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US 5,400,576 AGranted
Mulching device for reel-type lawn mowers
OwnerJerry R. Smithinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mulching device for a reel-type mowing machine, especially power-driven machines, wherein the mulching device is mounted to the front of a reel-type lawn mower such that the device is in substantially closely spaced relationship to the rotating reel assembly, and above a portion of the reel assembly so as to direct a significant portion of the particles generated by the cutting action of the reel in front of the reel assembly for more complete comminution and eventual deposition upon the turf surface.
Claims31
A lawn mower, comprising:
- a frame having depending side walls;
- a plurality of wheels supporting said frame and enabling said mower to travel over a turf surface;
- a motor mounted on said frame;
- an axially rotatable reel within said frame, said reel including a plurality of cutting blades, and extending substantially transversely to the direction of travel of said mower and being rotatably mounted between said side walls for rotation by said motor, said mower being adapted to travel along a turf surface and to cut grass by the rotation of said reel adjacent a cutting surface;
- an arcuate shield mounted between said side walls and behind said reel, said shield generally conforming to and mounted closely to the arcuate periphery defined by said blades when they rotate, said shield having a substantially smooth inner surface so that said surface and blades define between them an unobstructed passageway for said cut grass and an outlet from said passageway at the front of the mower for ejecting said cut grass forwardly;
- and
- a mulching device located in said outlet and comprising an elongate plate extending substantially across said outlet, said plate having an underside surface having a plurality of vanes, said vanes and said underside surface forming channels for directing, in use, said cut grass downwardly and in front of said mower so that a substantial portion of said cut grass is recycled through said mower for further cutting and eventual deposition upon said turf surface.
4 more elements
A mulching device, adapted for mounting to a reel-type lawn mower, said device comprising:
- an elongate plate having an underside surface;
- a plurality of substantially parallel planar vanes depending from said surface, said vanes being arranged at an angle to the perpendicular to said surface;
- said device being adapted to fit in the grass discharge outlet of a reel-type lawn mower, said underside surface and said vanes forming channels to, in use on said mower, direct grass cut by said mower to be recycled through said mower for further cutting and deposition on the ground as a mulch.
A lawn mower comprising:
- a frame having a top wall and depending side walls, supported by a plurality of wheels;
- a motor mounted on said frame;
- a reel mounted within said frame for rotation by said motor, said reel including a plurality of cutting blades, and extending substantially transversely to the direction of travel of said mower, said mower being adapted to travel along a turf surface and to cut grass through the rotating action of said reel;
- and
- a mulching device located on said frame in closely spaced relationship to said reel, said device comprising a plate and a plurality of planar parallel vanes attached to the underside of said plate, such that the vanes are positioned with their edges close to the blades to form channels between the vanes and the plate affording flow paths for cut grass through said device, said vanes being located and arranged substantially parallel to an axis running from the front to the back of the mower and at an acute angle to the plate in order to direct the cut grass downwardly and in front of said rotating reel for recutting and eventual deposition upon said turf surface.
2 more elements
A mower for cutting grass comprising:
- a housing;
- a rotatable reel in said housing and having blades for cutting grass;
- a motor connected to rotate said reel;
- a shield in said housing closely adjacent the back side of said reel for conducting cut grass between said blades and said shield upwardly and to a discharge opening where said shield terminates;
- and
- a mulching device extending from said opening for directing said cut grass discharged through said opening to said blades for recutting to form a fine mulch to be deposited on the ground, said device comprising a plurality of deflection surfaces and being attached to said shield or housing so that, in use, grass conducted by said shield is supplied to said device and impinges said deflection surfaces to be spread substantially evenly on the ground in front of the mower.
3 more elements
A method of mulching cut grass comprising the steps of:
- moving grass with a mower having a rotating reel having blades for cutting grass:
- conducting cut grass between said blades and a shield in said mower to a discharge opening where said shield terminates;
- and
- directing at least some of said cut grass discharging through said opening to a plurality of deflection surfaces so that the cut grass impinges said deflection surfaces and is deflected downwardly and is swept up by said rotating reel and recut until it is too fine to be cut further, said method further comprising spreading said fine cut grass substantially evenly on the ground in front of the mower to form a fine mulch on the ground.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.