WEBVTT - Rerun: How Medieval Warfare Led to the Lawnmower 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.440 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.439 Jonathan Strickland. I am an executive producer with I Heart 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:24.439 Radio and what the tech is going on? Um, I'm 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.600 work shopping new taglines. Uh. I was going to have 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:31.520 a brand new episode ready for you today and then 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:40.680 a an unexpected home emergency happened. Nothing serious, everybody's okay. 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.560 I mean it's serious, but it's everybody's okay, which is 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.760 the most important thing. But unfortunately it meant that it 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.600 did a real number on my ability to research right 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.640 and record a brand new episode. So sadly, the first 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.600 episode of two is actually going to be an episode 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:04.560 from this episode published February twenty one. Fun fact, February 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.360 fift that's the uh that's the higher date of one 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.479 Jonathan Strickland at well back then it was how Stuff 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.800 Works dot com. So uh yeah, we'll be coming up 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.200 on an anniversary again soon. Anyway, this episode is one 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.680 of the ones that I'm really proud of. I had 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.560 a lot of fun doing it. It is titled How 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:29.760 Medieval Warfare Lead to the Lawnmower. Hope you enjoy. While 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.600 I've been recording shows from my home for nearly a 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:39.399 year now. I still occasionally get reminded about how things 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:43.360 can be different from when I was working in the office. 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.360 The most part, things are kind of like this is 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.320 this is the normal now. However, at the office, there 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.880 is no chance that my dog will be barking in 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.200 the background while I record, and so far, I think 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.800 I've mostly avoided having him show up on episodes of 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.440 Tech Stuff, but only because I've edited around it. Keep 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.280 telling him if he wants to be on a show, 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:07.200 he should get his own podcast, But I'm also scared 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.320 that if he does that, he'll get way more popular 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.200 than me. You're also not likely to hear other extraneous 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.200 noises at the office because there are studios are recording 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:19.520 studios are all in rooms that don't have a window 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.040 to the outside world built into them, though you can 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.919 still occasionally pick up sounds of folks who are chatting 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.520 in the office outside the studios, because well, at least 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.840 in the office, we used to be a pretty chatty lot. 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.480 So if you listen to any of the stuff shows, 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.480 if you listen very carefully, you might occasionally hear the 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:44.320 sounds of people talking outside that studio room. That's because 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.320 there are desks and stuff just on the other side 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.040 of those doors. But one noise that has been a 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.799 particular issue for me while working at home has been 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.720 the sound of the landscape crew that's working on the 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.760 courtyard outside townhouse I live in. They always seem to 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.080 show up just as I'm getting ready to record. And 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.040 then I thought, Hey, how about I talk about the 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.840 history of lawnmowers and how they work. That could be 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.600 a great topic and turn that frustration I feel into 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:21.959 an episode. So let's begin with some etymology, which I 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.240 am now being told is not the study of bugs, 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.720 but rather the origin of words. So we think of 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.360 a lawn, you know, as a grassy area like a yard, 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:36.640 typically covered by turf grass in fact, and that is 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.680 somewhat kept in an orderly fashion, partly by cutting the 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:45.840 grass fairly low. But where does the word lawn come from? Well, 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.480 the word derives from a Middle English word of lander, 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:54.120 meaning an unwitted field or an open space in the woods, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:59.720 like a glade. Thanks Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Now, y'all, 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:05.320 my no Back in my college days, I studied medieval literature, 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.480 including Old and Middle English texts, and so immediately I 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.800 thought of our old pal Jeffrey Chaucer, known for composing 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.680 the Canterbury Tales, though then he thoughtlessly went off and 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.360 died before he finished writing them. But he also wrote 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.680 a poem called Parliament of Fouls that mentions a Lawnda, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.520 which hey, that poem also references Valentine's Day later on, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.840 and since we just had Valentine's Day, this episode is 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.360 now timely. So the whole poem is far too long 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.880 for me to read. It's like seven lines long, but 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:40.760 I will give you the little bit of it that's 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.840 about the LAWNDA. And the passage goes like this, and 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.159 then a lawanda upon the Hilla of Flores was set. 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:52.719 This nobler goddess natier of branches were here Harlis and 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:57.560 her bores he wrought after Haircraft, and here measure. Now, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.840 this passage goes on a bit longer, but honestly, I 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.960 would just be indulging my own love of medieval English lit, 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.160 so I'm going to cut it off. There. What that 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:10.080 passage means in modern English is and in an opening 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.159 in the woods, on a hill covered with flowers sat 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.839 the goddess Nature. Her home was made of branches and 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.560 arranged according to her art. So it's a pretty little passage. 