Allett Fine Turf Mowers
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Buffalo joins Top Gear's "Trade Mission" to IndiaAn Allett pedestrian cylinder mower has featured in the BBC's Top Gear motoring show as one of a number of uniquely-British products selected to accompany the three presenters on an unofficial trade mission to India. In a 90-minute Top Gear Special broadcast on 28 December 2011, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May set out to "rescue" the British economy by attempting to boost the country's trade with India. To help them in their quest, they took with them three pre-owned British-made cars (a BMC Mini, a Rolls Royce and a Jaguar) plus a selection of distinctively British goods including Marmite, digestive biscuits, Airfix models and . . . an Allett Buffalo 24 mower. The Allett mower was chosen because, as James May explained to two elegant Indian ladies, a cylinder lawnmower is "a very pleasant thing to own, as an artefact and as an example of engineering with a fine engineering heritage . . ." He even admitted to owning one himself, despite having no lawn. The immense pulling power of Top Gear was highlighted immediately after the broadcast when the Allett website recorded a 200 per cent jump in unique visits compared with a normal weekday evening, due in no small way to Top Gear's audience of 5 million viewers on the night. The above figure will be dwarfed when the programme is sold and seen around the world over the coming months by a total audience estimated at 350 million in more than 100 different countries, further boosting Allett's profile and export prospects, despite the decidedly tongue-in-cheek nature of the show. In typical Top Gear fashion, nothing went quite to plan and the Allett mower was shown careering out-of-control across a lawn before scything through a floral border and crashing through a conservatory window. And, as the end credits rolled, the mower - less operator - was shown moving steadily across the screen heading for a 1,000ft Himalayan drop. Having crated and transported the Buffalo 24 from Staffordshire to Heathrow airport for the flight out to India, Allett parent, Turfmech Machinery, was delighted to receive back the mower in one piece, albeit a little bit worse for wear. Following a thorough inspection, a re-grind and service, the mower is now part of the Allett demonstration fleet with quite an interesting history already behind it.
New range and model designations debut at IOG SaltexRange names and model designations have been allocated by Allett to the line-up of former Atco and Suffolk Punch petrol and electric pedestrian cylinder mowers acquired by Allett parent company, Turfmech Machinery, from Bosch Lawn and Garden in May 2011. To be shown for the first time at IOG SALTEX 2011 with their new Allett branding, the latest additions to the Allett mower range are divided into two specific product groupings. The first is known as the 'Expert' range which will feature initially nine machines suitable for keen domestic gardeners and semi-professionals requiring the standard of finish that only a cylinder mower can produce, backed by first-class local dealer parts and service support. The 'Expert' range will be offered in cut widths from 12in to 30in and will include both single-purpose precision mowers and models with interchangeable cartridge heads. Stablemate to Allett's new 'Expert' range is the 'Classic', comprising initially three pedestrian mowers with cutting widths of 12in, 14in and 17in designed primarily for the pragmatic gardener on a budget looking to achieve quality results with minimum effort. Such users will have a sound gardening interest but are likely to favour the more affordable solution to cylinder mowing that the 'Classic' range offers. Presented in a distinctive green finish with gold Allett logos, the new 'Expert' and 'Classic' ranges will enter production at Turfmech's Staffordshire factory in late 2011 and will make their full commercial debut in good time for the 2012 mowing season. Although aimed at somewhat different markets, the 'Expert' and 'Classic' green-coloured mower ranges will complement Allett's existing line-up of professional pedestrian cylinder mowers, widely recognised by their striking black and stainless steel livery. Launched in the mid 1960s, Allett's professional mowers can be found in action world-wide working for bowls, golf and cricket clubs, sports stadiums, public authorities, turf maintenance contractors and professional gardeners. This year's new additions to the Allett range will make the company the largest manufacturer of pedestrian petrol-engined cylinder mowers in Britain.
