MOWER OF THE MONTH
Number Seventy-Two
SUFFOLK COLT
The Suffolk Colt was introduced in 1959 and went on to become
one of the most popular motor mowers of the 1960s. Many thousands were produced
and plenty are still in regular use.
The design of the Suffolk Colt was very similar to the
earlier Suffolk Punch although it was smaller and more compact. Both
machines had a number of features in common, including almost identical
versions of Suffolk's own 75cc four stroke engine. This engine (designated
the 75G) was produced in a number of different variations (and in larger
capacities) for use on motor mowers from the 1950s through to the 1970s
and it proved to be a very reliable power unit. Suffolk was probably the
last major UK lawn mower manufacturer to use its own engines and over two
and a half million units were made by the company. Most other companies
used engines produced by one of the major manufacturers such as Villiers
or JAP.
The Colt was available in 12" cutting width.
Conventional motor mowers are rarely narrower. It was a very compact
design which made it ideal for smaller lawns in an era before electric
power was available or accepted by the market.
The design was unusual in that it incorporated three
separate clutches. The first is a basic hand-operated "dog"
clutch on the main drive shaft. This was to engage and disengage the main
drive to the cutting cylinder and rear roller. It was normally disengaged
when starting to make it easier for the engine to pick up speed. The
second clutch was a centrifugal clutch, also on the main drive shaft, that
only engaged when the engine speed exceeded a predetermined limit. This
removed the need for a clutch lever or cable and helped make the mower
easier to operate. For example, when the mower came to the end of the lawn
the clutch could be disengaged by simply slowing the engine down using the
throttle lever. The drive would disengage automatically so that the
operator could turn the mower or manoeuvre around the lawn. The third
clutch was on the end of the rear roller and could be disengaged
independently so that power from the engine was only transmitted through
the cutting cylinder. This allowed the mower to be used in confined areas
where the user wanted to have powered cutting but without any forward
motion on the mower. This was not a new idea (many earlier motor mowers
had similar devices for separating power to the cutter and roller)
although it was unusual on such a small machine. Suffolk often referred to
this ability to disengage the rear roller as "dual drive", as
explained in their sales leaflets:
Many Suffolk Power Mowers now incorporate the
dual-drive device. In effect, this is an auxiliary clutch enabling the
user to disengage instantly the drive tot eh rear roller. This allows
the machine to be operated at any speed with the power still connected
to the cutting cylinder. The user can thus move the machine slowly round
cut-out lower beds, trees, shrubs, etc in fact in any confined space
without hurry or trouble. It can be re-engaged in a matter of a second
or so. One outstanding virtue of any machine fitted with the dual-drive
is that it gives unlimited cuts per foot when operated without the rear
roller driving. This enables the user to obtain a super fine finish on
his lawn whenever desired.
The Suffolk Colt was produced right through the 1960s and
into the 70s more or less unchanged. After this the design was changed
gradually and later models while bearing many similarities to the original
machine often had slightly different names. The main examples of this were
the Super Colt and Super Punch models.
Many examples are still in use today and this tireless
"workhorse" continues to be a very practical machine. A few collectors
specialise in them but values are not very high because examples can still be
found easily.
One confusing aspect of the Suffolk Colt (and other Suffolk
mowers for that matter) is that the name plate includes the wording
"Suffolk Iron Foundry (1920) Limited". Some people assume this refers
to the date the mower was made but it is simply the legal name of the company.
Like other Suffolk mowers the Colt was made in the
company's factory in Stowmarket that is now the main manufacturing plant
for Atco-Qualcast. All three companies have been part of the same
multinational organisation for some years.
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