Invented by a group of motoring enthusiasts who were unable to buy racecars in England's West Sussex in 1973, this weird sport puts a new twist on gardening. Currently, because of safety issues, each lawnmower's blades are replaced, but the original mower engines are usually intact. 1)
The first mechanical mower was invented and patented by English engineer Edwin Budding in Gloucestershire, who signed a contract with John Ferrabee on May 18, 1830, to manufacture “machinery for the purpose of shearing or mowing the vegetable covering of lawns.” Budding was employed in Mr. Lister's textile factory and is said to have come up with the idea for the mower while watching a push shearing machine at work.2)
The blades of Budding's mower were driven by wheels rolling on the ground. The first customer was Mr. Curtis, head gardener at Regent Park Zoo, who bought such a machine in 1831, paying 10 guineas. 3)
Production of lawnmowers was initially slow, with only two companies appearing at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and it wasn't until the fashion for tennis in the 1870s that demand for them developed. Large mowers were pulled by horses, and to keep them from damaging the tennis courts, rubber shoes were put on their hooves. 4)
The first experimental gasoline-powered lawnmowers were developed in 1897 but did not go into series production. 5)
Commercial-scale production of motorized mowers began in England in 1902 by James Edward Ransome. 6)