Electric lawn mowers are great because they are free of noise and exhaust. However, electric mowers are not perfect.

Battery powered lawnmowers are expensive, take time to charge and can be as heavy as petrol mowers.

Power cord electric lawnmowers are light and cheap but dragging around a cord is inconvenient and dangerous.

So I propose a wirelessly powered lawnmower. The lawnmower would be inductively powered by an array of solenoids which are buried just below the surface of the lawn.

Each solenoid would be a discrete element inductively coupled to adjacent solenoids (i.e not physically connected). The solenoids would be embedded within plastic shells to prevent corrosion. The shells could be shaped as rocks for aesthetics.

A source of alternating magnetic field would be provided in a relatively safe place (e.g. underneath a path near the lawn). This would be safer than all the solenoids being electrically connected and would also make installation relatively easy.

This system could be used for hand pushed or robotic lawnmowers. A similar system could also be adapted for household vacuum cleaners.
-- xaviergisz, Aug 27 2007

Or you could have a bumper car lawnmower with a pantograph connecting to a wire mesh above the lawn.

As a more serious suggestion, a tall pole that arced over the lawn could hold the cable under slight tension so you never run it over. You could bake it quite cheaply to be used with existing lawnmowers.
-- marklar, Aug 27 2007


[Marklar]

That should be an separate idea.
-- nomocrow, Aug 28 2007



random, halfbakery