Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12A
-THE FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1982
Programmable Lawnmower
By CHUCK THOMPSON
News Editor
Some machines seem to
possess those lifelike qual
ities which make them ap
pear “friendly, dedicated or
downright stubborn like
an old pickup.”
Such is the Mowtron. With
the dedication of a Saint Ber
nard, it glides across a lawn,
trimming grass automat
ically, while its “master”
devotes time to more impor
tant matters.
If the machine itself isn’t
enough of an “attention-get
ter,” then the flashing red
light atop its electrical con
trol box is sure to turn your
head. After trimming the
lawn, the Mowtron drives
itself back to a storage area,
parks and shuts off.
The Mowtron is marketed
by “word-of-mouth” adver
tising, and the word appears
to be getting out fast; be
cause American Marketing
and Sales, which manufac
tures the automatic lawn
mower, is now in the process
of expanding its present fa
cility.
Day Care Center To
Hold Chicken Dinner
The Forsyth County Day
Care Center is sponsoring a
chicken dinner on Saturday,
Oct. 2, at Otwell Junior High
School from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The chicken plates will in
clude dessert and drink and
will cost $3.50. Tickets may
be purchased from the cen
ter’s staff and from parents
School Board Meeting
From Page 1A
Mrs. Benson was forced to
leave the meeting twice
when board members re
quested she provide written
documentation that the state
requires two librarians at
the high school. After return
ing from her office with that
proof, the board approved
Mrs. Partridge’s recommen
dation unanimously, as they
did the recommendation of
Cynthia Annette Coker as
librarian at Sawnee Elemen
tary.
The recommendations of
Arlene Blum and Beth
Spackman as special educa
tion teachers at Big Creek
Elementary and Mashbum
Elementary, respectively,
received no opposition.
A report by curriculum
director Judy Thornton on
the new microcomputer re
cently acquired by seven of
the county schools was met
with inquisitions from Day
and Orr as to why all of the
schools did not receive a
computer.
Mrs. Thornton said the
computers were paid with
federal funds received
through Chapter II supple
mentary funding. A total of
$33,000 in federal funds was
received by the schools, $20,-
000 of which was used to
purchase the computers. A
total of $13,000 was spent in
purchasing library books for
North Forsyth and South
Forsyth Junior Highs and
Coal Mountain Elementary.
Mrs. Thornton said each
principal was advised to sub
mit a proposal outlining how
a computer would be used in
his or her school. Each
school that submitted a pro
posal received at least one
computer. The only schools
[STATE FARM
INSURANCE
J
For insurance call
RICKY NOLES
Hwy. 20 West
Just West of Cumming
Post Office
Cumming, Georgia
887-5405
STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANIES
HOME OFFICES: BLOOMINGTON. ILLINOIS
To finance that expansion,
the Forsyth County Devel
opment Authority has ap
proved $600,000 in revenue
bonds for the company,
which is also recognized as
one of the premier sheet
metal houses in the state.
Sheet metal components
manufactured by the com
pany are sold to Western
Electric, Lockheed and Sci
entific Atlanta.
Tyrus Ward, president of
American Marketing and
Sales, and a partner, Billy
Cox, started the company in
1969. “We incorporated to
sell lawnmowers,” Ward
said. “We were approached
by a man, who had a design
worked out, and ready for
manufacturing.”
That design, for an auto
matic lawnmower, had been
copied by the individual. Un
knowlingly, Ward and Cox
purchased an SII,OOO fran
chise from the individual,
and later discovered that a
lawnmower built according
to the design would not func
tion properly.
“We started to get our
of children the center cares
for. All proceeds will be used
to match federal and state
funds used to operate the
center.
A live band will provide
entertainment and take-out
service will be available.
For more information, call
the center at 887-7701.
not receiving a computer
South Forsyth and Otwell
Junior Highs, and Cumming
and Chestatee Elementarys
were those that did not
submit a proposal.
A proposal from each
school was needed, accord
ing to Mrs. Thornton, in or
der to justify the funding
requests from Chapter II
funding.
Day said in an attempt to
offer each of the county’s
students an equal education,
the computers should have
been evenly distributed
among the schools, regard
less of whether or not they
submitted a proposal. Mrs.
Thornton responded by say
ing that each of the county’s
principals had the opportu
nity to acquire a computer
for his school, and that a
couple of the schools did not
submit a proposal because
they did not have the person
nel to make use of the com
puters.
