Safety control for riding lawn mower
AssigneeMcDonough Power Equipment, Division of Fuqua Industries, Inc.
InventorHarold P. Jackson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a power-driven riding lawn mower, a safety control is provided for auttically disengaging and stopping the cutting blade when the operator leaves the lawn mower or raises his feet while seated on the lawn mower. The control is operated through a foot bar engageable by the operator's feed to permit the cutting blade to rotate during a cutting operation but when the operator raises his feet from the foot bar or dismounts from the mower, the control will activate mechanisms for disengaging the drive and applying a positive brake to the cutting blade. While the control will permit the operator to manually disengage the drive and apply a brake to the cutting blade while the foot bar is depressed by the operator's feet, the control will not permit the operator to reengage the drive while the foot bar is depressed.
Claims11
A power-driven riding lawn mower including a rotatable cutting blade, first means for controlling operation of the cutting blade, second means for controlling the first means including a control member movable between a first position for operating the cutting blade and a second position for stopping the cutting blade, biasing means urging said control member to said second position thereof, retaining means for releasably holding said control member when in said first position, a foot member engageable by the operator's feet and connected to said retaining means and being movable between a depressed position for holding the control member in said first position thereof and a raised position for permitting the control member to move to said second position thereof, and means biasing the foot member to its raised position, a support having a passage therein receiving said control member and wherein said retaining means is mounted to said support for movement between a first position for holding said control member in said first position thereof and a second position for releasing the control member and permitting it to move to said second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.