OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Company Histories GRASSHOPPER: 1951-1959 - Who Were They?

Hello ODK members,

GRASSHOPPER MOWERS - Does Anyone Remember Them?

No, I don't mean the American one, who make zero-turn ride-ons and the like.
I'm discussing an important and unusual rotary, made in Australia from the early 1950s and maybe
survived beyond that decade.

The factory was located at Kurrajong, a small town about 60km from Sydney.
The start date for the electric models is - best guess - mid 1951.
I include an ad. From June 1951 that shows its features, and that it was sold through
a small distribution network in the Sydney area at that time.



In late 1953 the Grasshopper Lawnmower Co. moved to Windsor Road, Richmond.
The advertisement (below) is interesting in that it states that three
persons were to be employed at the new factory:-



PETROL POWERED MACHINES
The first Grasshoppers were electric, but the most exciting piece of information I discovered
was the start date for their petrol powered machines.

The earliest adverts I have found come from early November of 1952! ...
that's just two months after the first rotary Victas appeared!
It is conceivable, then, that the petrol Grasshopper was made and sold
before the first rotary Victa.

The first petrol advertisement is below:-
Note: that two sizes were offered for the electrics: 12" and 15"
The petrol machine - powered by Villiers - was offered on the 15" frame.



Grasshoppers were clearly selling through a N.S.W. dealer network.
The ad. (above) says, "Visit leading city and country hardware stores for demonstration."

The rest is history.
------------------------------------
JACK

GRASSHOPPER - Continued.

It is also significant that these machines were sold at a major Department Store.
The David Jones ad. below is from December of 1952.



FEATURES:
They were not pretty machines.
They were called Grasshoppers because they were a motor mower that 'Eats Your Grass'.
They were as handsome as insects too.



But they had an interesting feature that dealt with an early 'problem' with rotaries.
All Grasshoppers were belt drive from a horizontally mounted motor to the blade spindle.

This prevented shock loads reaching the engine - electric or petrol.
Bar blade holders or solid bar blades offered poor shock protection to directly coupled
engines of the period.

It would be the development of swing-back blades, disc blade holders, and more robust
engines fitted with three bearing crankshafts that would overcome criticism of
engine damage in early rotaries.

All very shocking.
-------------------------------------
JACK

Hello ODK members,

Here's a tale. I was looking at the first ads in this post -
when the Grasshopper was fitted with the Villiers Mk2 Midget engine.

I noticed that one 1952 ad. said, "Fitted with a British Villiers fan-cooled petrol engine."
Hello! That's odd: The Villiers Mk 2 had no fan or cowling . . .

I then thought of the dinky-toy fans, like Victa used above the engine cylinder on their 'Fan Mowers'.
Did Grasshopper use that sort of thing? No, the David Jones' ad. confirmed that was not the case. [above]

I then looked more closely at photos I had. Bingo! [see below]
Look at the crude fan above the drive pulley. The belt guard was cut out at the top to move air
upwards to the underside of the engine cylinder.



This arrangement - a primitive 4-bladed fan - was used on petrol machines
prior to the cowled J.A.P. motors that were introduced about 1954.
Electric machines had a full belt guard, without the cut-out at the top.

All very cool.
-----------------------------------
JACK

GRASSHOPPER MODELS

The Grasshopper Lawnmower Company was not a one insect operation.
This manufacturer survived the whole decade of the 'Golden Age' in AUS
rotary mowers - the 1950s.

In that time a small company could effect small and major changes.
The following presents my current model and feature history.

1951 - electric - 12" Junior and 15" Standard models.
1952 - electric & petrol - 15" Standard with Villiers Midget.
1953 - 14" electric introduced.
1954 - J.A.P. engines introduced [Model 80]. New Handle; Rubber wheels.
1956 - 16" & 18" petrol introduced. New height adj. and wheels
1957a - J.A.P. Model 80C; ads. refer to 'reel' mower?
1957b - New Model - 19" "Cleansweep" Kirby Hi-Torque 2-stroke.
1959 - last advertisements (so far).

BELOW: the Grasshopper fitted with the J.A.P. Model 80C (cooling).
Note the updated wheel design and height adjustment:-



BELOW: In late 1957 the new 19" 'conventional' rotary was introduced.
Note the engine - A Kirby Hi-Torque 2-stroke! Automatically governed.
The base looks to be aluminium. A vary rare machine.

COLLECTABILITY

Today, these are not common machines, but they should not be rare.
Grasshoppers sold for at least the whole 1950's decade.

It appears that a number of manufacturers were springing up at this critical time in vintage mower history.
Some may argue that the catalyst was what Mervyn Richardson was doing in his garage in August, 1952 . . .

Others, like myself, might argue that it was a race for the bleeding obvious - electric rotaries were
sold in their tens-of-thousands prior to the event that stopped a nation - the Victa.
It wasn't a great leap of faith to put a petrol engine on a rotary base by 1952.
Grasshopper did just that!

Grasshopper is also important because it was manufacturing rotaries before Victa.
Its petrol machine appeared contemporaneous to the Victa rotary. Was it first?

Finally, the Grasshopper was unique in employing belt drive on a domestic machine.
Some New Zealand vintage rotaries also went down this design path.
The typical AUS domestic rotary was direct drive.

All very interesting.
--------------------------------------
JACK

UPDATE January, 2018
Kye's Facebook page has produced another great find...
a late 1950s Grasshopper fitted with a Villiers 7f 2-stroke.

The Grasshopper Automatic was offered for sale in late 1957,
just months after release of the ground-breaking Villiers here.



The machine is owned by Kye's VM:B,S&S member Judd W.
Many thanks to Kye for spotting the significance of the machine,
and Judd for use of the images.

In the gallery images, not the folding handle and the cast baseplate -
with under-deck muffler and cast foot grip on the base.

Also note that the machine appears to have been converted to
a remote throttle (rather than the automatic one).

GRASSHOPPER REEL LAWNMOWERS


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