1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,479 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: tech are you of? So it's Memorial Day here in 5 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: the United States, and that means we're off and I'm 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: currently out of town as you listen to this, but 7 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: I wanted to bring you an episode anyway. So this 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: is an episode that actually aired just a couple of 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: years ago. Fifteenth, twenty twenty one is when it originally published. 10 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: It's titled How Medieval Warfare Led to the Lawnmower? And yeah, 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: this is one of those examples of me going back 12 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: in order to tell a story and just keep going 13 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,319 Speaker 1: back over and over again to kind of find out, well, 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: what's the genesis for this technology, and arguably, in the 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: case of the lawnmower, it's medieval warfare. I hope you enjoy, 16 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: and I hope for those of you in the United 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: States rating that you have a happy and safe holiday. 18 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: I'll chat with you again at the end. While I've 19 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: been recording shows from my home for nearly a year now, 20 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: I still occasionally get reminded about how things can be 21 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: different from when I was working in the office. For 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: the most part, things are kind of like this. This 23 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: is the normal now. However, at the office, there is 24 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: no chance that my dog will be barking in the 25 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: background while I record, and so far, I think I've 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,839 Speaker 1: mostly avoided having him show up on episodes of Tech Stuff, 27 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: but only because I've edited around it. Keep telling him 28 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: if he wants to be on a show, he should 29 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: get his own podcast, but I'm also scared that if 30 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: he does that, he'll get way more popular than me. 31 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: You're also not likely to hear other extraneous noises at 32 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: the office because there our studios or recording studios are 33 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: all in rooms that don't have a window to the 34 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: outside world built into them. Though you can still occasionally 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: pick up sounds of folks who are chatting in the 36 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: office outside the studios, because well, at least in the office, 37 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: we used to be a pretty chatty lot. So if 38 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: you listen to any of the stuff shows, if you 39 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: listen very carefully, you might occasionally hear the sounds of 40 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: people talking outside that studio room. That's because there are 41 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: desks and stuff just on the other side of those doors. 42 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: But one noise that has been a particular issue for 43 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: me while working at home has been the sound of 44 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: the landscape crew that's working on the courtyard outside the 45 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: townhouse I live in. They always seem to show up 46 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: just as I'm getting ready to record. And then I thought, Hey, 47 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: how about I talk about the history of lawnmowers and 48 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: how they work. That could be a great topic and 49 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: turn that frustration I feel into an episode. So let's 50 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: begin with some etymology, which I am now being told 51 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 1: is not the study of bugs, but rather the origin 52 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: of words. So we think of a lawn, you know, 53 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: as a grassy area like a yard, typically covered by 54 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: turf grass in fact, and that is somewhat kept in 55 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: an orderly fashion, partly by cutting the grass fairly low. 56 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: But where does the word lawn come from? Well, the 57 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,959 Speaker 1: word derives from a Middle English word of lone, meaning 58 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: an unwooded field or an open space in the woods, 59 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: like a glade. Thanks Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, now y'all 60 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: might know. Now, back in my college days, I studied 61 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: medieval literature, including Old and Middle English texts, and so 62 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: immediately I thought of our old pal Jeffrey Chaucer known 63 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,839 Speaker 1: for composing the Canterbury Tales, though then he thoughtlessly went 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: off and died before he finished writing them. But he 65 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: also wrote a poem called Parliament of Fowls that mentions 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: a londe, which hey, that poem also references Valentine's Day 67 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: later on, and since we just had Valentine's Day, this 68 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: episode is now timely. So the whole poem is far 69 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: too long for me to read. It's like seven hundred 70 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: lines long. But I will give you the little bit 71 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: of it that's about the lounde. And the passage goes 72 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: like this, and then a londa upon the Hilla of 73 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: Flores was set. This nobler goddess Natier of branches were 74 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: here Hollis and herbores. He wrought after her craft, and 75 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: here measure. Now, this passage goes on a bit longer, 76 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: but honestly, I would just be indulging my own love 77 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: of medieval English lit, so I'm going to cut it off. There. 78 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: What that passage means in modern English is and in 79 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: an opening in the woods, on a hill covered with 80 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: flowers sat the goddess Nature. Her home was made of 81 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: branches and arranged according to her art. So it's a 82 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: pretty little passage. And here Londa refers to something you 83 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: might encounter if you were walking through the countryside, through 84 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: the wooded forests of old England or old France, and 85 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: then at one point you encounter an opening in the 86 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: forest where there aren't any trees. So how did it 87 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: come to mean the word lawn that we use today? Well, 88 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: to understand that, we have to talk about war. Yes, 89 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: just as many a homeowner has suspected lawn care and 90 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: warfare go hand in hand. Okay, So you got your 91 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: big medieval big wig types. You know, you got your 92 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: kings and your lords and your earls and whatnot. And 93 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: occasionally these types would lead large groups of warriors to 94 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: conquer other medieval big wig types, something like a, Hey, 95 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: those guys over there got it pretty good, so why 96 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: don't we go over there and take their stuff and 97 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,119 Speaker 1: make it our stuff? And so the world turns upon 98 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: such thoughts. But it's not enough to conquer the people 99 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: who live on the other side of the hills or 100 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: river or ocean or whatever. You got to hold on 101 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: to the land that you've claimed, right, and that means 102 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: creating fortifications, preferably in places where you can get a 103 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: pretty good look at your surroundings to make sure no 104 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: other medieval big wigs get the same bright idea you got. 105 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: And then they come to take your stuff, and it 106 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: used to be someone else's stuff, because you know, there's 107 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: always a bigger fish, as it were. So you build 108 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: up