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:25.160 And here Londa refers to something you might encounter if 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:30.520 you were walking through the countryside, through the wooded forests 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.680 of old England or old France, and then at one 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.840 point you encounter an opening in the forest where there 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.960 aren't any trees. So how did it come to mean 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.359 the word lawn that we use today? Well, to understand 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.479 that we have to talk about war. Yes, just as 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:55.120 many a homeowner has suspected lawn care and warfare go 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:59.840 hand in hand. Okay, So you got your big medieval 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.800 big wig types. You know, you've got your kings and 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:08.279 your lords and your earls and whatnot. And occasionally these 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.799 types would lead large groups of warriors to conquer other 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:16.840 medieval big wig types, something like, Hey, those guys over 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.280 there got it pretty good, so why don't we go 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:23.080 over there and take their stuff and make it our stuff? 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.480 And so the world turns upon such thoughts. But it's 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.599 not enough to conquer the people who live on the 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.960 other side of the hills or river or ocean or whatever. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.359 You got to hold on to the land that you've claimed, right, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.279 And that means creating fortifications, preferably in places where you 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.760 can get a pretty good look at your surroundings to 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.200 make sure no other medieval big wigs get the same 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.839 bright idea you got, and then they come to take 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.880 your stuff and it used to be someone else's stuff, 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.600 because you know there's always a bigger fish, as it were. 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.840 So you build up your forts or your castles as 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.320 it were, to protect your assets. Your castles are your 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.440 defense system where you can pull back if necessary if 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.120 enemies come to call. But you can't really be on 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.680 the lookout for the next bully if you can't see 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.520 the armies for the trees, right, and so it gets 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.520 to chopping. You chop, chop, chop all those trees down 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.440 around your fortifications so that you can see folks from 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.840 a long way off if they're approaching, and you can 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.400 prepare if there's an imminent attack. It also helps if 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.440 you know you don't leave trees around for people to 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.320 cut down and turn into stuff like battering ramps. So 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.600 there's that element as well. So rather than wooded fields, 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.200 you have grassy ones. And this is the origin of 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.360 the lawn though back in those days the lawns weren't exactly, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:46.679 you know, pristine. So to maintain the lawns, you'd either 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.640 have livestock go out to the fields to graze, thus 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.640 cutting back the grass by eating it, as well as 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.240 fertilizing the land on occasion, you know, when nature called, 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.640 or you could have laborers go out to the fields 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.400 with hand tools like scythes and sickles to cut back 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.880 the grass manually so that it wasn't too high. A 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.600 sickle is a handheld tool that has a handle, typically 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.960 made out of wood, and on the business end, you've 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:20.120 got a curved blade sticking out from the handle, making 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.360 kind of like a almost like a half moon, you know, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:27.000 sort of crescent shaped, and the blade is also typically 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.920 at an angle relative to the handles, sort of how 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.440 a razor has an angle to it for the purposes 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.360 of shaving aside is similar, but it's much larger. It's 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.800 a two handed tool. The grim reaper carries a scythe, 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.520 and cutting with either a sickle or a scythe involves 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:50.360 making horizontal passes, typically at the base of the grass, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.640 and you cut in an arc from one side to 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:58.760 the other, and big arcing swings, so semicircular swings and 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.720 those swings only go in direction. The blade is is 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.040 sharpened on the inside curve, not the outside curve, and 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.800 you're typically going right to left because the handle for 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.800 the forward hand on a scythe is meant to be 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.480 held with the right hand. The left hand is meant 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.360 to hold the scythe further back on the on the handle, 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:23.040 So in other words, this is yet another right handed tool. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.200 Scything can actually be pretty efficient. There are actually there's 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.360 some great videos on YouTube of people who have really 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:34.440 gotten skilled with scything and they can make short work 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.240 of an overgrown lawn like they can cut that stuff 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.520 down quickly. I suggest you check it out. It's just 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.040 neat to watch. And the angle of the blade determines 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.440 how short the side will cut the grass. Using a 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.520 scythe with a good blade angle, a skilled wheelder can 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.600 cut the grass very low and pretty efficiently too, and 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.480 you would have the bottom part of the blade actually 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.240 making contact with the ground as you swing the scythe 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.920 from right to left. They also tend to have to 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.160 rake up the yard afterwards to gather up all the trimmings. 