Allett acquires design rights to former Atco and Suffolk Punch cylinder mowersAllett Mowers - a division of Turfmech Machinery Ltd - is set to become the largest manufacturer of pedestrian petrol-engined cylinder mowers in Britain following its acquisition from Bosch Lawn and Garden Ltd of the drawings, plant and equipment, tooling and intellectual property necessary for the manufacture of the entire range of former Atco and Suffolk Punch petrol and electric lawn mowers. Included in the acquisition is specialist equipment for the manufacture of helical cutting cylinders, enabling Allett to be self-sufficient for the first time in a key component of cylinder-type mowing machines, which have been produced by Allett since the mid 1960s. The acquisition does not include the Atco and Suffolk Punch brand names nor the individual mower model names which have been retained by Bosch Lawn and Garden. As a result, all of Bosch's former Atco and Suffolk Punch pedestrian cylinder mowers will be manufactured and sold in future under the Allett brand name with appropriate new model designations to be given by Allett to each mower in the range prior to their launch ahead of the 2012 grass-cutting season. Other than that, all of the former Atco and Suffolk Punch petrol and electric pedestrian cylinder mowers to be manufactured from October 2011 onwards at Allett's production centre in Hixon, Staffordshire, will be to the same design and specification as their forerunners, including the green and gold livery well-known to gardeners the length and breadth of the British Isles. New models, together with improvements and upgrades to existing machines, will be introduced by Allett in due course. Designed for keen gardeners, semi-professional users and others who appreciate the precision cut and quality of finish produced by a cylinder-type mower, the new Allett-branded machines will take their place alongside Allett's existing range of professional pedestrian cylinder mowers and turf maintenance equipment, which is used to maintain sports, amenity and ornamental grass throughout Britain and overseas. Allett plans to sell its new line of domestic and semi-professional cylinder mowers through a network of independent garden machinery dealers, selected for their ability to provide first-class sales and service support to customers. "The acquisition of the design rights and manufacturing capability for the former Atco and Suffolk Punch pedestrian mowers is a natural extension of the Allett brand," commented Austin Jarrett, managing director of Allett Mowers' parent company, Turfmech Machinery. "Having concentrated for almost 50 years on serving the professional market, Allett is now able to offer high specification cylinder mowers and unrivalled customer support to keen home gardeners and semi-professional users for whom Allett mowers were not previously affordable or viable." The installation of the additional manufacturing plant, equipment and tooling at Allett's Staffordshire factory over the coming weeks will, says Mr Jarrett, considerably extend the company's production capabilities. "We will be looking to hire up to 20 new staff, which is good news for our local area and for British manufacturing," he commented. "Furthermore, using Allett's existing expertise and presence in overseas markets, we anticipate growing the export business for all of the models within the newly-enlarged Allett family. Particularly, we want to extend the benefits of cylinder mowing to other parts of Europe and further afield, enabling many more people to appreciate the appearance and finish long associated with fine, traditional British lawns. "For the future, we see opportunities also in markets such as cricket, with the development of a more affordable cylinder mower capable of producing top-class wickets for clubs with limited budgets. It's going to be an exciting and fascinating time as we introduce the Allett brand to an ever-increasing number of new and important markets."
First ELMOW Electric Greens Mower goes to East Midlands CouncilNottinghamshire's Gedling Borough Council has taken delivery of the first Elmow all-electric pedestrian greensmower to be supplied anywhere in the world by its British designer and manufacturer, Allett. Based at Arnot Hill Park, Arnold, East Midlands, the 20in fine-cut mower is now being used to maintain a bowling green situated less than 100m from the civic offices, located also within the 8ha public park, winner of a prestigious Green Flag award for the past four years. Terry Ball, one of four Parks and Street Care supervisors with Gedling Borough Council, explained that the mower had been spotted initially at the 2010 IOG Saltex exhibition. "The principal of an all-electric machine fits extremely well with the council's vision of making the borough a healthy, green, safe and clean place to live, work and visit," he said. "The Elmow is very low noise, has minimal vibrations and produces no emissions at the place of work." Following discussions between the Parks and Street Care supervisors and their manager, Melvyn Cryer, Allett was asked to bring the Elmow mower to a special environmental open day held by Gedling Borough Council last November when a variety of cleaner and greener vehicles, machines and working methods were shown to councillors and other staff members. The result was the ordering of an Elmow mower specifically for use in the Council's flagship open green space at Arnot Hill Park. Powered by a 24 volt, 42Ah gel-type battery, the Allett Elmow has a 510mm (20in) cutting unit equipped with a 120mm (4.7in) diameter, 10-bladed cutting cylinder and powered turf groomer as standard. The battery pack gives up to two hours operation from fully-charged which, says Terry Ball, is ideal for regular mowing of bowling greens close to a club house and re-charging point. "The green is used primarily by Arnold Park Bowls Club and is normally cut three times a week, depending on weather and growth conditions," explained Terry. "All of the council's fine turf crew received detailed training from Allett in setting, operating and maintaining the mower, enabling any of the team to use the machine. It has been very well received by all and will play an important part in making Gedling quieter, cleaner, safer and greener."
