Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon

--



"Simon Foster" wrote in message
...
Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon




--
Simon Foster

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(

Try those over 70, things 'start' to slow down then.

Mike

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

"Simon Foster" wrote


Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,


The only thing I would say Simon is most on this newsgroup are keen
gardeners, we know more about Lawnmowers than the great unwashed, is that
the sort of people you want to take notice of, the sort of people that the
design is to be marketed too?
As for design, a rear roller is better than 4 wheels as you can cut over the
edge of the lawn instead of getting on your knees with a pair of shears.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 08/02/2012 15:34, Simon Foster wrote:
Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon





Done.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

On Feb 8, 4:33*pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
--

"Simon Foster" wrote in message

...









Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at:www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon

--
Simon Foster

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(

Try those over 70, things 'start' to slow down then.

Mike

...................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight..

...................................

From the look of you in Shanklin the other day Mike, things slowed
down and stopped many years ago.............must even be a struggle
putting your apron and stockings on when you go down the lodge of an
evening.................lol

Very true. I have a beautiful lightweight lawnmower that I can easily carry in one hand, but would I have bought such a small one had we not converted most of our lawns into ponds, beds and "wildflower meadow"?

"kay" wrote in message
...[color=blue][i]

Jake;949732 Wrote:
On Wed, 8 Feb 2012 19:53:28 +0000, Sacha wrote:

I was wondering, though, whether questions about the
size of lawn and width of cut might have helped as the size of the
machine will affect how easily different people can use it and that of
the lawn may lead to buying a bigger one than can easily be handled.


Very true. I have a beautiful lightweight lawnmower that I can easily
carry in one hand, but would I have bought such a small one had we not
converted most of our lawns into ponds, beds and "wildflower meadow"?




--
kay


We are the same, when we had our big garden out in the country, an Atco
Rotosythe for the main areas and a big petrol Flymo for the slopes. However
now we have pocket gardens, a small electric Flymo which 'The Gardener'
uses.

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...
"Simon Foster" wrote


Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,


The only thing I would say Simon is most on this newsgroup are keen
gardeners, we know more about Lawnmowers than the great unwashed, is that
the sort of people you want to take notice of, the sort of people that the
design is to be marketed too?
As for design, a rear roller is better than 4 wheels as you can cut over
the edge of the lawn instead of getting on your knees with a pair of
shears.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK


Seconded but perhaps to add, rear roller yes but if its powered it should be
front wheel drive.

And young man when you get there you will find little difference between 30,
40 or 50 except at 50 you eyes start to go so I suppose it would be fair to
say they ought to print the manuals in a larger font!!!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 09:46:45 -0000, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


The only thing I would say Simon is most on this newsgroup are keen
gardeners, we know more about Lawnmowers than the great unwashed, is that
the sort of people you want to take notice of, the sort of people that the
design is to be marketed too?
As for design, a rear roller is better than 4 wheels as you can cut over
the edge of the lawn instead of getting on your knees with a pair of
shears.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK


Seconded but perhaps to add, rear roller yes but if its powered it should be
front wheel drive.

And young man when you get there you will find little difference between 30,
40 or 50 except at 50 you eyes start to go so I suppose it would be fair to
say they ought to print the manuals in a larger font!!!


50? I wish!
My eyes have been going for years. I'm only 40ish.
I have worn glasses since I was about 6 and have had reading glasses
for 3-4 years. Worst has to be cooking instructions! The last lot of
seeds I bought came with a sheet to print out with the instructions
on!
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 09/02/2012 10:46, Charlie Pridham wrote:


should be front wheel drive.

And young man when you get there you will find little difference between
30, 40 or 50 except at 50 you eyes start to go so I suppose it would be
fair to say they ought to print the manuals in a larger font!!!



So true! Wish I'd thought to add that to the "Other" problems box. There
are so many leaflets / documents nowadays that are printed so small as
to be useless. Slightly off topic, but the other day at the supermarket,
the cashier gave us some coupons at the checkout. The print was too
small to read so just ended up in the rubbish.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Hi again everyone,

Thankyou for the responses so far, I've looked at the results and got some sood stuff in the last 24 hours, so thank you for that.

The aim of this survey is really to find out the existing physical problems that lawn mowers/general garden tools are causing people when using them, regardless of experience or knowlege, in the hope of making some design recommendations. Obviosuly there is a pre-requisite in that I do need people who do a fair amount of gardening though. I've read a number of articles that say muscle strength begins to decrease at around 50, so I felt this was a good starting point if it's people with decreased strength and other problems such as arthritis that we're looking to make this easier for.

The point about size of lawn/width of cut is interesting. I felt at the time that it was a difficult question to ask as many people did not know the size of their lawn in dimensions, and trying to relate size to small/medium/large etc would get a bit messy, so I tried to cover this point more in how much time is spent on the tasks instead. I'd also made the assumption up until now that people would buy the lawn mower that they'd feel most comfortable using. There are quite probably a lot of people though who'd sacrifice this comfort for something that gets the job done quicker, causing their own physical problems, so this is something I'll have to take into account.

(Also thanks for pointing out the arrow error, it's been corrected.)

On 08/02/2012 14:34, Simon Foster wrote:
Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon




I have completed your survey. It would be very interesting to
eventually hear the results, if possible.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 09/02/2012 12:03, Simon Foster wrote:
... I'd also made
the assumption up until now that people would buy the lawn mower that
they'd feel most comfortable using. There are quite probably a lot of
people though who'd sacrifice this comfort for something that gets the
job done quicker, causing their own physical problems, so this is
something I'll have to take into account.

(Also thanks for pointing out the arrow error, it's been corrected.)


Another very significant factor regarding which lawn mower to buy can be
cost. This applies to all garden tools, powered or not. Not all of us
have incomes that match the size of our gardens / lawns / allotment. So
compromises have to be made. So for example I really need a sit on mower
but the cost is prohibitive so I make do with a self propelled petrol
mower - and this involves many hours walking and minor stumbles on
uneven ground (mole runs). It also requires a lot of starting and
stopping if the clippings basket is being used, which in turn requires a
lot of pulling of the starting handle and subsequent pain in the neck
and shoulder. I imagine many people have to make compromises between the
ideal power tool and their budget, especially nowadays with the
recession and incomes struggling to meet daily needs, and increasingly
so with people who have retired and have low pensions.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

In message
,
Steerpike writes
On Feb 8, 4:33*pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
--

"Simon Foster" wrote in message

...









Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.

The survey is at:www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon

--
Simon Foster

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(


According to the powers that be anyone over 50 is an "Elderly Person"

--
hugh

In message , mogga
writes
On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 09:46:45 -0000, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


The only thing I would say Simon is most on this newsgroup are keen
gardeners, we know more about Lawnmowers than the great unwashed, is that
the sort of people you want to take notice of, the sort of people that the
design is to be marketed too?
As for design, a rear roller is better than 4 wheels as you can cut over
the edge of the lawn instead of getting on your knees with a pair of
shears.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK


Seconded but perhaps to add, rear roller yes but if its powered it should be
front wheel drive.

And young man when you get there you will find little difference between 30,
40 or 50 except at 50 you eyes start to go so I suppose it would be fair to
say they ought to print the manuals in a larger font!!!


50? I wish!
My eyes have been going for years. I'm only 40ish.
I have worn glasses since I was about 6 and have had reading glasses
for 3-4 years. Worst has to be cooking instructions! The last lot of
seeds I bought came with a sheet to print out with the instructions
on!
Nah, T&Cs on Credit Card offers.
--
hugh