The increase in life expectancy during the 20th century is largely due to improvements in child survival; this increase is associated with reductions in infectious disease mortality, due largely to immunization.1 However, infectious diseases remain a major cause of illness, disability, and death.
The First Mowers. The lawn mower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. He obtained the idea after seeing a machine in a local cloth mill which used a cutting cylinder (or bladed reel) mounted on a bench to trim cloth to make a smooth finish after weaving.
Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies introduced a petrol engined mower in 1902, and led the market until the First World War, although Shanks and Greens also made petrol engined machines during this period. The period immediately after World War One saw an unprecedented growth in lawn mower production.