This hand-pushed lawn mower was the predecessor of modern mowers. It was narrow because the force required to push it increased in proportion to the width. A characteristic of the reel-type mower is the uniformity of the cut. A modern design of the reel-type mower is still used today on golf courses and places where a fine, uniform cut is needed.
The rapidly rotating cutter-reel was powered by gears located inside the wheel. A fairly high coefficient of friction between the wheels and the grass was required to cause the wheels to turn and drive the reel. The design of the solid-rubber tires on the above mower would not have been the best design to provide the maximum friction – but, obviously, it worked.
Provided by Dorothy Bayes