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:13.840 Were usually looking at fields that have you know, grass 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:18.080 that's quite high, like maybe a foot high or maybe taller, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.080 so you need to have something to to rake up 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:24.280 all the clippings that you've left behind. I've seen a 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.720 lot of videos of folks using sides in order to 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.960 cut back on, you know, relying on fossil fuels, and 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.600 to make use of the trimmings in various ways, from 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.559 compost to making hay while the sun shines. In some videos, 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.880 I've seen folks use scythes more effectively than someone who 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.360 is using a mechanical push mower or a weed whacker, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:50.480 though power mowers do tend to be more efficient than 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.319 a scythe, So a push mower, like a mechanical one 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.800 where there's no motor, it's just from human power that 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.280 versus a scythe, you might actually see someone be more 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.120 effective with the side than with the push mower. Weed 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.480 whackers same thing, uh, the push mower that has a 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.240 motor on it, those tend to win out in the end. 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.040 So it really does start to make you wonder, however, 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.040 why the heck did anyone think to invent the mechanical 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.240 lawnmower in the first place. If a scythe can be 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:25.239 as efficient, why would anyone ever think about making a 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.439 mechanical invention that does effectively the same sort of thing. 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.600 The first lawnmowers were purely mechanical, relying on gears and 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:38.320 blades that were mounted on a drum like cylinder. And 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:40.920 if those aren't more efficient than a scythe why would 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:47.240 you bother? And the answer is drumroll please vanity. See. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.320 While in the medieval era soldiers wanted to get a 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.360 good view of what might be coming at him throughout Europe, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:58.640 particularly in France and England, the strategic usefulness of castle's 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.440 gradually decline in the Middle Ages, largely because of advancements 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.559 in artillery. Cannons could make very short work of castle 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.920 walls and so warfare began to change and castles weren't 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.160 part of that. But you still had all these hoity 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.560 toity types who like the idea of a well maintained lawn. Again, 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.880 mostly in France and England, that's really where this idea 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:25.040 took hold, and this was definitely an issue of vanity, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.199 particularly when it came to showing off your prestige. Lawns 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.440 are not natural environments when you get down to it, 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.319 they can be environmentally unfriendly. They represent a much more 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.480 limited biome than a natural grassy or wooded area. It's 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.920 an artificial construct. It's really an example of humans cutting 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.480 back nature to suit our own esthetics. And really it 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.400 was only the hoity toity types doing this, because maintaining 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.400 a lawn was a lot of work, Not that the 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.000 hoity toity types were the ones doing the work, mind you, 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.120 but they were the ones who could afford livestock or 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:06.160 laborers who would trend back stuff for them. So from 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.120 manor houses to inhabited castles you had the practice of 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.559 maintaining these large grassy areas. Now, some of that sensibility 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.000 would also find its way over to the New World 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.800 where it really took hold. Now, the grasses in the 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:24.080 New World were different than those found in Europe. But 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.600 when settlers came to North America, they brought with them livestock, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.520 and apparently the livestock really liked the grass in America 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.280 so much so that they ding dang durnate at all. 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.520 So to keep the livestock from starving, the colonists were 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:43.160 importing grass seeds from Europe and North Africa, including grasses that, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.080 if you were to go by their names, sound like 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.599 they come from America. Kentucky blue Grass. I'm looking at you. 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.240 You ain't from Kentucky. Thomas Jefferson was said to have 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.040 taken up the goal of creating a manicured lawn at 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.120 Monticello after he visited France, and George Washington had a 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.800 similar desire to turn his a state of Mount Vernon 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.880 into a mirror of European standards. And certainly the idea 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.600 of a well kept lawn managed to really take hold 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.560 in America, becoming something of an obsession really, which will 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.920 cover a little bit later in this episode, and certain 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.960 sports definitely helped things along, for which we can largely 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.080 thank the Scots. Scottish sports like golf and lawn bowling 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.200 were brought over by Scottish immigrants to America and they 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.920 became popular past signs for those who had the leisure 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.360 to pursue such things. But to play lawn games, you 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.120 gotta cut the grass, otherwise you're going to spend more 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.520 time trying to find the game equipment than you get 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.880 to play with the darned things. Now we're gonna come 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.720 back to the evolution of the lawn, particularly in America, 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.320 and just a little bit as that history ties into 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.760 a lot of other interesting stuff and includes some heavy 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:55.760 duty connections to other elements of American society, in addition 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.560 to feeding an entire industry dedicated to lawn care and maintenance. 