your forts or your castles as it were, to 109 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: protect your assets. Your castles are your defense system where 110 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: you can pull back if necessary if enemies come to call. 111 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: But you can't really be on the lookout for the 112 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: next bully if you can't see the armies for the trees, right, 113 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: and so it gets to chopping. You chop, chop, chop 114 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: all those trees down around your fortifications so that you 115 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: can see folks from a long way off if they're approaching, 116 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: and you can prepare if there's an imminent attack. It 117 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: also helps if you know, you don't leave trees around 118 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: for people to cut down and turn into stuff like 119 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: battering ramps. So there's that element as well. So rather 120 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: than wooded fields, you have grassy ones. And this is 121 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: the origin of the lawn though back in those days 122 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: the lawns weren't exactly you know, pristine, So to maintain 123 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: the lawns. You'd either have livestock go out to the 124 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: fields to graze, thus cutting back the grass by eating it, 125 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: as well as fertilizing the land on occasion, you know, 126 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: when nature called, or you could have laborers go out 127 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: to the fields with hand tools like scythes and sickles 128 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: to cut back the grass manually so that it wasn't 129 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: too high. A sickle is a handheld tool that has 130 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: a handle, typically made out of wood, and on the 131 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: business end, you've got a curved blade sticking out from 132 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: the handle, making kind of like a almost like a half moon, 133 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's sort of crescent shaped, and the blade 134 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: is also typically at an angle relative to the handle, 135 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: sort of how a razor has an angle to it 136 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: for the purposes of shaving. A scythe is similar, but 137 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: it's much larger. It's a two handed tool. The grim 138 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: reaper carries a scythe, and cutting with either a sickle 139 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: or a scythe involves making horizontal passes, typically at the 140 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: base of the grass, and you cut in an arc 141 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: from one side to the other, and big arcing swings, 142 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: so semi circular swings, and those swings only go in 143 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: one direction. The blade is sharpened on the inside curve, 144 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: not the outside curve, and you're typically going right to 145 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: left because the handle for the forward hand on a 146 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: scythe is meant to be held with the right hand. 147 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: The left hand is meant to hold the scythe further 148 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: back on the handle, So in other words, this is 149 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: yet another right handed tool. Scything can actually be pretty efficient. 150 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 1: There are actually there's some great videos on YouTube of 151 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: people who have really gotten skilled with scything and they 152 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: can make short work of an overgrown lawn, like they 153 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,439 Speaker 1: can cut that stuff down quickly. I suggest to check 154 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: it out. It's just neat to watch. And the angle 155 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: of the blade determines how short the side will cut 156 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: the grass using a sythe with a good blade angle, 157 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: a skilled wheelder can cut the grass very low and 158 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: pretty efficiently too, and you would have the bottom part 159 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: of the blade actually making contact with the ground as 160 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: you swing the scythe from right to left. They also 161 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: tend to have to rake up the yard afterward to 162 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: gather up all the trimmings. We're usually looking at fields 163 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: that have, you know, grass that's quite high, like maybe 164 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,679 Speaker 1: a foot high or maybe taller, so you need to 165 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: have something to rake up all the the clippings that 166 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: you've left behind. I've seen a lot of videos of 167 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: folks using sides in order to cut back on, you know, 168 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: relying on fossil fuels, and to make use of the 169 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:13,440 Speaker 1: trimmings in various ways from compost to making hey while 170 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: the sun shines. In some videos, I've seen folks use 171 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,479 Speaker 1: sides more effectively than someone who is using a mechanical 172 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: push mower or a weed whacker, though power mowers do 173 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: tend to be more efficient than a scythe. So a 174 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: push mower, like a mechanical one where there's no motor, 175 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: it's just from human power that versus a scythe, you 176 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: might actually see someone be more effective with the side 177 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: than with the push mower. A weed whackers, same thing, 178 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: the push mower that has a motor on it, those 179 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 1: tend to win out in the end. So it really 180 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: does start to make you wonder, however, why the heck 181 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: did anyone think to invent the mechanical lawnmower in the 182 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: first place. If a scythe can be as efficient, why 183 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:05,840 Speaker 1: would any oneever think about making a mechanical invention that 184 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: does effectively the same sort of thing. The first lawnmowers 185 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: were purely mechanical, relying on gears and blades that were 186 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: mounted on a drum like cylinder. And if those aren't 187 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: more efficient than a scythe why would you bother? And 188 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: the answer is drum roll please vanity. See. While in 189 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: the medieval era soldiers wanted to get a good view 190 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: of what might be coming at them throughout Europe, particularly 191 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: in France and England, the strategic usefulness of castles gradually 192 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: declined in the Middle Ages, largely because of advancements in artillery. 193 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: Cannons could make very short work of castle walls and 194 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: so warfare began to change and castles weren't part of that. 195 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: But you still had all these hoity toity types who 196 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: liked the idea of a well maintained lawn. Again, mostly 197 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: in France and England. That's really where this idea took hold, 198 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: and this was definitely an issue of vanity, particularly when 199 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: it came to showing off your prestige. Lawns are not 200 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: natural environments. When you get down to it, they can 201 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: be environmentally unfriendly. They represent a much more limited biome 202 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: than a natural grassy or wooded area. It's an artificial construct. 