Transplanters (Robot)

Transplanters Ltd of St Albans introduced the 'Robot' planter, a mechanical transplanter, in 1933, and by 1947 the company had been renamed Transplanters (Robot) Ltd. Under the Robot name it went on to make a beet harvester (1949) and, by 1951, a potato planter, a combine harvester and the post-hole digger. The National Institute of Agricultural Engineering tested its Robot unit-type mechanical transplanter in an abridged report of 1962 (publication 307/EA/A), the firm still being at St Albans, Hertfordshire; its street address has not been found.

The Land Rover product is the Robot post-hole digger. Its leaflet, headed 'As approved by the Rover Co. Ltd for use with the Land-Rover' and received by the Automobile Association's technical library on 5 December 1958, shows a Series I 109 with the digger hung on the rear linkage and gives the maker as Transplanters (Robot) Ltd, St Albans, telephone St Albans 55224. Two men could attach the digger to the hydraulic linkage and power take-off; at a touch of a lever it bored into almost any ground to a maximum depth of 3 feet, after which the hydraulic lift raised it clear for transport, and a swivel joint between frame, gearbox and auger let vertical holes be bored on sloping ground. Drive came from the rear power take-off through a telescopic shaft to a totally enclosed oil-immersed reduction gearbox, with a slipping clutch on the PTO against obstructions. The double-start-then-single-helix augers came in 4, 6 and 9 inch diameters for 3 ft holes, with replaceable points and leading cutters, and a special 18-inch plantation auger for 2 ft holes; the outfit weighed 282 to 314 lb by auger size. The Land Rover extras required were the rear power take-off, the governor for the petrol engine and the three-point hydraulic linkage as approved by the Rover Co. Ltd.

When Transplanters (Robot) Ltd ceased trading has not been established from the sources fetched for this entry, and no company of the name is on the current Companies House register.