Lawn sweeper

A lawn sweeper for clearing a lawn of accumulated debris such as leaves, pine straw and the like, comprising:

• (a) a housing comprising, in part, a frame and having a bottom opening and a discharge opening having attached thereto a collector bin;
• (b) a rotatable base positioned within the housing and supported on an axis of rotation about an at least generally horizontal axis and over the bottom opening and substantially above ground level;
• (c) vacuum forming means, associated with the rotatable base for forming a vacuum within the housing and over the bottom opening above the lawn area to be cleared, the vacuum forming means comprising, in part, a plurality of spaced wire cable sections, having inner ends fixedly attached to the base and having outer ends radially extending from said base and further comprising, in part, lateral extention blade means positioned on said wire cable sections and extending out from at least one side of said cable section, said cable sections with said lateral extention blade means extending radially out from said base a distance less than the separation difference between the base and the ground level, thereby being out of contact with the ground as said base rotates;
• (d) drive means, associated with the rotatable base and the housing, for rotating the base with its vacuum forming means as the lawn sweeper is moving forward to vacuum the debris up through the bottom opening and backwards through the discharge opening into the collector bin;
• and
• (e) a plurality of ground support means mounted on the housing for carrying the housing and the lawn sweeper along the lawn.