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Lawns: An American Obsession
It's almost fall in the Northern Hemisphere, when many a homeowner's mind turns to leaf removal. It has been an American custom to listen to a Sunday football game on the radio while raking leaves, mulching gardens and winterizing the lawnmower.
But how and where did this love affair with grass begin?
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from the September 2004 issue of InventHelp's free newsletter for inventors |
According to the Gardening Guru, lawns came into existence originally when European landowners allowed animals to graze close to the house. Rather than grass though, the first lawns were planted with short ground cover plants.
By Medieval times lawns had gained in popularity and sod was being removed from pastures and planted on estates. Keep in mind that only the rich could afford a lawn for the sake of a lawn. Ordinary folks planted vegetable gardens, not grass. Besides, only the rich could afford the grounds keepers to cut the grass, which was done by hand using scythes until the first lawn mower was invented during 19th Century by Edwin Beard Budding, of the United Kingdom.
In
1868 Amariah Millar Hills was granted the first patent in the U.S. for a lawn mower.
An article in the November 2000 Connecticut State Library newsletter describes how early lawn mower models used blades that had a side-to-side
shearing action. Hill's manually powered invention was the
first to feature a spiral cutter, shaped somewhat like an Archimedean
screw or helix, hence the name of Millar Hills company: the Archimedean
Lawn Mower Company. For decades, manually powered lawn mowers
were the only option available. Power lawn mowers were first introduced
in the twentieth century when, after World War II, engines were
cheap to produce. Once engines became powerful enough, the rotary
blade mower gained popularity.
Why are lawns such an American obsession?
With its origins in our European land-holder ancestors, the American obsession with lawns began during the Victorian era, when a well kept lawn was considered to be the one unifying visual element of the landscape around a Victorian household. This was also an era during which the middle classes began to move out of urban centers into new "suburbs." In the early twentieth century hardy grasses were developed and the American Garden Club promoted maintaining a beautiful lawn as a civic duty. The invention of the garden hose also made it easier to maintain a lawn.
Of course, maintaining a beautiful lawn means much more than just mowing. Mulching has long been promoted as a healthy way to invigorate grass, beginning with the Archimedean Lawn Mower company, which used "mulching" as a selling point.
InventHelp® works with a number of inventors who have lawn-related inventions. The Maxi-Edge Universal Mulching Blade was invented by an InventHelp® client. It is a lawn mower attachment that pushes lawn clippings back down into the grass. Another InventHelp® client invention is the Weed Thrasher, a modified design for a weed trimmer head that is safer and easier to use than conventional models.
For more information about America's obsession with its lawns, visit the American Lawns Web site.
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