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US 4,573,307 AGranted
Lawn mower dead man control
AssigneeOutboard Marine Corporation
InventorGerald H. Wick
Life of this patent
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AssigneeOutboard Marine Corporation
InventorGerald H. Wick
Estimating the term…
A lawn mower including a blade housing supporting a prime mover which drives a cutter blade. The prime mover causes rotation of a drive shaft and a clutch driven by the drive shaft is engagable and disengagable with the cutter blade. A handle is connected to the housing and a control is pivotally attached to the handle. The lawn mower further includes an arrangement operable to permit the engagement and disengagement of the clutch by the pivotal movement of the dead man control. This arrangement includes a flexible member connecting the control and the clutch and an arrangement restricting a substantial portion of the flexible member to a predetermined path along the handle. The restricting arrangement includes a pulley rotatably attached to the handle between the control and the housing and the flexible member is guided around the pulley. In one embodiment, the mower includes a mower propelling arrangement and an upper handle is movably attached to a guiding handle. A link connects the upper handle to the mower propelling arrangement and the link is movable in response to movement of the upper handle to cause engagement of the mower propelling arrangement. The self-propelled lawn mower has the control movably attached to the upper handle and the pulley has a periphery generally adjacent the attachment of the upper handle to the guiding handle so the upper handle and control can be operated independently.
A lawn mower comprising a housing, a cutter blade rotatably mounted on said housing, means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade, a handle connected to said housing, a pivotable member connected to said handle about an axis, a control movably connected to said pivotable member, an elongated flexible member connecting said control to said means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade so as to selectively rotatably drive said cutter blade in response to movement of said flexible member in the direction of the elongation thereof, and means for restricting a substantial portion of said flexible member to a predetermined path along said handle and comprising a pulley rotatably attached to said handle and having a periphery located adjacent said axis and with said flexible member guided around said periphery of said pulley, whereby to afford pivotal movement of said pivotable member without effecting substantial movement of said flexible member.
A self-propelled lawn mower comprising a housing, a cutter blade supported for rotation by said housing, means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade, a guiding handle connected to said housing, mower propelling means for propelling said housing over the ground, an upper handle movably attached to said guide handle, linkage means connecting said upper handle to said mower propelling means and movable in response to movement of said upper handle for selectively causing propelling of said housing over the ground, a control movably attached to said upper handle, and second linkage means connecting said control to said means for selectively rotating said cutter blade in response to control movement, said second linkage including means for permitting the independent operation of said control and said upper handle, comprising an elongated flexible cable connecting said control to said means for selectively rotating said cutter blade, and guide means attached to said guiding handle between said control and said housing and adjacent the attachment of said upper handle to said guiding handle, said guide means having said cable guided thereabout and being located such that movement of said upper handle is ineffective to cause displacement of said cable in the direction of the elongation thereof.
A lawn mower comprising a housing, a cutter blade rotatably supported by said housing, and means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade, a handle connected to said housing, a control movably attached to said handle and including a notch, means for operating said means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade in response to movement of said control, and lock lever means for preventing inadvertent movement of said control and comprising a V-shaped lever including an apex portion pivotally attached to said handle for movement of said lever between a position wherein said lever is received in said notch and prevents movement of said control, and a position wherein said lever is out of said notch and permits movement of said control.
A lawn mower comprising a housing, a plurality of wheels supporting said housing for travel over the ground, a prime mover supported by said housing, a cutter blade, clutch means connected to and between said prime mover and said cutter blade, a handle connected to said housing, a control handle movably mounted on said handle, linkage means connected to said control handle, to said prime mover, and to one of said wheels for selectively propelling said housing along the ground in response to movement of said control handle, a control element movably mounted on the control handle, and additional linkage means connected to said control element and to said clutch means for selectively engaging said clutch means to rotate said cutter blade in response to control element movement.
A self-propelled lawn mower comprising a housing, a cutter blade supported for rotation by said housing, means for selectively rotatably driving said cutter blade, a guiding handle connected to said housing, mower propelling means for propelling said housing over the ground, an upper handle movably attached to said guide handle, linkage means connecting said upper handle to said mower propelling means and movable in response to movement of said upper handle for selectively causing propelling of said housing over the ground, a control movably attached to said upper handle, and second linkage means connecting said control to said means for selectively rotating said cutter blade in response to control movement, said second linkage including means for permitting the independent operation of said control and said upper handle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.