Reel gang mower having reel cutting units with adjustable pull point locations

An improved reel gang mower of the type having a plurality of laterally spaced front reel cutting units having lateral gaps therebetween, each gap being covered by a rear reel cutting unit that spans the gap and that extends beyond opposite sides of a pair of adjacent front cutting units to also overlap by an overlap distance portions of the spaced front cutting units such that all the front and rear cutting units collectively cut an unbroken swath of grass during a single pass of the mower, each of the front and rear reel cutting units having front and rear rollers engaging the ground for independently supporting each reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground as the reel cutting units are cutting grass, wherein the improvement comprises:

• (a) a first pivot linkage that connects the front reel cutting units to a frame of the reel gang mower for propelling the front reel cutting units in a forward and rearward direction as the frame of the reel gang mower moves forwardly and rearwardly, the first pivot linkage providing a first pull point on the front cutting units that establishes a first fore-and-aft weight distribution between the front and rear rollers as the front reel cutting units are cutting grass;
• and
• (b) a second pivot linkage that connects the rear reel cutting units to the frame of the reel gang mower for propelling the rear reel cutting units in a forward and rearward direction as the frame of the reel gang mower moves forwardly and rearwardly, the second pivot linkage providing a second pull point on the rear cutting units that establishes a second fore-and-aft weight distribution in which the front roller sees less weight and the rear roller sees more weight than they do in the front reel cutting units as the rear reel cutting units are cutting grass, whereby the lighter front roller weight on the rear reel cutting units helps eliminate or minimize marking in the overlap areas between the front and rear reel cutting units.

An improved reel gang mower having a frame, a plurality of reel cutting units carried on the frame in a gang configuration, each of the reel cutting units comprising a rotatable reel, a bedknife and front and rear rollers for supporting the reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground, a linkage for connecting each reel cutting unit for propulsion to the frame with the linkage establishing a pull point through which propulsive force from the frame is transmitted to the reel cutting unit for propelling the reel cutting unit, wherein the improvement comprises:

• (a) the linkage of at least one reel cutting unit comprising a pair of fore-and-aft spaced, front and rear pivot links whose top ends are pivotally connected to the frame of the gang mower and whose bottom ends are pivotally connected to the at least one reel cutting unit, wherein the front and rear pivot links converge towards one another as the pivot links extend downwardly from the frame of the gang mower to the at least one reel cutting unit to form a virtual pull point at the intersection of axes along which the front and rear pivot links extend, and
• (b) a plurality of alternatively usable connection points for pivotally connecting at least one end of at least one pivot link to either the frame of the gang mower or to the at least one reel cutting unit to provide a plurality of alternatively usable and different virtual pull point locations for the at least one reel cutting unit, wherein the different virtual pull point locations are at different fore-and-aft locations relative to a center of gravity of the at least one reel to provide different fore-and-aft weight distributions between the front and rear rollers of the at least one reel cutting unit, and whereby a user can selectively vary the fore-and-aft weight distribution between the front and rear rollers of the at least one reel cutting unit to achieve different cutting results in different grass conditions by varying which of the alternatively usable connection points are being used to connect to the at least one end of the at least one pivot link.