THIS SITE DESCRIBES LAWN RAKES FROM A DESIGNERS PERSPECTIVE.
The common lawn rake originated as a besom or lawn broom normally made from twigs bound together around a handleLAWN RAKE DESiGN/Index page
THIS SITE DESCRIBES LAWN RAKES FROM A DESIGNERS PERSPECTIVE.
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with woven fiber ropes. The besom, as illustrated
on the left, is very common in Russia and continues to be manufactured
in this form where it has found favour in England for cleaning delicate
flowing moss gardens. Modern versions are marketed by Terra
International LLC.
Rakes developed along the same precepts as farming tools which were made from hardwoods such as ash, oak or maple and logically have many of the same part names such as tines, handles and sockets which are common to engineering terminology. Remarkably many of the pioneering companies still exist. As recently as 1998, wooden rakes were made available on the internet by one of the pioneering manufacturers using the original tools, methods and facilities handed down for generations. |
| The teeth of the old world wooden rakes were formed by driving tapered wooden pegs through holes into the wooden cross piece of the rake head. As the teeth were easily replaced, the wooden rake could be made long lasting. From the illustrations it is easy to see the common roots early rakes had to the wide industrial brooms. Modern variations of the early hardwood rakes are still commonly used on golf courses. |  |
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The majority
of today's modern steel rake designs developed mostly in the late 20's
and 30"s although some of the original part names remain. The introduction
of tine stiffener springs and even debris pickup rakes began in the early
part of the last century.
Approximately 30 years ago the plastic lawn rake was introduced which created a new category separating leaf rakes from lawn rakes. In recent years the introduction of ergonomically designed rakes demonstrated that even lawn rakes were beginning to suffer from over engineering in the search for better performing hand tools. |
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