OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Model Histories UK & EUROPEAN Power Reel Models GREENS - Master Range - c1950s

Hello ODK History Lovers

I was a 'nerdy-enough' schoolboy to be a member of the Garden Club at our school. I joined this club,
in my short panted and be-spectacled grandeur, not for the plants and gardening, but for the mowing.
They had a snazzy new Scott Bonnar rotary, but my favourite machine was the ol' Greens mower - the little
Greens Master Lightweight.

The Master Range included both residential and commercial reel mowers, including petrol and electric
variants. Sizes ranged from 14" and 17" for the 'Lightweights', and the 20", 24", 30" and 36" machines
for commercial use. These were built to the highest quality and represented the last great designs that
would emanate from this pioneering manufacturer (founded in 1835) before its demise in 1975.



This topic discusses the Greens Master Range of post WWII lawnmowers in two parts:

[1] The Master Lightweights
[2] The larger Master machines

TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART TWO - The 14" Master Lightweight

The Greens Lightweight was the residential version of the Master range of lawnmowers manufactured
post WWII by the great British firm of Thomas Green and Sons Limited.

The Greens Master Lightweights were sold in Australia in high volume. Originally only available as
a 14 inch machine, this was expanded to include a 17 inch machine in about 1954.

The most common and most-loved was the 14", powered by a Villiers Midget 2-stroke. It was largely
a conventional design, with an enclosed chain transmission via a cone clutch. It had two features
worth mentioning: a kick start; and a design whereby the reel and bottom block could be removed as
a single unit for easy servicing.

BROCHURE


The Museum of Victoria has a scan of a 14" Lightweight.
To view that brochure click HERE.

A common criticism of self-propelled reel mowers of this era is that the landroll speed was only
varied by engine speed. The selling feature was simple controls: throttle and clutch lever -
acting on a single primary clutch that engaged both reel and roller.

The weakness of that design, when combined with tall gearing, is that the operator needed a
quick pace to keep up with its progress. Needless to say, it was a run-away success.







TO BE CONTINUED ...

PART THREE - The Larger Masters

The bigger Master machines were the less common, because they were generally sold to large
lawn private owners, municipals, sporting bodies, bowling and golf clubs.

Even in the residential sizes (the 14" and 17"), the 14" is,by far, the most common. It's
quite rare to see a 17" size machine here.



According to the 1950s brochure (above), 5 cutting widths were offered: 17" and 20" were fitted
with Villiers engines; and the 20", 34" and 36" were fitted with a Norman twin-cylinder.

Note that these early Masters were one control machines! A single clutch was employed to operate
reel and roller, with an isolation clutch for the reel on the chain case.

Clearly this early specification changed. I have seen larger machines with BSA engines and with
dual clutch levers. Here is a photo of a large Master from John Pease's book, History Of Thomas Green & Son Ltd.



TO BE CONTINUED ...

BROCHURE - c1950s




I have a full range brochure from the 1950s that I make available
for download here. All of these machines sold in Australia.

PART FIVE - The Big Norman Twins

There are not too many lawnmowers from this vintage that used a twin-cylinder engine.
The brochure said that Norman twins were used on the larger, 24", 30" & 36" machines in the
1950s.

These engines were manufactured by Norman Engineering Company of Upper Grove Street, Leamington Spa,
United Kingdom. A Grace's Guide reference may be found HERE.

I do not know whether the Greens machines only used the one model Norman; but I do know that
the 24" used a T300 model. These would have been sweet-running beasts!
[Photos by Graeme Brown, Brisbane]