Flymo
Flymo is an electric hover mower invented by Karl Dahlman. Dahlman developed the mower in 1964 after seeing Sir Christopher Cockerell's Hovercraft machine. "Flymo" is a brand name of the Swedish company Husqvarna AB, formerly a part of Electrolux.[1] The mower is a variation of the conventional petrol powered rotary push lawn mower, but uses a fan above the mower's spinning blades to allow the mower's body to hover over the lawn. The design of the mower made it more manoeuvrable and easier to push than conventional wheeled petrol mowers while delivering similar results.
Operation
The Flymo is based on the design of a hovercraft, floating on a cushion of air generated by a fan attached to the cutting blades. This fan pushes air downward making the lawnmower float. The mower's main body is made of comparatively lightweight plastic, housing an electric motor connected to a household mains cable which trails from the handle bar. Constant pressure has to be maintained by the operator to a switch in order to operate the mower, and care has to be taken not to pass the mower over the cable during operation.
UK Manufacturing Plant
In the 1970s, Flymo's production operations grew to produce all of their lawnmowers in their UK production plant in Durham, where they still make them today. The characteristic orange colour was introduced in 1977.
Product Range Growth
- 1980s
The company introduced a new kind of non-hovering electric type lawnmower: the Chevron. This electrically powered, wheeled lawnmower was aimed at gardeners who wanted clean mowing lines (something hard to achieve with the Flymo) while retaining the benefits of a modern electric mower.
In the United States, the Flymo was introduced to considerable advertising fanfare in the early '80s. Although the unit achieved a great deal of attention and curiosity, not many sold in America.
- 1990s
In the 1990s, Flymo's focus as a company changed from just making lawnmowers, to making garden tools like blowers and strimmers.
The Gardenvac (leaf blower and vacuum) was introduced.
- 2013
Flymo announced their Robotic lawnmower line, the EasiLife 200/350/500, each model number referencing how many square meters of lawn it could mow.
List of Flymo products
Flymo has also sold various lawn tractors and push mowers, among other lawn & garden equipment. Other products include:
- Petrol Lawnmowers (hovering and wheeled)
- Wheeled Electric Lawnmowers
- Hand Mowers
- Hedge Trimmers
- Edgers
- Garden Vacs
- Robotic Lawnmowers