Orr assigned the education
committee to investigate the
possibility of moving com
puters from schools with
more than one into the
schools that did not have
them.
In other business, the
board heard a petition from
a representative of Dempsey
Dairies requesting that the
board reconsider its decision
to drop that company as its
supplier of school milk.
Since the school year be
gan, lunchroom officials
have complained of soured
milked and stinking milk
cartons and trays received
from Dempsey. Board mem
bers denied the company’s
petition.
money back, but the man
was killed in an auto acci
dent,” Ward said. “We de
cided the concept was good,
and started our own devel
opment program. We still
anticipated sales, not man
ufacturing, but the more we
got into it, we got deeper into
manufacturing. We’re now
involved in manufacturing,
and have no sales force.”
When asked if he felt the
product would be successful
from the beginning, Ward
said yes. “We were ahead of
our time, as far as the con
sumer was concerned,” he
added. “The consumer is
just now starting to accept
the fact that automated de
vices can be of benefit to
them.”
How does the Mowtron
work? According to Ward,
yards are “programmed”
with a permanent in-ground
system. “This creates an
electronic guidepath, which
causes it (the mower) to
systematically mow the
lawn,” he adds. “Upon com
pletion, it returns to a stor
age area and parks itself.”
Programming a yard re
quires from one day to one
week.
Signals travel between the
in-ground wiring and the
lawnmower at 60 cycles, a
level below that regulated by
the Federal Communica
tions Commission.
Ward said that mechani
cally, the Mowtron is very
simple. “It’s one of the most
simple machines,” he said.
“Electronically, everything
is on a single circuit board. If
anything goes wrong, we
slide the board out, and put
another in.” Mowtron’s elec
trical system was designed
by one of the top six engi
neers in the southeast,
according to Ward.
Mowtrons have been in
stalled in Switzerland, Ger
many, Belgium, Canada and
as close by as Alpharetta.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Beavers,
of Alpharetta, were the first
Mowtron customers. Mrs.
Beavers says that one day,
while the Mowtron was busy
at work, someone came and
banged at her door, shouting
that her lawnmower was
running away.
“People are always em
barrased when they find out
the lawnmower is automa
ted,” Ward said.
CRESCENT FORD
1280 Alpharetta St. • Roswell, Ga.
"Where We Care, Where You Can
Buy With Confidence."
ALL DEPARTMENTS NOW OPEN
Original Home of the College Plan
Call For Information.
Pa?
Woody Davie
DoaSor, President 22 Yrs.
Buddy Board
Sorvico Manager 20 Yrs.
IK_ —kiSHKei£__^9
id Gray
Sorvico Consultant 30 Yrs.
Jotf Davis
Salos Manager 8 Yrs.
L-, ... —■ , J
Vtmon Crow*
Parts Mw*|>r IS Yrs.
ROSWELL'S LARGEST FORD DEALER
While cutting the Beavers’
yard, the Mowtron makes
one of its 36-inch sweeps with
one wheel on a concrete
curb, and another in the
yard. Ward said that neigh
bors who watch the mower
are on the edge of their
seats, fearing that the wheel
will veer off into the road,
and send the blades dashing
against the concrete curb.
Across the road from the
Beavers, Ruth Wallace, a
widow, is spared the work of
cutting her grass by the
Mowtron. The Beavers and
Mrs. Wallace run their mow
ers on the same day. “We
put on a real show out here,”
Mr. Beavers said.
The Mowtron was pro
grammed on an analog sys
tem, which allows for
smooth movement. Comput
ers are either analog or digi
tal. Digital computers
function as a switch on
and off, and so forth. Thus,
trying to apply a digital sys
tem to the Mowtron, resulted
in quick, jerky movements.
An analog system provides
a machine with what Ward
calls a “varied” response to
signals. This allows for a
wider range of movement
than the “on-off” limits of a
digital system.
It was in Alpharetta that a
free-lance writer noticed the
Mowtron, and approached
Ward about a story, which
later appeared in Popular
Mechanics. “I started get
ting phone calls from all
over the country,” Ward
said. “I had people to fly in
and see the machine a guy
from Maryland bought two. I
just let everyone make their
own decision about the prod
uct.” Stories about the Mow
tron also appeared on the
front page of some major
newspapers, including the
Washington Star.
“I’m not in a hurry about
forcing it (the mower) on the
market,” Ward said. “I
don’t see any competition in
the near future. I want to
take a very precise and de
termined approach toward
the market.”
Who buys the Mowtron?
“Most customers are middle
income people,” Ward said.
