Cable control lever apparatus

In a lawnmower apparatus having a mower deck, a handle bar connected to the deck for permitting walk-behind operation of the mower, a cutting blade supported by the deck, a safety means for rendering the blade inoperative, a bail supported on the handle bar, a first cable supported for translational movement within an outer conduit and being connected between the safety means and the bail for transmitting movement of the bail to the safety means, a ground drive assembly for driving the mower along the ground, a lever supported on the handle bar, a second cable supported for translational movement within an outer conduit and being connected between the ground drive assembly and the lever for transmitting movement of the lever to the ground drive assembly, the improvement comprising:

• the handle bar including a pair of laterally spaced side arms, and an end bar extending between the side arms and connecting them together, each side arm including a transverse hole aligned with the hole in the other arm and adapted to support the bail;
• the bail including opposed out-turned ends sized for receipt in the holes in the handle bar to permit relative pivotal movement of the bail between a non-actuated position spaced from the end bar of the handle bar and an actuated position against the end bar;
• the lever being supported on one of the out-turned ends of the bail for pivotal movement so that when the bail is in the actuated position, the lever can be pivoted between a non-actuated position and an actuated position, the lever being retained on the out-turned end of the bail by the handle bar and including a retaining means for retaining the lever in the actuated position upon movement of the lever to the actuated position;
• biasing means for biasing the lever and the bail toward the non-actuated positions;
• and
• release means for releasing the lever from the retaining means when the bail moves to the non-actuated position, allowing the lever to move to the non-actuated position.