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The first lawn mower was invented by Edwin Beard Budding in 1830; he came up with the idea while observing a cloth mill, which used a cutting cylinder (or bladed reel), mounted on a bench to trim cloth.
Budding’s first production mower was made from cast iron; it was so heavy that it took two people to operate it--one person to push and the other to pull. Naturally, these first mowers were known as reel mowers because the blades rotated on a horizontal axis.
But enough history--let’s talk about the mower we all use at work and at home--the rotary mower. The name is derived from the blade that rotates on a vertical axis. Although many commercial manufacturers have entered the large rotary market (48 inches to 16 feet width), for the sake of this article I will be describing rotary mowers with a cutting width of 22 inches or less. These smaller rotary mowers are great for residential and trim work.