Rotary lawn mower with pivotal mulch door
AssigneeThe Toro Company
InventorStephen Grimwade
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary walk behind lawn mower has a wheeled cutting deck with a downwardly facing cutting chamber. A rotatable cutting blade is contained inside the cutting chamber above a lower edge of a peripheral sidewall and beneath a central hub, an annular channel being formed between the sidewall and the hub of the cutting chamber for receiving grass clippings from the cutting blade. A portion of the peripheral sidewall of the cutting chamber above the level of the cutting blade and a portion of a top wall of the cutting chamber form a pivotal mulch door for opening and closing the annular channel in which the grass clippings are moving.
Claims16
A lawn mower, which comprises:
- (a) a cutting deck supported for movement over the ground;
- (b) a downwardly facing cutting chamber on the cutting deck, the cutting chamber having a top wall and a circumferential peripheral sidewall;
- (c) a rotatable cutting blade within the cutting chamber for cutting grass;
- and
- (d) a pivotal mulch door comprising at least a first portion from either the top wall or the sidewall of the cutting chamber, wherein the mulch door is selectively pivotal relative to the cutting chamber between an open position in a discharge/collection mode of operation and a closed position in a mulching mode of operation.
A lawn mower, which comprises:
- (a) a cutting deck with a downwardly facing cutting chamber, the cutting chamber having a peripheral sidewall surrounding a central hub such that an annular channel is formed between the sidewall and the hub;
- (b) a rotatable cutting blade contained inside the cutting chamber above a lower edge of the peripheral sidewall, the cutting blade rotating in a substantially horizontal cutting plane beneath the central hub to create grass clippings that are received within and circulate at least partially around the annular channel of the cutting chamber;
- and
- (c) wherein at least a portion of the peripheral sidewall of the cutting chamber above the cutting plane forms a pivotal mulch door for opening and closing the annular channel.
A lawn mower, which comprises:
- (a) a cutting deck supported for movement over the ground;
- (b) a downwardly facing cutting chamber on the cutting deck;
- (c) a rotatable cutting blade within the cutting chamber for cutting grass;
- (d) an exit tunnel for discharging grass clippings from the cutting chamber, the exit tunnel having a pivot forming slot therein;
- and
- (e) a pivotal mulch door for opening and closing the exit tunnel, the mulch door having a portion thereof inserted through the pivot forming slot to pivotally journal the pivotal mulch door to the exit tunnel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.