Tuesday 20 November 2018

The Allen Scythe


Went to collect the Allen Scythe on Saturday morning, just before we buggered off to the Gower for the weekend. Only just managed to squeeze it into my brother-in-law's Berlingo with an inch to spare.





Decanted it on Sunday evening (there wasn't enough manpower to do it on Saturday morning) - it was a lot easier to unload than to load. It's been idle for 2 years and I haven't tried to start it yet. It will probably require a full-on overhaul during the winter.

I'm hearing a lot of stories about this device, from it being a bugger to start to it chopping off people's fingers with alarming ease. It's a fine example of 1935 engineering design and they were manufactured right up to 1973. I'll have to look up the serial number somewhere to see when this monster was made.

Here's an old pdf manual I found online. You could get a host of attachments - I particularly like the trailer seat and the snow plough.


A couple of videos:


I wonder how it would perform with a Triumph triple 995cc engine instead of the 144cc Villiers 2-stroke. Here's the fancily painted one in action.



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