The history of profesional flail mowers
It was 1830 when in the UK began the first Industrial Revolution. A period of great turmoil that saw, on the one hand, a great entrepreneurial effervescence, with ideas and developments of highly innovative products, and on the other hand an unprecedented attention to social issues. It was in those years that Edwin Beard Budding, born in 1795 in Gloucestershire, began to work on the idea of a machine that could easily cut grass in the fields, especially sports ones.
Edwin Beard Budding & Co.
Budding’s first flail mower was 19 inches wide and the frame was in wrought iron. It consisted of a large back roller which, pushed by the gardener, transferred the movement to a front roller equipped with blades. For the time, it was really a brilliant invention. Edwin Budding did not have the economic resources to activate the production of his mower, but fortunately he met John Ferrabee, owner of the Phoenix Iron Works foundry, who joined the company and took over the costs of development and production. Over 5 thousand flail mowers were produced in eight different models.
The first modern professional flail mowers
We have to bring a new protagonist into the scene: Stephen F. Briggs. The young Briggs had the opportunity to highlight his engineering talent by designing, in 1906, a small experimental engine. In university, Briggs was famous for his creativity and engineering preparation. The Briggs & Stratton company was founded in 1908 with the desire to become part of the protagonists of the nascent automotive market. After the First World War, the company dedicated itself to the needs that came from the various markets, including the agricultural one. The real solution came from the construction, in the Briggs & Stratton factory, of the first flail mower with a petrol engine; we are in 1940. From that moment on, research and production became more and more specialized up to the modern professional flail mowers, of which Peruzzo offers a wide choice.