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.640 But let's get back to our early history of lawn mowers. Okay, 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:08.640 So by the nineteenth century, lawns were the rage in England, France, 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:11.880 and starting to be in America. But as I said, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.080 unless you had livestock or the cash to pay laborers, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.640 you probably couldn't maintain a lawn on your own. You 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:23.080 certainly couldn't do so to the immaculate standards of the aristocracy. 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.200 The wealthy would spend a lot to get that perfect lawn, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.640 even going so far as to hire people to use 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.160 handheld shears to cut grass down quite low and to 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.240 avoid the patterns that you would see if you used scythes, 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.640 because cutting grass and those arc swings would leave behind 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:45.120 patterns in the grass, and that was considered aesthetically unpleasing. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.000 And then we come to an Englishman named Edwin Beard 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:55.200 Budding born in Stroud, Gloucestershire. In Budding started off with 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.240 some strikes against him. His parents were unmarried, his father 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.920 a farmer, and in England, that put him at a 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.960 fairly low social standing. Class in England was a very 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.720 important concept still can be while over there on the 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.520 whole working class versus posh and all that sort of stuff. 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.800 So he started off in carpentry, but he switched over 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:22.080 to working at iron foundries. The Industrial Revolution was well 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.880 underway in England at this point and the demand for 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.800 iron tools and machinery was very high, and through experience 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.440 Budding built up an understanding of engineering and problem solving. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.880 He would end up inventing several things or making his 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.600 own version of some existing machines, but obviously the one 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.960 we want to really look at is the lawnmower. Budding 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.520 got the idea for the lawnmower when he saw a 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.200 device used by textile mills to trim back the fibers 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.760 that stick out from the surface of cloth, also known 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.840 as the nap of a cloth, and with some textiles 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:59.480 the goal is to fluff the nap out, use little 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.720 homes or prickly flowers, even to pull some of those 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.960 threads out, and then you comb it a certain way, 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.919 which can make the cloth softer to the touch and 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.280 better at doing stuff like trapping heat. But sometimes you 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.520 just wanted a very smooth piece of cloth, something that 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.200 wouldn't get caught easily on rough surfaces. So, for example, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.440 you might want a carpet that could withstand more use 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.479 as long as it didn't you know, catch on shoes 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.280 and stuff. So you would want to shear the nap. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:32.679 You'd want to cut that nap close to the cloth. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.600 And in earlier days this job was done by skilled 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.760 tradespeople who would use giant sets of shears. I mean 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.360 these things were massive in order to cut the nap 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.480 off the surface of the cloths as efficiently as possible. 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.320 But by buttons time, some genius whose name is lost 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.000 to history came up with the notion of building a 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:56.800 mechanical device that has blades arranged around a drum or 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.159 cylinder in a type of helix shape. The drum or 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.439 cylinder rotates, and by running the surface of the cloth 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.800 near this helix of blades, the blades could trim back 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.040 the nap on the surface of the cloth. Add in 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.960 some rollers and some other elements to pull the cloth along, 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:16.920 and you get yourself a machine that can trim the 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:22.439 nap back on cloth evenly, consistently, and efficiently. Ah Ha 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.760 said Budding, what if I took that same basic idea 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.920 and flipped it around a bit, so you could trim 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.840 back grass with rotating blades along a cylinder. And in 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.200 eighteen thirty that's just what he did, securing a patent 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.320 number six zero eight one in fact for his invention. 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:50.520 I'll explain more about it after this quick break. Budding 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.920 saw an opportunity to create a device that could consistently 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.920 and reliably cut grass a specific lengths, so, in other words, 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.480 you could adjust how tall the ass would be and 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.959 without leaving those marks behind that you would get if 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.760 you were to cut grass with scythes and such. Also, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:13.439 the lawnmower wouldn't poop on the lawn, unlike livestock. It 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:18.000 would be particularly handy for parks and sporting grounds where 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.520 the well to do could gather for their leisure time 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.359 and look for something, you know, orderly and neat, which 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.960 very much fit in with the sensibilities of the elite 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:31.280 of nineteenth century Britain. So Edwin Beard Butting built a 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.639 wheeled machine out of rought and cast iron, had a 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.520 pair of wheels. It also had a pair of rollers 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.320 and a forward roller and a back roller. Uh as 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:46.399 well as the blade mounted cylinder that did the actual cutting. