Weed Cutters

As stated previously it is more than likely that the two became close friends when Scott was making the weed cutter at Lukely Engineering with Wadham saying in 1911 that Scott had been his close friend for 7 years. When The Dreadnought Casting Reel Company produced their first catalogue weed cutters, now an established product, were included. It is possible that by this time Scott was making the cutters in his workshop.
The basic method of cutting weeds was with a chain scythe which two men would pull across a piece of water in a sawing action. This was very labour-intensive and hard work. The company not only made the chain scythes but also offered improved ways of cutting weeds.
The Simplex Aquatic Weed Cutter was patented in 1904 and was fitted to a boat thus allowing the operator to work in any area of a lake, no matter how remote. This was an expensive item and the fact that King Edward VII had bought one for use on the Royal Estates certainly boosted sales and the profile of the company. A separate leaflet was produced explaining how the cutter worked and was available on request.
The great advantage was that only two men were needed to operate the system, one on the boat and one on the cutter. The weed cutter consisted of a fishtail blade approximately 5 feet wide, sharpened on both edges so that it would cut either going forward or backwards. One man pushed the punt forward whilst the other man worked the tiller-type handle attached to the cutter to remove the weed, the height was adjustable. The original drawing causes some confusion as it looks like a series of pulleys operate the system but later pictures show how it works.
The second weed cutter invented by Percy Wadham was the Dreadnought Aquatic Weed Cutter in 1908. This was an improvement on the scythe type in that it did not require sharpening and could be coiled up in a space of 9 inches. At 10 yards long it was a great improvement on the traditional type of cutter.
The chain scythes were dropped from the range sometime between 1913 and 1920 and only Wadham’s own inventions sold from then on. They were still being offered in the 1950s catalogue.