Mulching rotary lawn mower blade

Abstract

A mulching blade for a lawn mower having a housing which is mounted on the shaft of the lawn mower motor below the deck of the housing. The housing has a skirt with a opening. The opening may be closed by mulching door having holes therein which contains the grass clippings in the housing while releasing air pressure during mulching operations. The blade has outer and inner sections which extend radially inward from the tips thereof. The outer section is pitched upwardly with respect to the ground so as to lift the clipping as they are cut by a cutting edge extending along one edge of the sections. The inner section is pitched downwardly so as to push clippings which are recut by the cutting edge along the inner section towards the ground. The inner section may be inclined longitudinally of the blade with respect to the horizontal, preferably downwardly towards the tip of the blade so as to improve the distribution of the clippings on the ground, spreading them out over a wider swath than would be the case with a flat section. The inner section is formed with a dip extending downwardly which increases in depth and width in a direction away from the cutting edge. This dip forms a trough or tunnel which reduces the pressure above the blade in the housing keeping clippings suspended for multiple cuts in the inner section and then blowing them in a wide swath downwardly towards the ground. The corners of the blade at the tip opposite to the cutting edge are inclined upwardly and inwardly to direct the clippings inwardly for multiple cuts by the cutting edge in the inner section of the blade.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.