The Dictionary of Sydney
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Inventions

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Inventions

Subject

Victa Mowers Pty Ltd

Patent Office

Standard Telephones and Cables

Victa Mowers Pty Ltd

Hall, Lawrence

Nicolle, Eugene Dominique

Richardson, Mervyn Victor

Selfe, Henry

Norman Selfe (with beard) and Edmund Wolstenhome on velocipede invented by Selfe c1870s

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Inventions

Victa Mowers Pty Ltd

Invented in Sydney, and adapted by the founder of Victa, the rotary lawnmower made a neat lawn easy to maintain, just in time for Sydney's postwar suburban expansion.

Patent Office

NSW government body established in August 1887 to grant patents. The NSW patents system had been established in 1852 by the Inventions Registration Act, and the first Registrations of Inventions were granted in 1855, administered by the Attorney General's department. The establishment of the Patent Office and the role of Examiner of Patents also a reduction in the fee to apply to register an invention from £20 to £5. Prior to the establishment of the Patent Office, the fees were distributed amongst the staff of the Attorney-General's department. The last patents issued by the NSW Patent Office were in 1904, when the Patent Offices in all the states were federated.

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Standard Telephones and Cables

British telecommunications company (STC) whose subsidiary in Australia developed several groundbreaking new technologies. It was acquired by Alcatel Australia in 1987.

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Victa Mowers Pty Ltd

Company that popularised the rotary mower, just in time for the postwar expansion of backyards in Sydney.

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Hall, Lawrence

Self taught inventor who designed the Mowhall mower, a precursor to the Victa lawn mower.

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Nicolle, Eugene Dominique

Refrigeration engineer who patented and developed his own ice making machine in Sydney in partnership with others. He was a pioneer in domestic devices, refrigerated railway vans and cold stores but unable to translate that to machinery suited to ships.

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Richardson, Mervyn Victor

Inventor of the rotary lawnmower in 1952.

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Selfe, Henry

Plumber and inventor who arrived in Sydney in 1855 with his family.

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Norman Selfe (with beard) and Edmund Wolstenhome on velocipede invented by Selfe c1870s

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Contributed By

Deer family collection