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Period: to
1950
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First Aluminum Engine
Briggs and Stratton made lawnmowers more lightweight by moving from cast iron to aluminum. This new use of aluminum made Lawnmowers more accessible to families, who were now moving into suburbs, by making them cheaper and easier to manage. -
First Riding Lawn Mower
Cecil Pond developed a riding mower in order to make mowing the lawn easier and from his laziness he inspired later models of riding mowers. -
QUIETFLITE
Lawn Boy introduced a new quieter lawn mower. This was achieved by sealing and insulating the engine. Better for neighborhoods since there were no annoying neighbors with a loud engine. -
Zero Turn Re-invented
John Reigner took the earlier models of the zero turn and remade them with a system of belts and pulleys. At first sells of this model were slow because of the new complicated lever controls that replaced a steering wheel. Later on Dixon would pick up the models and sell them. -
John Deere Tractor Mowers
John Deere would hop onto the new lawn mowing craze with their lawn tractors. Their first model was the John Deere 110. This model had a 4 stroke engine with 7 horsepower. After the success with this first mower, they released another one, John Deere 60, that had many attachments, like a snow blade. -
Hover Mowers
Karl Dahlman, who was inspired by hovercrafts, invented a "flying" lawn mower. This lawn mower achieves this by being cushioned by air. The design is best for sport fields and hills. -
Randomized Self Propelled Lawn Mower
Lawrence Bellinger submitted a patent for a self propelled lawn mower, but this one was a huge step forward in technology. This huge step was the fact this lawn mower could be left unattended. Bellringer called it "Self-propelled random motion lawnmower". The mower would be powered by a battery and use springs as sensors to avoid obstacles. Even though it was just a patent, it opened the door for other self controlled mowers. -
New Mandatory Saftey
Safety switches start being Mandatory on lawn mowers to prevent injury and death. The switch must be pressed down on for machine to work, for example, a switch can be under a seat and is pressed down when someone is sitting.When not pressed, the engine will cut off and the blade stops in about 3 seconds. -
Remote Controlled Lawn Mower
SPIDER mowers were created in order to help people cut grass on hilly areas where it could be too dangerous for a regular mower. All-in-one mower that lowers need for multiple landscapers on one job. -
Emission Friendly Lawn Mower Fails
Lawn Boy came out with the DuraForce in 1998. This new mower had a 2 cycle engine, and made sure to meet emission requirements. Later on a recall would be issued because these mowers developed stress cracks in the fuel tank which lead to gas leaking. -
Robotic Lawnmower
Bosch Indego introduced a robotic mower that looks like home robotic vacuums. This lawn mower needs to have a wire installed under the lawn to establish a border, but other than that it can map out any obstacles that can be in it's path. It has a 20 minute life after full charging, and will dock itself to charge for 90 minutes before going back to where it left off. -
Sale of Gas-Powered Lawn Mowers Banned
California has approved of Assembly Bill No. 1346. This bill calls for banning all gas-powered lawn mower sales by the end of 2024. The purpose is to lower the emission cost. This bill will cause a rise in more electrical mowers.