203 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: It's really an example of humans cutting back nature to 204 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: suit our own esthetics. And really it was only the 205 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: hoidy toidy types doing this, because maintaining a lawn was 206 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: a lot of work. Not that the hoiity toidy types 207 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: were the ones doing the work, mind you, but they 208 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: were the ones who could afford livestock or laborers who 209 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: would trim back stuff for them. So from manor houses 210 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 1: to inhabited castles you had the practice of maintaining these 211 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: large grassy areas. Now, some of that sensibility would also 212 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 1: find its way over to the New World where it 213 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: really took hold. Now, the grasses in the New World 214 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:03,360 Speaker 1: were different than those found in Europe. But when settlers 215 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: came to North America, they brought with them livestock, and 216 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: apparently the livestock really liked the grass in America so 217 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: much so that they ding dang durnate it all. So 218 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: to keep the livestock from starving, the colonists were importing 219 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 1: grass seeds from Europe and North Africa, including grass is that, 220 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,600 Speaker 1: if you were to go by their names, sound like 221 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: they come from America. Kentucky Bluegrass, I'm looking at you 222 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: you ain't from Kentucky. Thomas Jefferson was said to have 223 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 1: taken up the goal of creating a manicured lawn at 224 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: Monticello after he visited France, and George Washington had a 225 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: similar desire to turn his estate of Mount Vernon into 226 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,480 Speaker 1: a mirror of European standards. And certainly the idea of 227 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: a well kept lawn managed to really take hold in America, 228 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: becoming something of an obsession really, which we'll cover a 229 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,720 Speaker 1: little bit later in this episode. And certain sports definitely 230 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: helped things along, for which we can largely thank the sky. 231 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: Scottish sports like golf and lawn bowling were brought over 232 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: by Scottish immigrants to America and they became popular pastimes 233 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: for those who had the leisure to pursue such things. 234 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: But to play lawn games, you got to cut the grass, 235 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: Otherwise you're going to spend more time trying to find 236 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: the game equipment than you get to play with the 237 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: darn things. Now we're going to come back to the 238 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: evolution of the lawn, particularly in America, and just a 239 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 1: little bit as that history ties into a lot of 240 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: other interesting stuff and includes some heavy duty connections to 241 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: other elements of American society, in addition to feeding an 242 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: entire industry dedicated to lawn care and maintenance. But let's 243 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: get back to our early history of lawnmowers. Okay, So 244 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: by the nineteenth century, lawns were the rage in England, France, 245 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: and starting to be in America. But as I said, 246 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: unless you had livestock or the cash to pay laborers, 247 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: you probably couldn't maintain a lawn on your own. You 248 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: certainly couldn't do so to the immaculate standard of the aristocracy. 249 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: The wealthy would spend a lot to get that perfect lawn, 250 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: even going so far as to hire people to use 251 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: handheld shears to cut grass down quite low, and to 252 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: avoid the patterns that you would see if you used sides, 253 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: because cutting grass in those arc swings would leave behind 254 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: patterns in the grass, and that was considered esthetically unpleasing. 255 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: And then we come to an Englishman named Edwin Beard 256 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: Budding born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in seventeen ninety five. Butting 257 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: started off with some strikes against him. His parents were unmarried, 258 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: his father a farmer, and in England that put him 259 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: at a fairly low social standing class in England was 260 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: a very important concept still can be while over there 261 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: he had the whole working class versus posh and all 262 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. So he started off in carpentry, 263 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: but he switched over to working at iron foundries. The 264 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution was well underway in England at this point 265 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: and the demand for iron tools and machinery was very high, 266 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: and through experience Butting built up and understanding of engineering 267 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: and problem solving, he would end up inventing several things 268 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: or making his own version of some existing machines. But 269 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: obviously the one we want to really look at is 270 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: the lawnmower. Budding got the idea for the lawnmower when 271 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: he saw a device used by textile mills to trim 272 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: back the fibers that stick out from the surface of cloth, 273 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: also known as the nap of a cloth, and with 274 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: some textiles the goal is to fluff the nap out. 275 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: You use little combs or prickly flowers even to pull 276 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: some of those threads out, and then you comb it 277 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: a certain way, which can make the cloth softer to 278 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: the touch and better at doing stuff like trapping heat. 279 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: But sometimes you just wanted a very smooth piece of cloth. 280 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: Something that wouldn't get caught easily on rough surfaces. So, 281 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: for example, you might want a carpet that could withstand 282 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 1: more use as long as it did you know, catch 283 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: on shoes and stuff. So you would want to shear 284 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: the nap. You'd want to cut that nap close to 285 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: the cloth. And in earlier days this job was done 286 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 1: by skilled tradespeople who would use giant sets of shears. 287 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: I mean these things were massive in order to cut 288 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: the nap off the surface of the cloth as efficiently 289 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: as possible. But by Butting's time, some genius whose name 290 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: is lost to history came up with the notion of 291 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: building a mechanical device that has blades arranged around a 292 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: drum or cylinder in a type of helix shape. The 293 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: drum or cylinder rotates, and by running the surface of 294 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: the cloth near this helix of blades, the blades could 295 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,679 Speaker 1: trim back the nap on the surface of the cloth. 296 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: Add in some rollers and some other elements to pull 297 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: the cloth along, and you cut yourself a machine that 298 00:17:54,880 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: can trim the nap back on cloth evenly, consistently, and efficiently. Aha, 299 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: said Budding. What if I took that same basic idea 300 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: and flipped it around a bit so you could trim 301 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: back grass with rotating blades along a cylinder, And in 302 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty that's just what he did, securing a patent 303 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: number six zero eighty one in fact for his invention. 304 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: I'll explain more about it after this quick break. Butting 305 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: saw an opportunity to create a device that could consistently 306 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: and reliably cut grass a specific length, so, in other words, 307 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: you could adjust how tall the grass would be and 308 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: without leaving those marks behind that you would get if 309 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: you were to cut grass with scythes and such. Also, 310 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: the lawnmower wouldn't poop on the lawn, unlike livestock. It 311 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: would be particularly handy for parks and sporting grounds where 312 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: the well to do could gather for their leisure time 313 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: and for something orderly and neat, which very much fit 314 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,919 Speaker 1: in with the sensibilities of the elite of nineteenth century Britain. 