People at the cutting edge: lawnmower designers - Future cuts

Future cuts

Today, the cylinder, rotary and hover mowers, electric or petrol-powered, still find favour, with the names of Hayter and Mountfield being added to the list of familiar manufacturers. Specialist strimmers, trimmers and brushcutters have been developed to tackle rough-grass operations, using a fast-rotating nylon line, braided wire or blade. The German company Stihl, and the Swedish Husqvarna are both leaders in this field. 

Large ride-on lawn tractors, made by companies such as McCulloch and Toro, are popular with those looking for easy maintenance of extensive garden plots. A less hands-on approach, however, is now possible thanks to battery-charged machines that use sensors to navigate their way around the lawn. They boast low power consumption and are heralded as quiet, recycling, mulching mowers that return nutrients to the lawn. Such mowers can be programmed to cut at any time of day or night, and don't need constant supervision.

This latest mower development has brought lawn maintenance a long way from being ‘an amusing, useful and healthy exercise', as claimed by the original inventor Edwin Budding. But it seems assured that as long as the British love of the lawn exists, the means to maintain it will continue to be a source of interest to future lawn keepers.