Cooper mower

[B-16_IC]

I picked up a new rotary for the collection Saturday at a flea market. It is a Cooper, built in Marshalltown Iowa. I was born and raised on that side of the Mississippi so anything else that was born there gets my attention! It sure is a cool one, the wife even thought it was cute! (That doesn't happen often!) Wondering if anyone else out there has one, would like to see what the color scheme was originally, this one's been painted.







Sure is an interesting output chute, I assume the rods are to deflect big chunks? The engine pulls over with decent compression so it should run with tinkerin'!

[76Datsun280z]

Nice mower! Can't say I've seen one like that before. Reminds me of a Lawn Boy in a way!

[jack_of_trades]

Here's a link to the post with pics of my less complete cooper cyclo-mo-18. It has not been repainted, and you can still see a little of the original paint in spots. Maybe that helps.

It seems the deck is red with yellow on the raised decorations and text. the wheels are yellow, and the engine black. I'm glad to see the pic of yours. Maybe now I can fashion a original-looking handlebar out of conduit or pipe.

I still need to find some wheels for mine. Think I have a carb, gas tank, and I know I have an oil bath filter for it. I'm having more fun with my flywheel engines and chainsaws lately though, so the mowers will be on hold for a while.

[roym]

What is the engine code? It looks to be from the mid 60's.

[bontai Joe]

Interesting deck, looks to be aluminum? magnesium? A fair amount of money was spent in making molds for that deck vs. a steel stamping.

[B-16_IC]

I don't know how to tell the difference between mag. and aluminum, other than fire of course! And that ain't happening! The engine tag reads, model-6BHS, type no.-900125, serial no.-719748.

Jack, thanks for the link, looks like my assumtions were right, there is red showing underneath, so after seeing yours that must be right. As for your handle bars, if I can take a better pic or do a few measurements let me know. Always glad to help out if I can.

Thanks guys, I really like these odd old mowers. They need to be saved when they can be.

[roym]

Hmm, that is older than I thought.

[rake60]

You can date the engine by the codes cast into the back face of the
flywheel. You can see them in a 6B-HS without removing the flywheel.
You can see it by looking up under the blower housing on the side
opposite the carb and fuel tank.

As you rotate the engine you will see a two digit number and a letter
cast into separate round depressions. They will be in the thinner areas
of the flywheel so it may take some hard looking to see them.

The two digit number is the year the flywheel was cast.
The 6B-HS in my collection has a 54 on it, meaning 1954.

The letter identifies the month. A = January, B = February
C = March, etc. My engine has the letter I there so the flywheel
was cast in September of 1954.

There was no such thing as shelf stock in those days.
If you identify when that flywheel was cast by the codes on it
you will be within a a couple months of the manufacture date of
the mower.

Rick

[B-16_IC]

Cool thanks! I never knew about that.

[rake60]

That 6B-HS engine may have some collector value.
It's not high at this point in time but it's value will increase.

The reason for the interest is the Model 6BH and 6BHS
were the first aluminum block engine manufactured by Briggs.
Production runs on both of those models were from
May 1953 to July 1958. The "S" identifies it and having a suction
type carb rather than the gravity flow float bowl carb.

6BHS


6BH


Either one of those engines are worth holding onto for a few
years.

Rick

[B-16_IC]

Thanks Rick, are those engines yours? Sure are pretty. I have a couple of them, and no doubt some parts. I really need to sort through my NOS parts and catalog them so I can have a clue as to what is here.

[rake60]

Yes those are a couple of the engines in my collection.
At one point I had close to 40 restored antique engines,
most were early cast iron block Briggs models.
Several of them ended up on the auction block to finance
another hobby.

I do still have a few boxes of parts here.

Rick