Click here to go direct to the Elmow product page.
New British Electric Mower Goes On The Charge
Known as ELMOW, the walk-behind machine is available with the choice of 510mm (20in) or 610mm (24in) wide cutting units, both fitted as standard with a 120mm (4.7in) diameter, 10-bladed cutting cylinder and a powered turf groomer. ELMOW's rate of cut is an impressive 220 clips per metre (199 clips/yard), a rate that is maintained irrespective of working speed or variations in speed. Height of cut can be adjusted without tools from 2.4mm to 19mm (0.1in – 0.75in) using Allett's established quick-height adjuster. Designed, developed and manufactured at Allett's engineering centre in Hixon, Staffordshire, ELMOW is aimed at bowls, golf, cricket and tennis clubs requiring a precision mower that produces minimal noise or vibration and zero emissions at the place of work. These attributes will appeal also to professional gardeners, contractors and home owners with fine ornamental lawns to maintain. Prototype testing over the past year by Allett engineers has shown that a fully-charged battery pack provides approximately four hours' mowing, the actual time being dependent on grass length, height of cut and mowing gradient. The battery pack powering ELMOW is a 24 volt, 42Ah gel-type unit located using a 'slide and click' system that allows rapid interchange of discharged and fully-charged battery packs, if required. Using its electronic three-stage charger, ELMOW's batteries take around eight hours to recharge from "empty", a process normally carried out overnight. Careful thought has been given by Allett to ELMOW's operating controls which are laid out on adjustable handles fitted with anti-vibration mountings. Forward and reverse speeds (up to 5km/h and 2km/h respectively) are selected by left- and right-hand thumb controls with individual hand levers provided to engage drive to the cutting cylinder and the two-piece aluminium rear roller. There is also a backlapping button which, when engaged, reverses cylinder rotation while simultaneously reducing cylinder speed by 75 per cent. For easy mower movement with or without the battery in place, the rear roller drive can be disengaged in an instant by means of a simple lever. The mower's powered grooming reel is the same unit as fitted to Allett's well-established Tournament model and uses thin vertical blades at 10mm spacings to lift lateral grasses immediately ahead of the cutting cylinder, promoting a consistently even finish. The groomer can be raised out of work if not required. An important safety feature is an automatic brake which engages when ELMOW is stationary, releasing automatically when forward or reverse drive is selected. With full production of ELMOW scheduled to begin ready for the 2011 mowing season, Allett is now arranging demonstrations and is happy to take forward orders to ensure that ELMOW production levels match customer demand. Click here to go direct to the Elmow product page.
Sandwell MBC Buys 12 New Buffalo MowersOne of the West Midlands' largest local authorities has purchased 12 new Allett Buffalo 27 pedestrian mowers to help with its prestige grass-cutting contracts in 2010 and future seasons. Specified by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's Grounds Maintenance Services division, the Buffalo mowers are helping maintain parks and gardens, cemeteries, traffic islands and other high-profile open grass spaces throughout Sandwell. The new machines were supplied by Allett dealer, Oakley's Ltd, and have joined an existing fleet of Allett Buffalo and Shaver mowers that has grown steadily over the past 20 years. The Shavers are used almost exclusively on the council's fine-turf bowling greens. "An extensive amount of prestige mowing is carried out across the Borough from March to November," explained grounds maintenance manager, Martin Brayford. "The machines we use have to be safe, reliable and easy to handle while producing a first-class finish. We've used Allett mowers since the late 1980s and they've given us no reason to look elsewhere." Day-to-day responsibility for the mowers lies with Sandwell MBC's plant workshop supervisor, Keith Collett, who follows a strict three-year replacement cycle to ensure that the council extracts the maximum from its investment in terms of productivity, reliability and ultimate trade-in values. "We run a total of 30 Allett machines and the 12 new Buffalo mowers were a direct replacement for similar models that had completed three years' hard work," commented Keith. "Working with Allett owner, Turfmech, is proving a great success as the firm is prepared both to listen to our comments and act upon them whenever possible." Examples given by Keith include reducing noise and hand-arm vibration (HAV) levels, uprating the chaincase covers and strengthening the handles to give improved durability over long working hours. "We've developed an excellent relationship with Turfmech and the results are clear to see in the recent upgrades they've made to the mowers," he said. "Most important, also, is the fact that the operators really like using the machines. I like them, too, as maintenance is quick and simple and does not cost the earth."
