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US 7,401,456 B2Granted
Horizontally retractable mower deck
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorDouglas Dean Korthals
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A variable width mower deck has three cutting chambers mounted under a top deck surface. Two of the cutting chambers may be moved between a retracted cutting position and an extended cutting position. An endless belt engages the pulleys on each spindle to rotate the rotary cutting blades. The left and right cutting chambers move between the retracted and extended positions while maintaining engagement between the endless belt and the pulleys.
Claims17
An apparatus comprising:
- a mower deck having a top surface and left, center and right cutting chambers under the top surface;
- a generally vertical spindle extending into each cutting chamber with a rotary cutting blade attached to a lower end of each spindle and a pulley attached to an upper end of each spindle;
- an endless belt engaging the pulleys on the upper end of each spindle to rotate the rotary cutting blades;
- controls to move the left and right cutting chambers between a retracted position and an extended position with respect to the center cutting chamber while maintaining engagement between the endless belt and the pulleys on the upper ends of the spindles;
- and
- hydraulic cylinders actuated by the controls and attached to each of the left and right cutting chambers to selectively shift horizontally both of the left and right cutting chambers, or either of the left and right cutting chambers, between the retracted and extended positions, or to intermediate positions between the retracted and extended positions.
3 more elements
A mower deck comprising:
- a center cutting chamber having a rotary cutting blade mounted to a generally vertical spindle for cutting a swath of grass;
- a left cutting chamber and a right cutting chamber mounted generally rearwardly and on each side of the center cutting chamber, the left and right cutting chambers each having a rotary cutting blade mounted to a generally vertical spindle for cutting swaths of grass;
- a pair of extendable cylinders for sliding the left and right cutting chambers between a retracted position in close proximity with each other to narrow the width of the mower deck, and an extended position spaced from each other to increase the width of the mower deck, the swaths cut by the blades in each of the left and right cutting chambers overlapping the swath cut by the blade in the center cutting chamber in both the retracted and extended positions;
- and
- an operator control connected to the pair of extendable cylinders on the mower deck to shift the left and right cutting chambers between the retracted position and the extended position.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a grass mowing machine having a variable width mower deck with three cutting chambers mounted under a top deck surface;
- each cutting chamber housing a rotary cutting blade;
- two of the cutting chambers selectably moving between a retracted cutting position in which each of the blades in the two moving cutting chambers cut swaths that overlap a swath cut by the third non-moving cutting chamber, and an extended cutting position in which each of the blades in the two moving cutting chambers cut swaths that have a smaller overlap with the swath cut by the third non-moving cutting chamber;
- and
- operator actuated controls connecting to a pair of cylinders that are extendable and retractable to selectively shift either or both of the two moving cutting chambers between the retracted and extended cutting positions.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.