mower
that I dated to
1956. That record can be found here: -
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/61145/mobilco-cruiser-c1956.htmlIt is now clear to me that Mobilco also made a slasher mower –
then described as a ‘motor scythe’ - following the British propensity
to name these slasher mowers in this way. We have generally called
these ‘rotary slasher mowers’ in the modern era, but ‘scythe’ is such
a beautiful historical word in describing the development of the
powered rotary lawnmower.
Eric has finally given this Mobilco machine a name:
The Rota Cruiser!
To be continued …