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.480 So imagine you've got a mechanical device has a small 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.800 roller in the front. This is the thing that can 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.280 be adjusted so you can control how close to the 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.000 ground you're cutting the grass. Behind that roller, you've got 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:02.520 your horizontal cylinder that's got the curved blades arranged in 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.359 a helix around that rotatble cylinder, so it rotates along 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:10.040 the horizontal axis, is what I'm saying. To either side 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.160 of that are the wheels of the lawnmower that provides stability, 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.280 allows you to actually aim it and push it along 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.960 the ground. And then in the rear you have a 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.840 big roller. It kind of looks like a more narrow 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.520 and slightly smaller version of a steam roller, if that 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:34.359 helps you imagine this. Buttons design also incorporated a tray 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.160 to catch grass clippings. The tray was in the front 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.479 because the way this machine worked, it would propel the 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.960 clippings out, shooting them out towards the front of the machine. 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:49.000 That way, you wouldn't have to follow behind the lawnmower 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:51.600 with a rake or something like that to to rake 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.320 up the clippings. And it was that rear roller, the 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.680 big steam roller type thing in the back that connected 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:03.560 to the bladed cylinder through a gear drive. That's where 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:06.320 you've got a series of gears that fit together to 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:11.160 transfer the rotational motion of the roller that's pressed against 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:14.840 the ground. So as you push the lawnmower forward, the 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:19.199 roller rolls because it's making contact with the ground, and 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:24.600 it transfers that rotational motion to the cylinder or the 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.120 drama if you prefer, that's got the blades on it. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.640 And all of this was made out of iron. Now 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.280 this meant the person who was pushing the mower had 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.080 to use a pretty good amount of force because you 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:39.560 weren't just pushing hard enough to move the mower itself, 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.480 which being made out of iron, was pretty darn heavy, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.000 but also to power that drive train of gears that 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:50.119 would you know, transmit the rotation to the cylinder. And 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.320 each step of that process, each gear connection, means that 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.600 you're losing a little bit of the amount of energy 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.239 you're giving to the system to stuff like friction, So 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:02.040 that means you have to push even harder to get 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:05.479 things going. But still Budding showed that the same general 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.320 principle that worked for cutting back the nap on cloth 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.680 could in fact be used to cut grass. He patented 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:15.040 his design in eighteen thirty, and in that patent Budding 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:19.040 said his invention represented quote a new combination and application 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:22.159 of machinery for the purpose of cropping or sharing the 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:27.680 vegetable surfaces of lawns, grass plats and pleasure grounds. Country 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:31.600 gentlemen may find and using my machine themselves, and amusing 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:36.840 useful and healthy exercise end quote. It's interesting to note 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.040 that a lot of the basic designs introduced by Budding 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:44.000 would stick around throughout the ages with mechanical push mowers, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:46.920 and the ones that we have today have at least 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.160 some resemblance to the one that Budding was making back 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.120 in the mid nineteenth century. Now they the new ones 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:57.040 are are more elegant in design, and they're made of 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:01.119 much lighter materials, but the general principle behind the operation 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.439 remains pretty much the same. Budding formed a partnership with 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:09.280 an engineer named John Ferraby, who owned a company called 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:13.760 Phoenix Iron Works. Fairby had the manufacturing rights to produce 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.640 Buddings design and fronted the costs to develop the prototype 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.439 and one of the earliest lawnmowers that the pair produced 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:24.760 went to the London Zoo, and another one became the 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:29.680 property of Oxford University. By eighteen thirty two, word had 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:34.000 already spread that Buddings machine could create great results, and 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:39.760 demand was soon outpacing Farraby's capacity to produce lawnmowers, and 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:44.040 Farraby then began to license the design to other engineers, 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:49.240 to other iron works owners, including Ransoms of Ipswitch, a 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:52.440 company that was already in the business of producing plows 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:57.320 for farmers. They advertised the new lawnmower invention saying, quote 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:01.400 the machine is so easy to manage, the persons unpracticed 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.159 in the art of mowing may cut the grass on 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:08.119 lawns and bowling greens with ease end quote. In other words, 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:13.480 they were kind of positioning this as something of a 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:19.040 leisure activity for uh, for the upper class. That you know, 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:21.680 mowing the lawn with a side that was a low 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:24.440 class thing to do. That was for laborers. You wouldn't 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:27.919 see people of the upper classes do that. It was 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:32.240 beneath their station. But mowing with this exotic machine that 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:37.479 was something befitting a person of high station. And it was, 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:39.840 as a matter of fact, pretty simple to operate these 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.800 things you just grabbed the handle of the mower and 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:45.280 you pushed it forward, kind of like a cart. You 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:48.239