Ducted fan mower deck
AssigneeMTD Products Inc
InventorsAxel Schaedler, Michael Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mower deck comprises an auxiliary source of pressurized air in order to avoid clipping buildup under the mowing deck, most particularly at the trailing edge of the discharge chute. The auxiliary source of air comes through a cloverleaf shaped hole in the mower deck. The spindle is mounted to the mower deck through this hole, as in conventional mowers. However, unlike conventional mowers, because the hole in the mower deck has a cloverleaf configuration air can flow through the corner portions of the cloverleaf configured hole and act as an auxiliary source of air even though the spindle is mounted to the mower deck through the hole.
Claims10
In a rotary mower deck having a discharge chute with a trailing edge, the improvement comprising an additional source of pressurized air and means to direct said pressurized towards the trailing edge of the discharge chute, said additional source of pressurized air rotating in a substantially parallel plane to the plane of the mower deck, such that associated grass clippings are discharged substantially through an opening defined by the top of the mower deck and progress through the discharge chute, said additional source of pressurized air being located in said duct.
In a rotary mower deck having a rotary blade causing an air flow through a discharge chute with a trialing edge, the improvement comprising:
- a source of additional pressurized air;
- means to direct said additional pressurized air towards the trailing edge of the discharge chute, said source of additional pressurized air including a mower driven fan, said means to direct said additional pressurized air including a duct, said mower driven fan located in said duct, said mower driven fan rotating in a substantially parallel plane to the plane of the mower deck.
In a rotary mower deck having a rotary blade causing an air flow through a discharge chute with a trailing edge, the improvement comprising:
- a source of additional pressurized air;
- means to direct said additional pressurized air towards the trailing edge of the discharge chute, said source of additional pressurized air including a mower driven fan, said mower driven fan being connected to a blade spindle, said mower driven fan rotating in a substantially parallel plane to the plane of the mower deck said mower driven fan being located in a duct, said duct having an end opening, said duct having a longitudinal axis through said end opening, said longitudinal axis of said duct substantially running through the trailing edge of the discharge chute, said duct having a lateral width cross-section, said lateral width cross-section increasing in the direction of rotation of the blade spindle to the trialing edge of the discharge chute;
- and,
- the mower deck having a top surface, holes in said top surface of said mower deck, and said fan drawing air through said holes in said top surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.