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for forward travel. There are handles to allow the machine to be controlled by an operator walking behind it, controls comprise throttle and clutch. The wheels are driven through ratchets which allow either wheel to free-wheel when steering the machine (the wheel on the outside of the turn will be able to rotate faster than the inside wheel). This system is simpler than a differential axle and, unlike a differential, means that when one wheel slips the other keeps turning and driving the machine forwards. It has the disadvantage that the machine can run away from the operator downhill and for this reason the ratchet mechanisms can be locked. The machines are extremely robust and many from the 1950s are still in regular use. They can be dangerous, as the clutch system only disengages the wheel drive from the engine: the blades cut all the time the engine runs.
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The Allen Scythe does not resemble a hand scythe but serves the same purpose. The engine drives a 2-foot-wide (0.6 m) or 3-foot-wide (0.9 m) or 4ft wide toothed blade sliding back and forth horizontally across stationary teeth to produce a scissor action, and also drives two large wheels
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Later models were available with different attachments, including rotating brushes that replaced the cutting head, air or water pumps and saws or hedge trimmers that drove from the starting pulley side of the engine.
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and rope start. The engines may fail to start because of ignition problems. The spark should occur when the piston is 3/16 of an inch before
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Christine Edbury: Highlights of the
British Collection: Aerial Photographs - Major Allen's Life and Work (1891-1940). January 2012
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80:(TDC) on all Villiers engines except for the Villiers Mk. 11C & 25C which should spark 5/32 of an inch before TDC.
40:. The company, formerly the Eddison and Nodding Company, was bought in 1897 by John Allen, who renamed it the Oxford
32:, sometimes called the Allen Power Scythe, is a petrol-powered finger-bar mower. It was made from 1933 until 1973 by
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British
Archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum: Rationalisation and Enhancement of the Historic Collections
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John Allen and Sons used a number of engine types, the most common being a
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Patterson, Stevan D.T. (2021). The Allen Motor Scythe, self published.
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Episode 6 Wartime Farm "...use some clever 1940s technology..."
124:"Aerial Photographs: Major Allen's Life and Work (1891–1940)"
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at britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk
Accessed 3 March 2018
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featured an Allen Scythe. Cast members Alex
Langlands and
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Company, and then renamed it to John Allen and Sons.
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Allen Scythe with rotary saw attachment preserved at
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Mower of the Month Number
Fourteen: The Allen Scythe
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105:used it to harvest hay in a churchyard.
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172:at coalcanal.org Accessed 3 March 2018
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169:Villiers 25C Operating Instructions
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184:at bbc.co.uk Accessed 3 March 2018
122:Edbury, Christine (January 2012).
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254:Two-stroke engine technology
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235:from The Old Lawnmower Club
229:from The Old Lawnmower Club
202:. Road Locomotive Society.
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198:Brown, Jonathan (2012).
165:Allen Scythe User Manual
249:Agricultural machinery
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22:Didcot Railway Centre
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38:Cowley, Oxfordshire
34:John Allen and Sons
93:reality television
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200:Allen's of Oxford
88:Episode 6 of the
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98:Wartime Farm
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42:Steam Plough
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48:Description
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209:0950848050
137:19 October
109:References
103:Peter Ginn
70:two-stroke
24:, England
67:Villiers
95:series
90:BBC Two
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61:Engine
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204:ISBN
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139:2014
28:The
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