March 1, 2019
The endless quest for faster and better
Productivity drives profit
Efficiency and productivity: the eternal promise of new products. That is the dream today, just as it was in the ’70s. An odd-looking machine called Lawn-A-Mat promised that dream to lawncare operators — imagine a contraption that could seed, aerate, roll, fertilize and spray in one pass. It was actually a combine, but built for lawns, not crops.
An inventor from Brooklyn, N.Y., had the idea and actually built a working Lawn-A-Mat machine in 1961. It received U.S. Patent 4,196,678; “A lawn combine which has a frame including a plurality of rotatable wheels supporting and coupled to a frame and a drive-actuated rotatable aerator movably mounted…” Daniel Dorfman proceeded to build a franchise structure around the idea, and by 1968 he had sold over 300 franchises.
Retired lawncare pro Don Voorhees of Pickering, Ont., operated Lawn-A-Mats in the eastern GTA in the ’70s. His territory supported three machines and trucks, with three employees. “Sure, there was a great labour advantage,” Don recalled, noting labour is not a challenge unique to our times.
Don has pleasant memories of being in a community of about 50 operators, and says he remembers participating in well-run Lawn-A-Mat meetings, and also recalls enjoying its social events.
He was introduced to Lawn-A-Mat while working for a paper company; Lawn-A-Mat was his entry to the horticulture business and a life-long career.
An inventor from Brooklyn, N.Y., had the idea and actually built a working Lawn-A-Mat machine in 1961. It received U.S. Patent 4,196,678; “A lawn combine which has a frame including a plurality of rotatable wheels supporting and coupled to a frame and a drive-actuated rotatable aerator movably mounted…” Daniel Dorfman proceeded to build a franchise structure around the idea, and by 1968 he had sold over 300 franchises.
Retired lawncare pro Don Voorhees of Pickering, Ont., operated Lawn-A-Mats in the eastern GTA in the ’70s. His territory supported three machines and trucks, with three employees. “Sure, there was a great labour advantage,” Don recalled, noting labour is not a challenge unique to our times.
Don has pleasant memories of being in a community of about 50 operators, and says he remembers participating in well-run Lawn-A-Mat meetings, and also recalls enjoying its social events.
He was introduced to Lawn-A-Mat while working for a paper company; Lawn-A-Mat was his entry to the horticulture business and a life-long career.
Lee Ann Knudsen
The machines were reliable, Don said, and their novelty was a big part of Lawn-A-Mat’s attraction for customers. The combine was well-suited to a time when 3- to 4,000 sq. ft. lawns and wide gates were much more common, he said, but “it would never work with today’s smaller properties.”
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Yesterday, Lawn-A-Mat; today, robotic mowers; tomorrow, who knows?