Control assembly for a walk-behind mower

A control assembly for controlling a drive mode of a walk-behind lawn mower, said control assembly comprising:

• a casing attached to a handle assembly, said casing formed of an upper housing and a lower housing;
• a first lever operatively connected to said casing and extending outwardly from a lateral side of said casing, said first lever being rotatable between a first operative position and a second operative position relative to said casing, and said first lever includes a first positioning boss;
• a second lever operatively connected to said casing and extending outwardly from an opposing lateral side of said casing than said first lever, said second lever being rotatable between a first operative position and a second operative position relative to said casing, and said second lever includes a second positioning boss;
• a first spring latch attached to said first lever, wherein said first spring latch selectively receives said second positioning boss;
• a second spring latch attached to said second lever, wherein said second spring latch selectively receives said first positioning boss;
• a plurality of transmissions operatively connected to said first and second levers, said plurality of transmissions being operatively connected to said front wheels and said rear wheels;
• wherein actuation of both said first lever and said second lever from said first operative position to said second operative position produces an all-wheel-drive mode in which said front wheels and rear wheels are driven by at least two of said transmissions.

A method for controlling a drive mode of a walk-behind lawn mower having a deck and a handle assembly extending from said deck, said control assembly comprising:

• providing a casing attached to said handle assembly, said casing formed of an upper housing and a lower housing;
• providing a pair of levers operatively connected to said casing, wherein said levers extend in opposite directions from said casing and said levers are rotatable relative to said casing between a first operative position and a second operative position, and each of said levers includes a positioning boss;
• providing a spring latch attached to each of said pair of levers, wherein said spring latches selectively receive said positioning boss of the other lever;
• providing a plurality of transmissions, each of said transmissions being operatively connected to a separate one of said levers, one of said transmissions being operatively connected to said front wheels and the other of said transmissions being operatively connected to said rear wheels;
• rotating said levers between said first operative position and said second operative position to switch said transmissions between a no-wheel-drive mode, a front-wheel-drive mode, a rear-wheel-drive mode, and an all-wheel-drive mode in response to selective rotation of said first and second levers.