308 HISTORY OF MOWING MACHINES. 



body, an unusually great exertion of muscular power. 

 Nor does it require any small amount of skill to become 

 a good mower, since it is proverbial that, unless the boy 

 becomes accustomed to the scythe, and learns while 

 young, he can never become a skilful mower. 

 '" That the ingenuity of man should have been turned 

 into this direction, therefore, and studied to shorten and 

 lighten this severe operation, is not at all strange. That 

 it should not have been done before, should, perhaps, 

 rather excite our surprise. The reaper has been known 

 and used on a limited scale for half a century ; and, as 

 the process of mowing by machinery is not wholly 

 unlike that of reaping, the one would seem to have 

 been naturally suggested by the other. 



The first mowing machine which met with any success 

 in this country is believed to have been that of William 

 Manning, of New Jersey, patented in 1831, and which 

 met with a limited success more than twenty years ago. 

 The machine was furnished with the serrated or saw- 

 tooth knife, having a vibratory motion. 



In 1834 appeared the Ambler patent, simple in its 

 construction, with a cutter-bar of wrought iron, and 

 a single smooth-edged knife, operated by means of a 

 crank, which gave it the vibratory motion. It was used 

 to considerable extent in 1835 and 1836. 



Another machine was used to some extent in 1835, by 

 which the cutting was performed by circular knives, 

 fastened on the periphery of a horizontal wheel, five 

 feet in diameter. The wheel was suspended on a per- 

 pendicular iron shaft, which hung on a lever, by means 

 of which the driver could elevate or lower the knives, 

 at will. The motion was given by gearing connected 

 with the wheels on which the machine rested. It was 

 operated by two horses, and was capable of mowing 

 ten acres a day. 



