A roller mower, or rollermower, is a

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

-powered multi-spindled

rotary mower Rotary may refer to: General * Rotary motion Engineering and technology * Rotary dial, a rotating telephone dial * Rotary engine (disambiguation), multiple types of engines called "rotary" * Rotary latch * Rotary milking shed, a type of milking ...

s that have full width rollers front and rear. Most rollermowers attach to a four-wheeled tractor via the

three-point linkage The three-point hitch (British English: three-point linkage) is a widely used type of hitch for attaching ploughs and other implements to an agricultural or industrial tractor. The three points resemble either a triangle, or the letter A. Three-p ...

and are powered by the tractor's

power take-off A power take-off or power takeoff (PTO) is one of several methods for taking power from a power source, such as a running engine, and transmitting it to an application such as an attached implement or separate machine. Most commonly, it is a sp ...

(PTO), though larger models connect three or more complete mowing decks to a separate chassis that is towed behind the tractor. Good rollermowers can produce a finish rivalling that of reel (cylinder)

mower A mower is a person or machine that cuts (mows) grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g. with reapers ...

s while generally being far more robust and requiring considerably less maintenance. Modern machines can also cope efficiently with a wider range of grass lengths and densities than cylinder mowers.

History

The original developer of the rollermower is uncertain, but Howard Rotavator Pty Ltd manufactured and sold the 72RLM (later the HS20RLM/180) Rollamowa in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from the early 1970s. These were linkage-mounted three-spindled rotary mowers with a cutting width of 1.8m (72”). A larger version (HS20RLM/300) was also produced before manufacturing ceased in about 1984. The company was absorbed by Howard Australia Pty Ltd and from 1985 sourced its rollermowers from Trimax Industries Ltd (later

Trimax Mowing Systems Trimax Mowing Systems is a New Zealand-based manufacturer of professional turf maintenance equipment. Trimax designs, develops, builds and markets high quality roller mowers with flail or rotary blade systems. The company's headquarters are locate ...

) in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Trimax then sold the same machines under the Trimax brand around the world. As of 2011, several other companies throughout the world manufacture a variety of rollermowers.

References

{{Reflist Agricultural machinery