Shropshire Groundcare Dealer Scoops Top Allett AwardThe groundcare division of Shrewsbury-based Oakley's Ltd has been named Allett Mower's Dealer of the Year for 2009. The award was made at BTME 2010 by Allett's parent company, Turfmech, in recognition of the sales achievements and high level of service provided by Oakley's in 2009 to owners and users of Allett pedestrian mowers and turf maintenance equipment. Presenting the award to Oakley's staff, Turfmech and Allett sales director, Leigh Bowers, said that Oakley's had produced consistently strong results over many years as an Allett dealer. However, 2009 had proved exceptional for the business, culminating in the firm securing the coveted Allett Dealer of the Year award. Richard Jones of Oakley's pointed out the firm's relationship with Turfmech and Allett is founded on considerably more than just the supply of quality turf machinery. "Turfmech's support for both Turfmech and Allett equipment is among the best in the business," said Mr Jones. "From demonstrations, new machine installations and customer training to rapid parts availability and technical assistance, we know that we can rely 100 per cent on Turfmech and its staff. It's a pleasure doing business with the company and we are delighted to have won this award."
Allett Developing Electrically Powered MowerAllett is aiming to have a battery-powered pedestrian cylinder mower ready for commercial sale in time for the 2010 grass-cutting season. The result will be a mower combining very low levels of noise and vibration with no risk of fuel or oil leaks and no harmful emissions at the place of work. Shown in prototype form at IoG SALTEX 2009, the Buffalo 34E is the first in a planned series of Allett electric mowers which, if testing proves successful, will ultimately encompass models with cutting widths of 20in, 24in, 27in and 34in. All will utilise the same cutting units as found on the company's current range of petrol-engined machines. Powered by a 24 volt battery system of the type commonly found on electric golf carts, the prototype Buffalo 34E has two electric motors – one driving the rear roller, the other driving a standard 34in (864mm) wide, 8in (203mm) diameter cutting cylinder fitted with eight blades. Projected mowing life for a fully-charged battery is around three hours, depending on grass lengths and gradients. Electronic motor controllers enable both the speed of the cutting cylinder and forward travel to be adjusted by the operator on-the-move to suit mowing conditions and the final finish required. Up to six different forward speeds can be dial selected, four covering the normal working speed range with two slower speeds available for mowing in confined or awkward areas, for example, when negotiating trees, flower beds or buildings. A selector switch for powered reversing is also included. As the Buffalo 34E uses the same proven cutting unit as its petrol-engined counterpart, the main focus of testing this winter will be on the performance and reliability of the battery pack and electric drives powering the rear roller and the cutting cylinder. An indoor "rolling road" has been built by Allett to simulate the diverse range of surface conditions typically encountered by a walk-behind cylinder mower when cutting a sportsfield, public park or domestic lawn. The company plans to clock-up more than 1,000 hours of indoor testing of the mower over-winter, to be followed by pre-production trials on turf in early spring 2010. Although pricing is yet to be finalised, Allett is hoping that a battery-powered Buffalo 34E will cost around the same as its petrol-engined equivalent.
New Cutting Height Adjuster for Allett Fine Turf MowersAllett has introduced a fast, convenient and precise cutting height adjuster for its Shaver, Tournament and C-Range fine-turf pedestrian mowers. Known as the Quick Height Adjuster, the device consists of a micrometer dial and threaded rod assembly attached to either end of the mower's front roller. Each click-turn of the dial moves the front roller up or down by 0.4mm, altering the height of cut by an identical amount depending on the direction in which the dial is turned. The new adjuster supersedes the previously-used system for adjusting the mowers' cutting height which required spanners to slacken the height-adjuster locking nuts and to wind the adjuster up or down. To be fitted as standard to Allett's 20in and 24in Shaver and Tournament mowers and to the C-20 and C-24 cartridge head machines equipped with a 10-bladed cutting cylinder, the Quick Height Adjuster will be included on all new machines delivered this spring.
The Allett Tournament 20 is one of the mowers to be fitted with the new height adjuster.
Allet Mowers Joins Turfmech StableA secure and vibrant future underpinned by sustained product development and sales growth are promised for Allett Mowers following the purchase by Turfmech Machinery Ltd of Allett Mower's assets, trademarks and main product range. The move brings one of Britain's best-known makes of professional walk-behind cylinder mower and turf-care equipment into the Turfmech stable to be based at Turfmech's product development and manufacturing centre in Hixon, Staffordshire.
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