315 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,919 Speaker 1: So Edwin Beard Budding built a wheeled machine out of 316 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 1: wrought and cast iron. It had a pair of wheels. 317 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: It also had a pair of rollers and a forward 318 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: roller and a back roller, as well as the blade 319 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: mounted cylinder that did the actual cutting. So imagine you've 320 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: got a mechanical device has a small roller in the front. 321 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: This is the thing that can be adjusted so you 322 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,880 Speaker 1: can control how close to the ground you're cutting the grass. 323 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: Behind that roller, you've got your horizontal cylinder that's got 324 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: the curved blades arranged in a helix around that rotatable cylinder, 325 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: so it rotates along the horizontal axis, is what I'm saying. 326 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: To either side of that are the wheels of the lawnmower. 327 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: That provides stability, allows you to actually aim it and 328 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: push it along the ground. And then in the rear 329 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: you have a big roller. It kind of looks like 330 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: a more narrow and slightly smaller version of a steamroller, 331 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: if that helps you imagine. This Buttings design also incorporated 332 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: a tray to catch grass clippings. The tray was in 333 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: the front because the way this machine worked, it would 334 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: propel the clippings out, shooting them out toward the front 335 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: of the machine. That way, you wouldn't have to follow 336 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: behind the lawnmower with a rake or something like that 337 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,880 Speaker 1: to rake up the clippings. And it was that rear roller, 338 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: the big steamroller type thing in the back that connected 339 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:42,680 Speaker 1: to the bladed cylinder through a gear drive. That's where 340 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: you've got a series of gears that fit together to 341 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: transfer the rotational motion of the roller that's pressed against 342 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: the ground. So as you push the lawnmower forward, the 343 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: roller rolls because it's making contact with the ground, and 344 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:03,720 Speaker 1: it transfers that rotationational motion to the cylinder or the 345 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,239 Speaker 1: drum if you prefer, that's got the blades on it. 346 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: And all of this was made out of iron. Now 347 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: this meant the person who was pushing the mower had 348 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: to use a pretty good amount of force because you 349 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: weren't just pushing hard enough to move the mower itself, 350 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: which being made out of iron, was pretty darn heavy, 351 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: but also to power that drive train of gears that 352 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 1: would transmit the rotation to the cylinder, and each step 353 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: of that process, each gear connection, means that you're losing 354 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: a little bit of the amount of energy you're giving 355 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,880 Speaker 1: to the system to stuff like friction, So it means 356 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: you have to push even harder to get things going. 357 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: But still, Butting showed that the same general principle that 358 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: worked for cutting back the nap on cloth could in 359 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: fact be used to cut grass. He patented his design 360 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty and in that patent, Butting sent his 361 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,919 Speaker 1: invention represented, quote a new combination and application of machinery 362 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: for the purpose of crop or shearing the vegetable surfaces 363 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: of lawns, grass plats and pleasure grounds. Country gentlemen may 364 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: find in using my machine themselves an amusing, useful, and 365 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:16,679 Speaker 1: healthy exercise. End. It's interesting to note that a lot 366 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: of the basic designs introduced by Budding would stick around 367 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: throughout the ages with mechanical push mowers, and the ones 368 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 1: that we have today have at least some resemblance to 369 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: the one that Budding was making back in the mid 370 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Now the new ones are more elegant in 371 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: design and they're made of much lighter materials, but the 372 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: general principle behind the operation remains pretty much the same. 373 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 1: Budding formed a partnership with an engineer named John Ferrabee, 374 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: who owned a company called Phoenix Ironworks. Faerbe had the 375 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:55,360 Speaker 1: manufacturing rights to produce Budding's design and fronted the costs 376 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 1: to develop the prototype, and one of the earliest lawnmowers 377 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: that the pair reduced went to the London Zoo, and 378 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: another one became the property of Oxford University. By eighteen 379 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: thirty two, word had already spread that Budding's machine could 380 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: create great results, and demand was soon outpacing Farabe's capacity 381 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: to produce lawnmowers, and Farabe then began to license the 382 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: design to other engineers, to other ironworks owners, including Ransoms 383 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: of Ipswich, a company that was already in the business 384 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 1: of producing plows for farmers. They advertised the new lawnmower 385 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: invention saying, quote the machine is so easy to manage 386 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: that persons unpracticed in the art of mowing may cut 387 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: the grass on lawns and bowling greens with ease end quote. 388 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,400 Speaker 1: In other words, they were kind of positioning this as 389 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:57,920 Speaker 1: something of a leisure activity for the upper class. That 390 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,399 Speaker 1: you know, mowing the lawn with a side that was 391 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: a low class thing to do. That was for laborers. 392 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: You wouldn't see people of the upper classes do that. 393 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: It was beneath their station. But mowing with this exotic 394 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: machine that was something befitting a person of high station. 395 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: And it was, as a matter of fact, pretty simple 396 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 1: to operate these things. You just grabbed the handle of 397 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 1: the mower and you pushed it forward kind of like 398 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 1: a cart. You would exert a little bit of a 399 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: downward push as you did, so it took far less 400 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: skill than scything did. And by framing the activity of 401 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: mowing a lawn as a means of taking exercise and 402 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: being out in nature, the companies were slowly shifting the 403 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 1: perception of caring for a lawn in general. And this 404 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 1: would also help later on, as the lawnmower would be 405 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: marketed toward the middle class, when the prices would eventually 406 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: come down. Now, when I say the demand was outstripping supply, 407 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: we have to remember that manufacturing in the eighteen thirties 408 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 1: wasn't nearly as efficient as it would be a century later. 