Lawnmower deck

A lawnmower deck comprising:

• a. a deck body consisting of a horizontal deck plate having a peripheral depending skirt, whereby to form a plurality of compartments spaced laterally apart beneath said deck plate, said skirt being interrupted to form a laterally opening side outlet for cuttings, relative to the direction of travel of the mower, and a rear outlet for cuttings at the rearward portion of at least certain of said compartments,
• b. means for supporting said deck body for movement over the ground with the lower edge of said skirt spaced above ground level,
• c. a rotatably driven horizontal blade mounted in each of said deck compartments below said deck plate and all turned in the same direction so that in the forward portions of their orbits they move toward the side of said deck having said side outlet opening, said compartments being interconnected in a path across the forward portions of said blades,
• d. a gate movably mounted on said deck body and operable to selectively open or close said side outlet opening,
• e. a gate movably mounted on said deck body in association with each of said rear outlets, each operable to selectively open or close its associated rear outlet, and
• f. a gate disposed interiorly of the deck intermediate each successive pair of compartments, said gate being movable relative to said deck body selectively either to close the interconnection between said successive compartments, or to open said interconnection.