Quick-change blade system
AssigneeHusqvarna AB
InventorsChris Roth, Darren Chandler, Lennie Rhoades, Steve Brinkman, Sean Dwyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lawn care device may include a cutting deck housing at least one blade, a rotatable shaft, and a blade mount operably coupled to the rotatable shaft. The blade mount may include at least one engagement slot configured to enclose at least a portion of the at least one blade. The blade mount may further include at least one protruding member disposed within the engagement slot to secure the at least one blade within the engagement slot responsive to insertion of the at least one blade into the engagement slot.
Claims20
A lawn care vehicle comprising:
- a cutting deck housing at least two blades;
- a rotatable shaft;
- and
- a blade mount operably coupled to the rotatable shaft at a center of the blade mount, the blade mount comprising:
- a blade mount base extending radially outwardly from the center of the blade mount, the blade mount base comprising at least two blade insertions slots, each of the at least two blade insertion slots forming a gap between a first exterior surface and a second exterior surface of the blade mount base, wherein each of the at least two blade insertion slots is configured to enclose at least a portion of a corresponding one of the at least two blades such that each of the at least two blades is insertable into a respective one of the at least two blade insertion slots independently of each other in a direction radially toward the center of the blade mount;
- at least one protruding member associated with each respective one of the at least two blade insertion slots, the at least one protruding member being disposed to protrude into the respective one of the at least two blade insertion slots to secure the corresponding one of the at least two blades within the respective one of the at least two blade insertion slots responsive to insertion of the corresponding one of the at least two blades into the respective one of the at least two blade insertion slots;
- and
- at least one blade engagement assembly affixed to the blade mount base at the one of the at least two blade insertion slots, the at least one blade engagement assembly providing an unlocking tab configured to move across the first or second exterior surface of the blade mount base to withdraw the at least one protruding member away from the one of the at least two blade insertion slots responsive to operation of the unlocking tab.
A blade mount for a lawn care vehicle, the blade mount comprising:
- a blade mount base disposed to operably engage a rotatable shaft of the lawn care vehicle and extending radially outwardly from the center of the blade mount, the blade mount base comprising at least two blade insertions slots, each of the at least two blade insertion slots forming a gap between a first exterior surface and a second exterior surface of the blade mount base, wherein each of the at least two blade insertion slots is configured to enclose at least a portion of a blade responsive to insertion of the blade into one of the at least two blade insertion slots in a direction radially toward the center of the blade mount;
- and
- a blade engagement assembly affixed to the blade mount base to enable removal of a protruding member from one of the at least two blade insertion slots responsive to operation of the blade engagement assembly,
- wherein the blade engagement assembly comprises an unlocking tab configured to move across the first or second exterior surfaces of the blade mount base to withdraw the protruding member from one of the at least two blade insertion slots responsive to operation of the unlocking tab, and
- wherein the protruding member is biased to protrude into one of the at least two blade insertion slots to secure the blade within one of the at least two blade insertion slots when the blade engagement assembly is not operated to remove the protruding member from the blade insertion slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.