Little Wonder A

British and USA. Little Wonder came in a pine coffin like box with its adjusting tools. It was sold in the 1939 Blue Book at 6 pounds and six shillings and by Marshalls of New York in their 1927 catalogue. It was the most evocative garden tool and also one of the most useless and unreliable. The buyer would have been well to do and certainly have 2 or more gardening staff. Most of these are in good condition and hardly used in most cases for the above reason. USA made by Detco Manufacturing Co. Oaks Montg Penna USA. United States Patent Office patented the system on May 26th 1914.
Using the Dettro “Little Wonder” Hedge Trimmer: This device is useable as either one man or two man operation.
In two-man operation, one cranks and guides an end and the other guides the other end. The following describes use exclusively by one-man.
The trimmer is assembled in two main forms, top cutting where the cutter blade is at 90 degrees rotation from the plane of the crank, and side cutting where the cutter blade is on the same plane as the crank. When the unit is to be assembled as a top cutter, the crank-drive portion, nominally painted red, is directly bolted to the cutter portion, nominally painted green. When the unit is to be assembled as a side cutter, the joining of the cutter part to the crank drive part is accomplished by joining with a metal angle bracket bolted to each portion. In addition, the drive link is remounted between the two parts by mounting the drive rod on the inner hole and attaching the clevis adapter so at rotate the drive thru the 90 degrees.
In the one-man mode, one must use adapter supports to assist as one hand is always used to crank and the other to hold the device. The supports are used in combination with each other as needed.
1. Sling. This is attached at the crank end handle and a point about mid cutter. The sling is adjustable as needed.
2. Chest brace. This is attached at mid joint of the drive to cutter. It is made up of three metal parts, an attachment to the trimmer, a adjustable length brace, a curved chest bracket (adjustable)
3. Thigh brace. This is made up of two parts of the parts used in the chest brace but with a smaller curved bracket for the thigh and is mounted to the cutter bar in one of several drilled positions on the cutter bar.
4. Shoulder brace. This is a curved bracket to another flat bracket, mountable in several positions, with a brace to a point near the crank end.
The sling and chest brace are used when top cutting. The sling length helps get the trimmer to the correct height and the chest bracket holds it away from the body so as to be able to crank. The chest bracket brace is Z shaped so it can be raised or lower depending on how it is mounted.
The shoulder brace and the thigh brace are used when trimming the sides of the hedge. The unit hangs downward, the height is set by how the shoulder bracket is attached to the intermediate part, (there are four possible positions). The thigh brace is assembled to be comfortable as you will use this to push the lower part of the cutter along.
Care and feeding; From time to time, do a twist on the grease caps or add grease. Lightly oil pivot points and blade. Use Paraffin to remove gum from cutters. Tighten bolts.
Sharpening: Normally, this unit is self sharpening as when cutting, the wedge shape of the blade forces the cutters together. If something hard is encountered, causing a burr, you should dress the point with a file. Do not file the teeth where they touch each other.
The blades are adjusted for play by loosening the large lock nut on the back of the cutter and tightening to just touch. Then tighten the lock nut. There are four places this can be done along the blade.
If the gear and pin become loose, DO NOT peen the pin as this might break the cast gear. The pin and the gear are threaded. If that is not enough to get the play out, you might try my solution. I drill and tap the end of the pin and mount it with a screw and washer.

Also British made by John Hansen Astor House Aldwych London WC2 Came with 4 fold instructions for Two man and One man use. Case 63 inches L (159.5cms).

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