“We installed one for one of
the ten wealthiest men in
Europe.” He added that
SALES 587-4777
PARTS 587-0280
Dealer and All
Employees Local
Over 100 Years
Experience
FORD SERVICE
FORD PARTS
FORD SALES
We Pay Top
Dollar For Clean
Used Cars
Open Mon.-Fri. 9-9
Sat. 9-6, Sun. 1 -5
Service Hours:
7:30-6:00
Parts Hours:
8:00-5:00
We Lease All
Makes & Models
Where We
Care!
USED CAR SPECIALS
1977 Dodge Aspon, 2 dr., like
new, SAVE.
1975A1976 Eli*#*, beautiful cars.
SAVE.
1962 F-100 Good Hunting Truck.
SAVE.
1979 Pinto, College Special,
SAVE.
1973 Chevy Pickup. Hunters I
Special, SAVE.
1979 ITD, 4 dr., like new, includes
1 yr. warronty, 53,695.
1977 Dodge Moneco, 4 dr., SAVE.
Mowtrons have also been
installed in the yards of mo
bile homes, and around man
sions, equipped with
television security. “It de
pends on who dislikes cutting
grass the most,” Ward said.
The Mowtron sells for $2,500.
According to Ward, Mow
tron also operates with zero
caster and camber. Most in
dividuals may not be famil
iar with these terms, but
they’re evident each time
grass is mowed. When the
mower tilts, the blade cuts
higher on one side of the
sweep, leaving what appear
to be small steps in the yard.
Watching the Mowtron op
erate in a yard as large as
the Beavers’, one naturally
wonders what happens when
the mower runs out of gas.
Ward said, however, that the
mower is programmed to
return to its storage shed for
a fill-up, when its fuel level
becomes low.
The machine will also shut
off it its safety bumpers are
met with as little as 12
ounces of pressure. “It stops
in milliseconds,” Ward said,
“fast enough to where it can
bump into something and not
damage the machine. We
don’t make any claims about
what measure of safety is
involved. There’s no way to
document it.”
Ward added, however,
that in lawnmower acci
dents, 80-90 percent of all
injuries are to the operator,
not the machine. “If we can
remove the operator from
the machine, we’ve done
more to promote safety than
anyone else,” he added.
Production of the Mowtron
began in Ward’s basement.
“From that, my father fur
nished us some space in his
auto repair shop,” Ward
said. “We decided that if we
were going to pursue this
concept, we needed to have
our own place.” The com
pany is now located on Tid
well Circle, in south Forsyth
County, and has 35 employ
ees. The expansion of the
company will include more
office space, and more com
puterized sheet metal equip
ment.
When asked about his edu-
New Fall Merchandise
now in...
JP^SWEATERS
C * W and
—8 J| jp
/7| J'i Vl Ladies’ 2 & 3 piece J t? 00
PANT SUITS only O
/ \\ Home Of Famous Name Brands With Savings Up To 40%
ft H CHAMPION
* CLOTHING STORE
Buford Mall
To Be Built Here
cation, Ward replied, “We’re graduate from high school.” nothing to do with intelli
just all fortunate enough to He added, “Schooling has gence and motivation.”
Pruitt's Has A Sharp
Carousel Microwave
For Everyone! P “EE $ 188
IFOR THE CUSTOMER
• THAT LOVES TO COOK!
•Sharp Carousel Convection
Microwave CCM
•Browns, Bakes, and Crisps
To Perfection
•Combination Cooking
•1.53 Cu. Ft. REG. $749.00
Large Capacity
2 FOR THE CUSTOMER
• THAT HATES TO COOK!
•Sharp ESP Microwave
•Senses—No Guesswork
On Cooking Times-
Does It Automatically
•1.53 Cu. Ft. REG. $649.00
Large Capacity
3 FOR THE CUSTOMER
• THAT JUST COOKS.
•Sharp Carousel
Microwave
•35 Minute Timer
•Variable Power
•1.0 Cu. Ft.
Family Size
PRUITT’S
FURNITURE • T.V.
APPLIANCES
Hwy. 20
945-3728
REG. $369.00
SOOOOO
#1 Convection /Mircowave
R 8320
Fully Automatic
R 9530
R 4620
Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Old Buford Rd. OQ7 TCCI
CUMMING 00/ “/ 33 I
SSS*- 945-5254
AIPHARETTa"" 475-7747
j
Buford, Ga.
Mon.-Fri. 10-7
Sat. 10-6
Sun. 1-6