409 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: So I don't want to give you the impression that 410 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: the lawnmower became the must have Christmas gift of eighteen 411 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: thirty two or something. When Butting passed away in eighteen 412 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:16,679 Speaker 1: forty six because of a stroke, the lawnmower was a 413 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: successful invention, but it was not yet a household item, 414 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: so it wasn't like Budding had become a millionaire. In fact, 415 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:31,360 Speaker 1: he died before really seeing his invention get adopted around England, 416 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: France and America. By the eighteen sixties, Farrabe's Iron Works 417 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: had produced around five thousand lawnmowers, and that included a 418 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,199 Speaker 1: small range of designs which mainly had to do with 419 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: the width of the lawnmower. A wider lawnmower can obviously 420 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: cut a wider strip of grass, which means you don't 421 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: have to do as many passes on a lawn or 422 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 1: a field in order to complete a job, but it 423 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: also means that the lawnmower gets heavier. Some of the 424 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: designs incorporated a second handle on the lawnmower. This one 425 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: would be toward the front of the machine, which meant 426 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: you could actually pull it along behind you instead of 427 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 1: pushing it in front of you. One design I saw 428 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: had the handle on a hinge so you could swing 429 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: the handle so you could swing it toward the rear 430 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: of the machine and make it a push mower, or 431 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: you could swing it to the front of the machine 432 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: and make it a pull mower. Butting's design inspired others 433 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: to make their own adjustments. In eighteen forty two, Alexander Shanks, 434 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: an inventor from Scotland, made a version of the lawnmower 435 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: that could be hitched to a horse or pony, which 436 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,119 Speaker 1: allowed him to make even larger lawnmowers that would be 437 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: far too heavy for a person to push or pull 438 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: on their own to prevent the horses from damaging the grass. 439 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: Let's say that you were cutting the grass on a 440 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 1: golf course, something that was very common in Scotland or 441 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: tennis courts. Well, they would put little leather shoes on 442 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: the horses who hooves, so the horse would be wearing 443 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: booties in order to mow the lawn. In the eighteen fifties, 444 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 1: inventor Thomas Green made some adjustments of his own to 445 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: the lawnmower design, and one simple tweak was that he 446 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 1: added a rake to help lift grass blades up a 447 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: little bit for cutting, so that way you didn't end 448 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 1: up with any missed bits. But in the late eighteen 449 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: fifties he made a much more substantial change. He created 450 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: a chain drive for the mower's blades instead of the 451 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: gear drive that Butting had created, and by removing the 452 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: need for so many cast iron gears and replacing them 453 00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,639 Speaker 1: with a chain, he made the lawnmower's design simpler and 454 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: importantly lighter. It was also apparently less noisy, as Green 455 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: called his lawnmower the silence messor for silent running. By 456 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: this time, thirty years after the invention of the lawnmower, 457 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: word had reached America, and in eighteen sixty eight an 458 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: inventor from can Etiquette named Amariyah Hills received a patent 459 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: for improvements to Budding's lawnmower design, which included changing out 460 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: a cylinder covered in blades to an open spiral cutter. 461 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: So just imagine a helix of blades, but you no 462 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 1: longer have them mounted on a cylinder. It's almost like 463 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: it's just two blades in that mount to wheels on 464 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: either side that can turn. He also allowed more fine 465 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: tuning for the cutting height and changed how the handle 466 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: attached to the frame of the mower, and his design 467 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: would go on to become a very popular mower in 468 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: the Northeastern United States, sometimes called an Archimedean mower because 469 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: the blades resembled the classic archimedean screw. Many of these 470 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: machines saw use in parks and for maintaining stuff like 471 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: golf courses and tennis courts and the like, but over 472 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: in America they would also be sought after because of 473 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: a few other big factors, and one is the growth 474 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: of the suburbs after the Civil War in America, and 475 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: as the US was having its own boom and industry, 476 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: cities were becoming more industrialized in general, and many people, 477 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: at least many wealthy people, the people who could afford it, 478 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: moved out of the cities and settled in surrounding areas 479 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: near the cities, forming the suburbs. And like the French 480 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: and English aristocracy a century earlier, many of them saw 481 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: a well maintained lawn as something of a status symbol. 482 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: So there was a general movement toward cutting lawns, which 483 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: must have pleased Amariah Hill as it represented a demand 484 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: for those Archimedean mowers. And in eighteen seventy Frank J. 485 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: Scott's The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds of small 486 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: Extent hit the presses. This book, which is six hundred 487 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: and eighteen pages in length, if we don't include all 488 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: the advertisements. At the end of the book, it goes 489 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: to what I can only describe as ex cruciating detail 490 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: regarding how to make your lawn look absolutely magnificent, and further, 491 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: you are a monster if you don't do it. You 492 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: can read the whole thing over on the Smithsonian Library's 493 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: website if you would like. If you want to skip 494 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: to the juicy stuff, go to page one hundred and seven, 495 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: chapter thirteen, the Lawn. The chapter opens up with a 496 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,719 Speaker 1: couple of references to poetry, followed by this passage quote, 497 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: A smooth, closely shaven surface of grass is by far 498 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: the most essential element of beauty on the grounds of 499 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: a suburban home. End quote boom, mic drop. You don't 500 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: mow your grass, you are an affront to beauty. Now 501 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: I'm being a little, you know, facetious here, but Scott 502 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: was arguing that in an age in which companies were 503 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 1: laying down train tracks or streetcar lines, more people from 504 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: far and wide were passing through different neighborhoods and then 505 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: judging those neighborhoods based on their esthetic beauty or lack thereof. 506 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: And isn't it more American to be proud of your 507 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: community and to show it off with distinction. So rich 508 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: suburbanites ate that stuff up man, and so lawn care 509 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: started to be a big business. It was boosted more 510 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: with related inventions such as Joseph Lessler's lawn sprinkler, which 511 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: could attach to a garden hose. Lawns need a good 512 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: deal of water to remain healthy. That we're kind of 513 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: touch on that again in a bit. And this was 514 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 1: a way where you could water your lawn without having 515 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: to do a lot of backbreaking work in the process. 