US 4,726,177 AGranted

Safety apparatus for connecting grass collector to lawn mower discharge chute

AssigneeOutboard Marine Corporation

InventorElliott McGoughy

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Abstract

Apparatus for connecting a grass collector to the discharge chute of a power lawn mower. A lower front portion of a ring around the receiving mouth of the collector is hooked over a detent at the bottom side of the chute and pivoted upwardly until an upper portion of the ring rests in a nest formed by a pair of upper tabs and a lower tab extending outwardly from a pivoted safety door. The door is biased toward a closed position across the discharge opening of the chute, and is opened by a hook extending from an over-center latch, between the upper tabs. The hook extends around the nested upper portion of the ring, and when the latch is manually operated to its closed position the hook pulls against the ring portion to move it and the upper part of the door forwardly. This clamps the collector mouth to the chute, at the same time opening the safety door. The collector cannot be removed until the safety door has been returned to its closed position by manually operating the latch to its open position.

In a lawn-mower assembly comprising a lawn-mower discharge chute, a collector having a mouth for receiving and collecting grass and debris discharged from said chute, means for removeably securing said collector to a discharge end of said chute so that the discharge end of said chute is aligned with said mouth of said collector, a guard plate and pivot means pivotally mounting said guard plate on said discharge end of said chute to enable pivotting of said plate between an open position in which said discharge opening communicates freely with said mouth of said collector and a closed position in which said guard plate substantially covers said discharge opening, plate biasing means for urging said plate toward said closed position, and plate actuating means for pivotting said guard plate from said closed position to said open position when said collector is secured to said discharge end of said chute, the improvement wherein:

said collector comprises a ring member secured to said collector on the side of said collector normally facing said discharge end of said chute, encompassing said mouth of said collector and adapted to fit around said discharge end of said chute, said ring member having at least first and second mounting portions circumferentially spaced from each other and adapted to be secured to said discharge end of said chute;
said guard plate comprises a first part extending on one side of the pivot axis of said pivot means and a second part extending on the other side of said pivot axis, whereby moving said first part of said plate toward said chute moves said plate toward said open position;
said first part of said guard plate is configured to define a nesting structure above said pivot axis and on the side of said plate facing away from said chute end, whereby said first mounting portion of said ring member may be placed and held in said nesting structure when said collector is advanced to said discharge end of said chute;
and
manually-operable latching means secured to said chute adjacent said first part of said guard plate and comprising hook means operable to an extended position in which it is hooked loosely around said first mounting portion of said ring member as it lies in said nesting structure, and operable to a retracted position to pull against the far side of said first mounting portion and clamp said ring member to the outside of said discharge chute, at the same time causing said guard plate to pivot to said open position thereof.

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Abstract

Claims10