The Allen Scythe, sometimes called the Allen Power Scythe, is a petrol-powered finger-bar mower. It was made from 1933 until 1973 by John Allen and Sons in Cowley, Oxfordshire. The company, formerly the Eddison and Nodding Company, was bought in 1897 by John Allen, who renamed it the Oxford Steam Plough Company, and then renamed it to John Allen and Sons. [1] [2]
The Allen Scythe does not resemble a hand scythe but serves the same purpose. The engine drives a 2-foot-wide (0.6 m) or 3-foot-wide (0.9 m) or 4ft wide toothed blade sliding back and forth horizontally across stationary teeth to produce a scissor action, and also drives two large wheels for forward travel. There are handles to allow the machine to be controlled by an operator walking behind it, controls comprise throttle and clutch. The wheels are driven through ratchets which allow either wheel to free-wheel when steering the machine (the wheel on the outside of the turn will be able to rotate faster than the inside wheel). This system is simpler than a differential axle and, unlike a differential, means that when one wheel slips the other keeps turning and driving the machine forwards. It has the disadvantage that the machine can run away from the operator downhill and for this reason the ratchet mechanisms can be locked. The machines are extremely robust and many from the 1950s are still in regular use. They can be dangerous, as the clutch system only disengages the wheel drive from the engine: the blades cut all the time the engine runs.
Later models were available with different attachments, including rotating brushes that replaced the cutting head, air or water pumps and saws or hedge trimmers that drove from the starting pulley side of the engine.
John Allen and Sons used a number of engine types, the most common being a Villiers two-stroke with magneto ignition and rope start. The engines may fail to start because of ignition problems. The spark should occur when the piston is 3/16 of an inch before top dead centre (TDC) on all Villiers engines except for the Villiers Mk. 11C & 25C which should spark 5/32 of an inch before TDC. [3]
Episode 6 of the BBC Two reality television series Wartime Farm featured an Allen Scythe. Cast members Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn used it to harvest hay in a churchyard.[ citation needed ] [4]
Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer born in Eastington, Stroud, was the English inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and adjustable spanner (1842).
A differential is a gear train with three drive shafts that has the property that the rotational speed of one shaft is the average of the speeds of the others. A common use of differentials is in motor vehicles, to allow the wheels at each end of a drive axle to rotate at different speeds while cornering. Other uses include clocks and analogue computers. Differentials can also provide a gear ratio between the input and output shafts. For example, many differentials in motor vehicles provide a gearing reduction by having fewer teeth on the pinion than the ring gear.
A lawn mower is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower but generally is adjustable by the operator, typically by a single master lever or by a mechanism on each of the machine's wheels. The blades may be powered by manual force, with wheels mechanically connected to the cutting blades so that the blades spin when the mower is pushed forward, or the machine may have a battery-powered or plug-in electric motor. The most common self-contained power source for lawn mowers is a small 4-stroke internal combustion engine. Smaller mowers often lack any form of self-propulsion, requiring human power to move over a surface; "walk-behind" mowers are self-propelled, requiring a human only to walk behind and guide them. Larger lawn mowers are usually either self-propelled "walk-behind" types or, more often, are "ride-on" mowers that the operator can sit on and control. A robotic lawn mower is designed to operate either entirely on its own or less commonly by an operator on a remote control.
A traction control system (TCS), is typically a secondary function of the electronic stability control (ESC) on production motor vehicles, designed to prevent loss of traction of the driven road wheels. TCS is activated when throttle input and engine power and torque transfer are mismatched to the road surface conditions.
In mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driven shaft when the driven shaft rotates faster than the driveshaft. An overdrive is sometimes mistakenly called a freewheel, but is otherwise unrelated.
A limited-slip differential (LSD) is a type of differential gear train that allows its two output shafts to rotate at different speeds but limits the maximum difference between the two shafts. Limited-slip differentials are often known by the generic trademark Positraction, a brand name owned by General Motors and originally used for its Chevrolet branded vehicles.
Quattro is the trademark used by the automotive brand Audi to indicate that all-wheel drive (AWD) technologies or systems are used on specific models of its automobiles.
In automotive design, a front-engine, front-wheel-drive (FWD) layout, or FF layout, places both the internal combustion engine and driven roadwheels at the front of the vehicle.
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft, propeller shaft, or Cardan shaft is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect other components of a drivetrain that cannot be connected directly because of distance or the need to allow for relative movement between them.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automobiles:
The Rover 6 was a small two-seater 6-horsepower car and only the second car model made by the British Rover car company. Announced in January 1905 a 6-horsepower car remained available from Rover until 1912.
Roths Industries, Inc. (1945–1960) was a manufacturer of small garden tractors and other agricultural equipment founded by Herbert C. Roths in Alma, Michigan. The company manufactured Garden King Walking Tractors, BesRo Riding Tractors, and Till Ro Stalk Cutters.
A rotary mower is a unit of powered machinery that uses a rotating blade or blades to cut vegetation.
A zero-turn riding lawn mower is a standard riding lawn mower with a turning radius that is effectively zero when the two drive wheels rotate in opposite direction, like a tank turning in place.
An internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is typically applied to pistons, turbine blades, a rotor, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance. This process transforms chemical energy into kinetic energy which is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to.
A drivetrain or transmission system, is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components of a motor vehicle that deliver power to the drive wheels. This excludes the engine or motor that generates the power. In marine applications, the drive shaft will drive a propeller, thruster, or waterjet rather than a drive axle, while the actual engine might be similar to an automotive engine. Other machinery, equipment and vehicles may also use a drivetrain to deliver power from the engine(s) to the driven components.
Car controls are the components in automobiles and other powered road vehicles, such as trucks and buses, used for driving and parking.
Hayter is a British high-end manufacturer and distributor of garden machinery, specialising in industrial and domestic lawn mowers. The company's headquarters are located in Spellbrook, Hertfordshire, where it was founded in 1946 by Douglas Hayter, a pioneer of the rotary mower. The company was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1960.
This glossary of automotive terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related to automobiles, including their parts, operation, and manufacture, as well as automotive engineering, auto repair, and the automotive industry in general. For more specific terminology regarding the design and classification of various automobile styles, see Glossary of automotive design; for terms related to transportation by road, see Glossary of road transport terms; for competitive auto racing, see Glossary of motorsport terms.