516 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: And again, the concept of lawn care being connected to 517 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: exercise and being out of doors was a big part 518 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: of all this too. So while America's obsession with lawn 519 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: care began to take root, so to speak, we had 520 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: other stuff going on at the same time. Sometime around 521 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety or so, inventors began to incorporate the next 522 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: logical element for lawnmowers steam engines. Yes, steam powered lawnmowers 523 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: were a thing briefly, and why not. Steam engines had 524 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: already been used for trains for decades, So why not 525 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: strap a big old boiler to a mechanical lawnmower and 526 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: make the boiling water do all the work. So here's 527 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,720 Speaker 1: how these things worked. In general. You had your boiler, 528 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: which is the name suggests, is the container holding the 529 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: water that gets boiled off to produce steam. The boiler 530 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: is pressurized, so the steam can't just escape. It has 531 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,120 Speaker 1: to go through a specific route, and typically you would 532 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: have a valve that would allow steam to pass through 533 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 1: under really incredible pressure. So a furnace heats the boiler up, 534 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: the water starts to boil off, and the steam builds 535 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: up and passes through valves to a cylinder that has 536 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: a piston in it. The steam forces the piston down 537 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 1: the length of the cylinder until the piston passes an 538 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: exhaust valve, whereupon the steam escapes the cylinder, the piston 539 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 1: returns to its starting position, and the whole thing can 540 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 1: happen again. Attaching mechanical elements to the piston via a 541 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: piston rod allows you to transfer that mechanical motion to 542 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: other components, such as the wheels and the cutting blades 543 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 1: of a lawnmower. And bang, now you don't have to 544 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: push it yourself or hitch it to a horse or something. 545 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:25,960 Speaker 1: You just got to fill up the boiler from time 546 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: to time. You got to keep that furnace going and 547 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: keep it really hot. And you know, you just got 548 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,719 Speaker 1: to not explode, which is something that can happen if 549 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: pressure builds up in a boiler and the steam has 550 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: nowhere to go. But hey, a boiler explosion is a 551 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: small price to pay for a well manicured lawn right. Okay, 552 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: I'm clearly getting snarky again, but these lawnmowers did work, 553 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 1: and I've seen some that looked like the result you 554 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 1: would get if you crossed a locomotive with a mechanical 555 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: push mower along with a riding lawnmower. You would sit 556 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,239 Speaker 1: in front of the boiler, which would be mounted at 557 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: the rear of the lawnmower, and you would use controls 558 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: to steer yourself as you rode along and moved down 559 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: a lawn or field, and the steam engine provides all 560 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,399 Speaker 1: the oomph to the wheels and the blades. It's neat, 561 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: if a little intimidating. These things were huge, and they 562 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:19,920 Speaker 1: had to be because if you're using steam, you need 563 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: to have a big boiler to hold enough water so 564 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: that you got the oomph for your engine. These clearly 565 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: were not intended for the average homeowner, or even the 566 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 1: upper middle class or lower upper class homeowners. These were 567 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: more for larger, more regularly level areas. They didn't do 568 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: well if there were hills or anything like that, so 569 00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: these were more frequently used for something like a flat 570 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: landscaped park or a sporting area like a golf course, 571 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: or maybe a tennis court. They also didn't stick around 572 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,319 Speaker 1: for very long. And when we come back, I'll talk 573 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: about the development of the gas powered lawnmower, which would 574 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: take the steam of its predecessor for a couple of 575 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: good reasons. But first let's take another quick break. Before 576 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: I get into more modern mowers, I should mention another inventor, 577 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: this one named John Albert Burr. He made changes to 578 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: the classic cylindrical lawnmower design so that the gears wouldn't 579 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,879 Speaker 1: easily get gummed up with lawn clippings. Essentially, they figured out, hey, 580 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 1: if we cover these gears up so that the lawn 581 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: clippings can't get in the gear works, then you're not 582 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: going to have as many jams as you try and 583 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 1: mow your lawn. He also created a mower that would 584 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: allow landscapers to mow more closely to the edge of 585 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: walls and buildings to get a neater cut. Also around 586 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,720 Speaker 1: this time, improvements in manufacturing meant that companies could mass 587 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: produce lawnmowers, which also meant the costs of production dropped, 588 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 1: and that meant companies could drop the prices of those machines, 589 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: and that meant more people were able to afford lawnmowers, 590 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,719 Speaker 1: and in American in particular, that meant booming business. As 591 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: the idea that a well kept lawn was an important 592 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 1: component of being seen as an upstanding member of society 593 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: it had really taken hold here. So this combination of 594 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: elements led to a lot more people buying lawnmowers. And 595 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: when I say that, remember I'm still talking about the 596 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:34,719 Speaker 1: mechanical push mower style devices. Well, the steam powered lawnmowers 597 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,759 Speaker 1: appeared on the scene in the eighteen nineties, but by 598 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 1: nineteen oh two, Ransoms, the company I mentioned much earlier 599 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 1: in this episode, is one of the first two license 600 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,320 Speaker 1: Budding's lawnmower design for production. Well, they created the first 601 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,839 Speaker 1: lawnmower that used an internal combustion engine for power. This 602 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: was a ride on mower and it was a big one. 603 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: So this was not a push mower. This this was 604 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: a gigantic monstrosity. In fact, the images I've seen of 605 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,759 Speaker 1: this thing make it look like there's a gentleman in 606 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,840 Speaker 1: a jacket and tweed hat who is taking a printing 607 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,880 Speaker 1: press out for a ride or something. It's a machine 608 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:16,400 Speaker 1: with big, heavy chains, enormous rollers, a large container in 609 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: front to catch clippings and whirling blades of destruction underneath. 