Ransomes Mower Dates

Ransomes was one of the first companies in the world to manufacture lawn mowers, its first products dating from the 1830s. It continued to produce machinery for the domestic and commercial markets until the end of the 20th century. The company still exists but is now primarily concerned with producing specialist machinery for commercial use. They have always been one of the biggest and best-known manufacturers.

The number of models produced by the company makes it very difficult to provide a summary of dates for every machine. 

Our Ransomes Specialist should be able to provide an approximate date and some background information for many machines made by the company.

Operating Manuals & Machine Dating

The Museum of English Rural Life at the University of Reading has an extensive archive of Ransomes information including operating manuals and sales and promotional literature. The museum can normally supply copies of some of this information and offers a basic machine dating service for a nominal cost which covers copying and postage.

When contacting the museum please have a note of any serial numbers from the mower and/or its engine. Patent numbers can also be useful. Motor mowers can generally be dated more accurately than hand machines because the production records compiled by Ransomes (and now retained by MERL) are more specific.