MOWER OF THE MONTH
Number Fifty Two
SHANKS IVANHOE
The Ivanhoe was introduced in 1927 by Alexander Shanks of Arbroath and
London. The mower was available for domestic use on ordinary lawns but Shanks
also had in mind the professional sports ground market and produced special
versions for use of golf and bowling greens.
The Ivanhoe was designed and manufactured to a high specification compared
with similar models from other manufacturers at the time. It incorporated a
high-precision gear drive enclosed in an oil bath to provide protection and
lubrication. This new concept was also being employed on mowers made by JP,
Drummond and Ransome among others.
The cutting cylinder had eight blades. In combination with high gearing this
produced the large number of cuts for each foot of forward motion that is
necessary for fine turf mowing.
The cylinder was mounted using ball bearings instead of brass or bronze
bushes found on earlier machines. This made it easier to set the machine and
helped reduce cylinder movement during use for more accurate and finer cutting.
Another trend of the period exemplified by the Ivanhoe is ease of use. The
cutting height could be adjusted by simply turning cast iron handles at each end
of the front roller to raise or lower the mower. Similar handles were used to
set the cutting cylinder against the bottom blade. Earlier machines required a
small spanner to make the same adjustments but these could be easily lost and
the operation was more fiddly.
On early machines the handles attached to the top of the side frames but
this proved to be a bit of a weakness. From 1929 the handles were attached to a
new mounting at the back edge of the side frame.
The Ivanhoe was built in three sizes, 12", 14" and 16" priced
at £7-10-0 to £9-15-0 including the grass box in 1928. The 14" and
16" models were also available with thinner bottom blades (allowing the
cutting height to be set closer to the ground) for use on golf and bowling
greens. These were priced at £9-10-0 and £10-15-0 respectively.
The Ivanhoe continued in production until 1935 when it was replaced by new
designs from Shanks.
The Ivanhoe is less common than many similar machines of the same period
from other manufacturers. However, a number of collectors have examples in their
collections.
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