610 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 1: It looks pretty awesome, I think, and almost unreal. It 611 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: certainly isn't what I think of when someone says lawnmower 612 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 1: to me. The internal combustion engine was the death knell 613 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:37,160 Speaker 1: for steam powered lawnmowers. While Ransom's ride on mower was huge, 614 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: the switch to an internal combustion engine would lead to 615 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: smaller lawnmower designs, and you didn't need an enormous boiler 616 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: like you would with a steam powered one. Nor did 617 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: you have to stoke some sort of furnace to keep 618 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:55,319 Speaker 1: things going. You just needed some petrol in the fuel tank. Now, 619 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: I've talked about how internal combustion engines work and other episodes, 620 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: so I'm not going to go in to all that 621 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: detail here, but I will say that the early versions 622 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,200 Speaker 1: of the motor powered lawn mowers really in other forms, 623 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 1: seem to be based on that cylindrical helix design along 624 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,240 Speaker 1: the horizontal axis, the same sort of design that Butting 625 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: had proposed way back in eighteen thirty. So these were 626 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,319 Speaker 1: not the rotary mowers that we would see much later, 627 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,399 Speaker 1: not yet, but the advances in internal combustion engines, which 628 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:29,360 Speaker 1: would both make the mowers get smaller and more powerful. 629 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,160 Speaker 1: As various engineers made improvements to the engines that eventually 630 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,240 Speaker 1: did lead to the design of a different kind of lawnmower. 631 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:41,080 Speaker 1: So instead of that horizontal axis cylindrical approach in which 632 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,240 Speaker 1: the blades would rotate around that horizontal axis, the internal 633 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,720 Speaker 1: combustion engine allowed for a lawnmower with a vertical axle 634 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: upon which you would fix a horizontal blade. So the 635 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:56,319 Speaker 1: rotating vertical axle would rotate this horizontal blade close to 636 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: the ground in a really fast circle, and you've got 637 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: your rotary lawnmower. A lot of different engineers and companies 638 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,360 Speaker 1: experimented with creating rotary lawnmowers for a few decades actually, 639 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,600 Speaker 1: but most of them weren't really that successful because the 640 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 1: engines being used just weren't up to turning something that 641 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: way in an efficient manner, so you couldn't cut very 642 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,399 Speaker 1: well with them. But by the nineteen fifties it had 643 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:27,439 Speaker 1: become a viable approach to lawnmower design. And now we're 644 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,560 Speaker 1: going to get into some interesting and some upsetting parts 645 00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,960 Speaker 1: of history. Okay, So we laid out how the aristocracy 646 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: used lawns as a way to show off their wealth 647 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 1: and their sensibilities. And we talked about how those ideas 648 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:45,040 Speaker 1: filtered from France and England to America and how Frank 649 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:49,200 Speaker 1: Scott promoted them with his authoritative approach on appealing to 650 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 1: wealthy suburban families. So let's talk about some big issues 651 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: in the United States that made lawns a sort of 652 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: symbol of the haves versus the have nots. And this 653 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: it was also going to have a lot to do 654 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:06,720 Speaker 1: about racial discrimination. Back in eighteen seventy when Scott's book 655 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 1: hit the scene, his target demographic was the white suburban homeowner. 656 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,280 Speaker 1: The suburbs were where you typically find the upper middle 657 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 1: class or maybe the lower upper classes, and these communities 658 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: were predominantly white, and frequently that was actually a selling 659 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,400 Speaker 1: point that real estate agents would market to potential clients. 660 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,360 Speaker 1: It was, without a doubt, a racist perspective, the idea 661 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: that a community is preferable because there are no people 662 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 1: of color living there. That's just gross, all right. So 663 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:43,080 Speaker 1: flash forward to the nineteen forties. The United States enters 664 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,960 Speaker 1: World War Two and sends more than sixteen million Americans 665 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,960 Speaker 1: to serve During the war, more than four hundred thousand 666 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,160 Speaker 1: of those Americans died in action, and another six hundred 667 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:58,520 Speaker 1: and seventy thousand were wounded. At the time, racial segregation 668 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 1: was still very much in practice even in the military, 669 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,839 Speaker 1: and the number of black people serving in the US 670 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: military actually represented a lower percentage than the demographics of 671 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 1: black people relatives to the general US population at the time, 672 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,759 Speaker 1: But there were still thousands of black soldiers and volunteers 673 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 1: who were active in the theater of war, including soldiers 674 00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: on the front lines. Back home, the United States government 675 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:31,480 Speaker 1: passed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of nineteen forty four, better 676 00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:34,400 Speaker 1: known as the GI Bill. The purpose of the bill 677 00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,560 Speaker 1: was to create a support system for soldiers returning home 678 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: that included important infrastructure like the construction of hospitals, but 679 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: it also included the chance to go to college tuition 680 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,760 Speaker 1: free up to five hundred dollars, which, hey, how about 681 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:54,520 Speaker 1: those college tuition increases, y'all. They could also secure low 682 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: interest mortgage offers on homes through banks because the government 683 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: was backing those loans. So these soldiers, some of whom 684 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:05,799 Speaker 1: had been overseas for years, were to be given some 685 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: assistance upon returning home to make up for the fact 686 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: that they had to leave their lives, their loved ones, 687 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,319 Speaker 1: and their livelihoods all behind. And that bill meant that 688 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,200 Speaker 1: millions of returning soldiers would be able to buy a 689 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: home for the first time in the suburbs and follow 690 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 1: the American dream of a white picket fence and a 691 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:28,799 Speaker 1: well manicured lawn. That is, they could do it if 692 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:33,319 Speaker 1: they were white. While the bill ostensibly offered benefits to 693 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:38,319 Speaker 1: all returning veterans, regardless of race or gender, in practice 694 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: it was far more common to see those benefits go 695 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:46,560 Speaker 1: to white male veterans, and black veterans also frequently found 696 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:48,919 Speaker 1: it really hard to secure a loan from a bank 697 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: for a mortgage, even with the guaranteed government backing that 698 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:56,800 Speaker 1: came from the GI Bill. And so the suburban home 699 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,360 Speaker 1: and along with it, the American lawn became sort of 700 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:05,960 Speaker 1: an extended marker for segregation and racial discrimination. Now did 701 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: this mean that all white people who enjoyed maintaining their 702 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 1: lawn were racist for doing so, No, of course not. Rather, 703 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: they were privileged and that they had more opportunities to 704 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:21,319 Speaker 1: secure a home in the suburbs and a lawn to 705 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,960 Speaker 1: maintain than people of color had and that's also to 706 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,680 Speaker 1: point out that there were black people moving into suburbs 707 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,000 Speaker 1: and having lawns, but from a systematic point of view, 708 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 1: they were doing so by overcoming obstacles that their white 709 00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 1: neighbors just didn't necessarily face. The post World War II 710 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:45,200 Speaker 1: era saw an economic boom, and along with developments like 711 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:51,560 Speaker 1: color printing, radio, television, we also saw a boom in advertising. 