US 5,394,681 AGranted

Radius roller

AssigneeCharles Nolan

InventorsCharles Nolan, James M. Rice

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Abstract

An improved groove-type roller for use in combination with a mower of the type including a cutting reel is disclosed. The groove-type roller includes a roller body having contacting edges separated by inner recesses wherein the contacting edges and inner recesses are designed so that no portion of the surface of the roller body opposes another portion of the surface of the roller body. The lifting roller further includes first and second sealed bearings mounted to first and second ends of the roller body. An elongated shaft extends through the entire length of the roller body and engages each of the first and second sealed bearings. The shaft is provided for mounting the groove-type roller to the mower. The sealed bearings are provided for interfacing the shaft with the roller body to permit rotation of the roller body with respect to the shaft. Preferably, the roller body is anodized treated aluminum to provide a hard surface that will resist mushrooming.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A roller for use in combination with a mower head of the type including a cutting reel, said roller being constructed to be positioned to contact grass prior to the time that the grass is contacted by the cutting reel, said roller comprising:

a roller body constructed from anodized aluminum, said roller body being a substantially tubular, elongate body member having a plurality of raised contacting edges wherein adjacent ones of said raised contacting edges are separated by a plurality of inner recesses, said raised contacting edges being constructed to have a substantially smooth curvature, said inner recesses being constructed so that no portion of any one of said plurality of inner recesses is opposed to any other portion of said any one of said plurality of inner recesses, said roller body including first and second ends wherein said first and second ends include a respective first and second bore;
first and second sealed bearings each including a central aperture and being positioned within a respective one of said first and second bores;
and
a shaft of length greater than the length of said roller body, said shaft being positioned to extend through said roller body and to mate with said central apertures of said first and second sealed bearings, said shaft being further constructed to mate with the mower head thereby to interface said roller body with the mower head.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.