Victa lawn mower
Encyclopedia
The Victa lawn mower was invented in 1952, in Concord
a suburb of Sydney
, Australia
, by Mervyn Victor Richardson.
In 1951, Mervyn's son Garry mowed lawns to earn money in university holidays. Garry borrowed Mervyn's cylinder-based power mower which was heavy to transport and to operate. Mervyn wanted to design a new mower for his son's business. Mervyn had seen Lawrence Hall's 'Mowhall' rotary lawn mower demonstrated in 1948. The heavy Mowhall required two people to use it (one to push and one to pull). It was not a very successful invention.
Although Richardson had developed rotating reel mowers for his son's business, in August 1952 he decided to make a rotary lawn mower similar to the Mowhall, using a Villiers two-stroke engine mounted on its side but utilising a lighter base plate, allowing use by a single operator. He wanted it to be cheaper, lighter and more powerful. It was called the "Peach-Tin Prototype", so named because it was made out of scrap metal with a peach tin used as a fuel tank.
By 1953, demand for the rotary mowers was so strong that Richardson gave up his job and became full-time manager of Victa Mowers Pty Ltd. In 1958, the company had moved to a new factory at Milperra NSW and its 3,000 employees were building 143,000 mowers a year for export to 28 countries.
Since 1952, Victa has sold over 7 million lawn mowers in 30 countries. In later years, the company was owned by GUD Holding Limited, who sold the Victa Lawn Care business to American-based Briggs & Stratton
for A$
23 million in 2008.
Concord, New South Wales
Concord is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay....
a suburb of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, by Mervyn Victor Richardson.
In 1951, Mervyn's son Garry mowed lawns to earn money in university holidays. Garry borrowed Mervyn's cylinder-based power mower which was heavy to transport and to operate. Mervyn wanted to design a new mower for his son's business. Mervyn had seen Lawrence Hall's 'Mowhall' rotary lawn mower demonstrated in 1948. The heavy Mowhall required two people to use it (one to push and one to pull). It was not a very successful invention.
Although Richardson had developed rotating reel mowers for his son's business, in August 1952 he decided to make a rotary lawn mower similar to the Mowhall, using a Villiers two-stroke engine mounted on its side but utilising a lighter base plate, allowing use by a single operator. He wanted it to be cheaper, lighter and more powerful. It was called the "Peach-Tin Prototype", so named because it was made out of scrap metal with a peach tin used as a fuel tank.
By 1953, demand for the rotary mowers was so strong that Richardson gave up his job and became full-time manager of Victa Mowers Pty Ltd. In 1958, the company had moved to a new factory at Milperra NSW and its 3,000 employees were building 143,000 mowers a year for export to 28 countries.
Since 1952, Victa has sold over 7 million lawn mowers in 30 countries. In later years, the company was owned by GUD Holding Limited, who sold the Victa Lawn Care business to American-based Briggs & Stratton
Briggs & Stratton
Briggs & Stratton is the world's largest manufacturer of air-cooled gasoline engines primarily for outdoor power equipment. Current production averages 11 million engines per year.-History:...
for A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
23 million in 2008.
External links
- Australian Innovates
- Victa website
- Review of Victa Mowers
- Victa Lawn Mower patent at IP Australia website
- National Museum of Australia 1958 Victa lawn mower, one of two held at the National Museum of AustraliaNational Museum of AustraliaThe National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....
.