712 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,480 Speaker 1: And you better believe companies that were making lawn care 713 00:43:55,600 --> 00:44:00,440 Speaker 1: products and machinery, including lawnmowers, were leaning heavily on promoting 714 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:05,000 Speaker 1: the idea that a neat, orderly lawn reflects well on 715 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: homeowners and that the products they were selling would help 716 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:12,400 Speaker 1: you achieve that dream of homogeneous perfection. That plays a 717 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,160 Speaker 1: part in it too. The US in the nineteen fifties 718 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:19,400 Speaker 1: was an era of conformity. There was an intense pressure 719 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,520 Speaker 1: to create the ideal of perfection. Honestly, when we look 720 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: at stuff like how people will manufacture these perfect photos 721 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: for their social media platforms like their Instagram, to me, 722 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:35,000 Speaker 1: it feels like it's that same mentality coming back into play. Sure, 723 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:37,799 Speaker 1: your life might be as shambles, but dang it, your 724 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,439 Speaker 1: lawn looks nice and so to the outside world. You're 725 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,439 Speaker 1: just fine. Now, maybe I'm getting a bit too off 726 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,719 Speaker 1: target here. Let's get back to lawnmowers. So by the 727 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:51,359 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties we started seeing the rotary style lawnmowers that 728 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,319 Speaker 1: ran on gas hitting the market. This is where we 729 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,359 Speaker 1: get that iconic starter cord, the pull cord that can 730 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,319 Speaker 1: foil us as we try to get that little bit 731 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,560 Speaker 1: of fuel that's been pumped into the engine to catch 732 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,120 Speaker 1: on before giving that cord a big riper three to 733 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,560 Speaker 1: try and get the engine to start. And I don't 734 00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,360 Speaker 1: think I've ever talked about how a poll start or 735 00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:17,440 Speaker 1: rope start engine works. So let's just cover that super quickly, 736 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:20,960 Speaker 1: shall we. All Right, So inside the lawnmower, you've got 737 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,240 Speaker 1: a reel and you've got a cord wound around that reel. 738 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 1: The end of that cord is attached to a handle 739 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,200 Speaker 1: that's on the outside of the lawnmower. That's the part 740 00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 1: that you grip and pull. Attached to the real inside 741 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 1: the lawnmower is a spring. So pulling the cord will 742 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,840 Speaker 1: cause the spring to extend and it wants to contract, 743 00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,160 Speaker 1: So that's the force you're feeling. The tension you feel 744 00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 1: is the spring trying to contract again, so when you 745 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: let go of the cord, it goes back into the 746 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:55,279 Speaker 1: you know, the lawnmower because that spring is compressing well. 747 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,080 Speaker 1: Also attached to the reel is the clutch of the engine, 748 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:03,279 Speaker 1: and as the turns, it transmits rotational energy to the 749 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:07,560 Speaker 1: crank shaft. If the crank shaft turns quickly enough, a 750 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,279 Speaker 1: pair of magnets connected to a flywheel begin to move 751 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,479 Speaker 1: outward due to centrifugal force, and once they extend far enough, 752 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,360 Speaker 1: the magnets affect the ignition module so that it generates 753 00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,080 Speaker 1: a spark and that sets off the combustion in the 754 00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,759 Speaker 1: engine's cylinders, and once that gets going, the engine can 755 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 1: take over. From there it can continue that cycle of 756 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,360 Speaker 1: sparking the spark plugs, assuming that there's fuel left in 757 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,880 Speaker 1: the tank to ignite due to those sparks. So a 758 00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,640 Speaker 1: gas powered rotary lawn mower typically uses the engine to 759 00:46:39,680 --> 00:46:43,200 Speaker 1: provide power to the blade, of course, but also frequently 760 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: to at least two wheels to make it a little 761 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:49,520 Speaker 1: easier to push around. They require less physical effort to 762 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: use than the mechanical lawnmowers that have been around for 763 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:55,160 Speaker 1: more than a century, but they also require fuel, and 764 00:46:55,239 --> 00:46:58,680 Speaker 1: they also give off emissions through the burning of that fuel. 765 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,600 Speaker 1: Now folks have been calling out lawns more recently for 766 00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:07,799 Speaker 1: lots of different reasons, including environmental and socioeconomic concerns. A 767 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,480 Speaker 1: lot of water is used on lawns, which often can 768 00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:15,840 Speaker 1: be seen as very wasteful, and there's always stories about 769 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:19,640 Speaker 1: communities that have water restrictions due to drought, and some 770 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:24,279 Speaker 1: jerkfaces using precious water to water their lawn because for 771 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: some reason that's more important than everyone else having access 772 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:31,319 Speaker 1: to water. Some folks use stuff like herbicides and pesticides 773 00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:34,319 Speaker 1: in order to maintain their lawns, which can sometimes cause 774 00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:37,600 Speaker 1: chemical runoff that can get washed out and join the 775 00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,400 Speaker 1: water cycle. That's bad news. And of course there's the 776 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,800 Speaker 1: fact that lawns are not natural ecosystems. They represent a 777 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:48,279 Speaker 1: less biologically useful surface. And then the fact that the 778 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:52,280 Speaker 1: very concept of lawns dates back to this aristocratic notion 779 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: of showing off your wealth. So might we one day 780 00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:58,040 Speaker 1: see a world in which the manicured lawn is really 781 00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:01,680 Speaker 1: an oddity and people move to maybe a more natural 782 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:05,719 Speaker 1: and thus disorderly approach. I don't know, but I sure 783 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,320 Speaker 1: hope so, because then my HOA won't be on my 784 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:12,239 Speaker 1: case if I don't get to the grass cutting on time. Well, 785 00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:15,719 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that episode, that episode from just 786 00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:18,840 Speaker 1: a few years ago of how medieval warfare led to 787 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:21,560 Speaker 1: the lawnmower. As I said, it's always fun for me 788 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:23,879 Speaker 1: to do those kinds of episodes where I'm looking at 789 00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:28,360 Speaker 1: sort of long tail influence of how an invention comes 790 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,560 Speaker 1: to be. It turns out the stories about technology rarely 791 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,640 Speaker 1: have a very simple beginning, middle, and end. It's usually 792 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:39,280 Speaker 1: far more complicated than that, which irritates my brain because 793 00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:42,920 Speaker 1: I love story structure. So the fact that reality doesn't 794 00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:46,560 Speaker 1: conform to the three act structure or even five acts structure, 795 00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:50,520 Speaker 1: I find incredibly vexing. But I hope you enjoyed this episode. 796 00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:53,080 Speaker 1: I hope you're having a great week so far, and 797 00:48:53,160 --> 00:49:02,600 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 798 00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:07,200 Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 799 00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:10,839 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 800 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 1: favorite shows.