Mower Chute Gate Controller

An apparatus for controlling the opening and closing of a gate hingedly mounted at the upper margin of a chute mouth of a mower deck, said apparatus comprising:

• (e) a gate lifting assembly comprising a hinge pin hingedly connecting, to a riser mount, a gate attachment arm having a lift projection and a gate pickup bracket having a depression end and a lifting end;
• (f) a gate closing-catch assembly comprising a second hinge pin hingedly connecting:
• (1) a second riser mount having an upper end defining a hole accepting said second hinge pin, and having an outer edge facing outwardly towards the gate and including a closing-catch notch;
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• (2) a second gate attachment arm having a gate stop bracket fulcrumatically connected thereto and including a counterbalance end and on the opposite side of said fulcrumatic connection a catch end abutting the outer edge of the second riser mount and having a tip for seating in said closing-catch notch;
• (g) a lift leverage bracket comprising a hinged end hingedly anchored near the chute mouth and having a second end near the depression end of the gate pickup bracket, and further comprising a tethering means for constraining a lift actuating rod carried by said lift leverage bracket, said lift actuating rod comprising a pivotal anchoring end having a ball joint anchored to said lift leverage bracket close to said hinged end and extending through and constrained by said tethering means, and comprising a depressing end having a ball joint affixed to the depression end of the gate pickup bracket;
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• (h) a leverage handle having an anchor end anchored to said lift leverage bracket, and having a handle end to be grasped for actuating the apparatus, whereby movement of the leverage handle from a gate-closed position causes the lift leverage bracket to pivot so that the lift actuating rod depresses the depression end of the gate pickup bracket, which leverages the lifting end upwardly beneath the lift projection of the gate attachment arm, thereby raising the gate;
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• (i) whereas movement of the leverage handle the maximum distance from the gate-closed position results in the complete lifting of the gate, and return of the leverage handle to the gate-closed position allows the gate to return to its closed position;
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• (j) whereas movement of the leverage handle partly away from the gate-closed position opens the gate partially, which causes an arcing rotation of the second gate attachment arm around the second hinge connection with the second riser mount while the gate stop bracket maintains its gate-closed orientation with its counterbalance end biased outwardly and its catch end traveling along the outer edge of the second riser mount until its tip seats in the closing-catch notch of the outer edge of the second riser mount to thereby chock the gate in a partially-open position;
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• (k) whereas further movement of the leverage handle away from its gate-closed position further leverages the gate upwardly which causes further arcing rotation of the second gate attachment arm so that the gate stop bracket fulcrumatically connected thereto moves so that the tip of its catch end unseats from the closing-catch notch, and continued movement of the leverage handle causes the outer edge of the second riser mount to leverage the gate stop bracket to pivot so that its counterbalance end moves inwardly and biases the tip of the catch end outwardly away from seating in the closing-catch notch, so that subsequent movement of the leverage handle toward its gate-closed position reverses the arcing rotation of the second gate attachment arm around the second hinge connection of the second riser mount, allowing the tip of the gate stop bracket to bypass the closing-catch notch while the gate closing-catch assembly returns to its initial gate-closed configuration with the gate stop bracket pivoted back so that its counterbalance end is biased outwardly and its catch end is again abutting the outer edge of the second riser mount.