Human Powered Vehicles

The Shakespear Lawn Mower (55k jpeg) no gif due to patent problems

This mower, the Shakespear Lawn Mower, was designed and built by Michael Shakespear as a Bachelor Thesis in Mechanical Engineering at MIT supervised by Professor David Gordon Wilson. The thesis can be ordered from Document Services of the MIT Libraries.

For future details, see the thesis or pages 312-315 of the 2nd Edition of Bicycling Science by Frank Rowland Whitt and David Gordon Wilson, published by the MIT Press, 1982. The Shakespear lawn mower was also in the 1st Edition.

When mowing with it, the mower was a little back heavy, which was only a problem when I was going up a slope. I had to lean all the way forward to avoid the mower tipping over backwards. I could mow my lawn with it in less time then it takes me to push my electric mower around and also had more fun, used no electricity, and got a bit more exercise.

I was one of a chain of stewards who used this mower. I received it from Prof. Wilson and passed it on to Michael Shakespear, the builder. He finally owned a lawn to mow! Guess it came full circle. ;-}

You might like a look at the International Human Powered Vehicle Association.