In 1921 the first 900 petrol-powered Atco lawnmowers rolled off the production line at the Atco mowers factory in Birmingham and were delivered, believe it or not, by a man on a motorcycle with a specially developed side-car for transportation of these heavy machines. Things have moved on a little since then for Atco mowers, but one thing remains the same — the quality of the Atco mowers and products is as good as it ever was, and even though they expanded into different areas of the garden machinery market, it is their cylinder mowers that they are best know for. The Atco name is synonymous with the British gardening scene and the company has been awarded two Royal Warrants, the first in 1955 from Queen Elizabeth II and again in 1986, this time from HRH The Prince Of Wales.
Robert Bosch GmbH acquired Atco-Qualcast Ltd in 1995 and this brought a modern approach to the manufacturing process with the cylinder mowers that the company is famous for changing tremendously, becoming more light-weight with a marked increase in usability and performance; the introduction of the now famous QX Quick Exchange Cassette System, for instance, allows gardeners to change their lawn application needs without changing machine. Not happy with manufacturing the highest quality products, Atco leads the way in environmental compliance, being the first garden machinery manufacturer to be awarded the environmental management standard BS EN ISO 14001.