What every lawnmower should have.

[hardboiled]

I just remembered an item we found in some stuff my in-laws left behind when they moved to Florida. I wondered if any of you remember seeing one.
It was new in the box. I don't recall the make, but I'd say by the packaging it was from the late sixties. This attachment, for a 21" mower was intended to be mounted in place of the blade. It had rubber paddles that hung down from a bar similar to a blade and was supposed to clear snow from your driveway via the side discharge. Some day I may just mount it up and give it a test run and post the results.

[TRANSMAN]

I Remember.

I remember sitting at a family thanksgiveing get together and my grandfather called over my uncle who was a real wantabe knowitall. I think it was advertised in a magazine like popular mechanics. My grandfather asked my uncle jim what he thought about this gadget and i remember him saying yea you use that there gatdget and yoal need a new mower in the springtime. I remember walking over and reading the advertisement and picture with gramps.Uncle Jim was shakeing his head sarcastically without even looking or reading as usual. He claimed to be the genius of the family but installed cieling fans directly over the cieling airconditioning ducts? Funny thing was that when the next spring came he couldnt get his brand new lawnmower started that he used one time that previous fall . I was takeing a ride on a saterday with gramps to the dump on long island and we happened to stop by his daughters, my aunt by blood house and uncle jim was yanking away curseing the mower. When leaving uncle jim asks hey pop,will you take this peace of crap to the dump where it belongs.Sure jim. Well gramps keeps it in the station wagon saying how ironic it was they were talking about who would need a mower a few months back and decides to keep it.We go back to the house and he gets the toolbox out and says why dont you take this apart and see how it works.I must have been about 11 so i see theres no spark and go right for the points which are green with mildew.Clean them and it fires right up. Gramps starts cutting the lawn to test it and uncle jim pulls in with a new mower in his trunk.He wanted to show off his new toy to gramps he just got nearby.Now he sees his old 6 month old peace of crap and screams what are you doing with my mower?I thought you were takeing it to the dump.Gramps yells back over the roaring mower, figured i `d let the kid pull it apart and see how it works. He had the top poped off did somthing and it started right up.Ask him what was wrong.Uncle jim says nothing angryly gets in his car and peels the tires leaving and the new mower flies out of the trunk on to the road damageing that one..NEED i say me and uncle jim werent close throughout the last 28 years. Im so glad you reminded me of that HB.Let me know how that gadget works.It was pivital in the coarse of my life and played a major role in altering my childhood future leading me to the presant and telling this story.Amazeing how somthing so simple done years ago spins your future to your ultimate destiny.TRANS

[hardboiled]

That was a perfect story to go with the snow mower blade, or what ever it was called. My wife got a big kick out of this thing, so I told her to check out your story about one. I'll bet your Uncle Jim bought one and tried it out that winter and was too embarrassed to tell you. That's why the points were green, no? Or was this in Florida? I guess the humidity and sea air would do the same thing.
The wife wants to donate this thing to a house that someone turned into a late 50's museum home, in the next town over.

[TRANSMAN]

Keep It!

I would keep that think H.B. That goes pretty far back and i bet there rare. You probably have the only one in existence.Would like to see a picture of it. That was up in Long Island.I bounced all over N.Y dureing my first 20 years of life being born in Brooklyn, then out to the island,then to upstate in N.Y Guilderland, Cobleskill,Carlisle ,real backwoods farmland ,then back to Manhatten and finally ending up in sunny F.L. Now im bounceing back and forth from cental to south F.L. depending on how my buddy keeps my shop running. That mower debocle was in Long Island. I think my knowitall uncle just left that mower outside over the mild L.I winter.It was a long time ago but i remember the shed was a rusty old thing with numerous leaks so maybe it was inside, just parked in the wrong place.Sometimes the points covers werent air tight.Lucky for me and gramps though because i dont think that mower had more than 2 hours on it. Brand new with a little surface rust on the handlebar.That really brought back an old funny for me and gramps story dormant in the back of my head. Wasnt to funny for uncle Jim at the time though but he was a real S.O.B (JACK OF ALL TRADES MASTER OF NOTHING) anyway.Thanks for the memory!TRANS.