MP021: Barnard, Bishop & Barnard
Barnard, Bishop and Barnard was a company based in Norwich that began to manufacture lawn mowers in the early 1860s. One of the company's innovations was to produce a "noiseless" mower that incorporated a friction drive between the roller and cutting cylinder instead of the usual gears. An early advertisement for this type of mower appears below.
The noiseless mower was not a great success although the company was still producing models to the same basic design well into the 20th century and the 1910 catalogue included machines with a variety of cutting widths.
The company also produced a range of gear driven lawn mowers, including some very narrow cutting widths such as the example shown below.
Barnard, Bishop & Barnard produced a range of gardening equipment and continued to produce mowers well into the 20th century. The company closed after the Second World War.
Examples of Barnard, Bishop & Barnard mowers are very unusual and are highly prized by collectors.