JPS643441B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to rotary lawn mowers.

See the following U.S. patents that describe rotary lawn mowers and related grass clippings removal devices: US Pat.

Grant No. 2910818 dated November 3, 1959;
Grant No. 3085386 dated April 16, 1963;
Grant No. 3118267 dated January 21, 1964;
Grant No. 3132457 dated May 21, 1964;
Grant No. 3192692 dated July 6, 1965;
Grant No. 3398584 dated August 27, 1968;
Grant No. 3568421 dated March 9, 1971;
Grant No. 3608291 dated September 28, 1971;
Grant No. 3680295 dated August 1, 1972;
Grant No. 3696595 dated October 10, 1972;
Grant No. 3754386 dated August 28, 1973 and Grant No. 4030273 dated June 21, 1977.

The object of the present invention is to discharge cut grass to the bottom of the housing for mulching or to discharge cut grass to the outside of the housing by replacing parts as necessary. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a lawn mower that can perform the following functions.

To achieve these objectives, the present invention provides a lawn mower comprising: a housing surrounding a rotary cutting blade and including a continuous side wall; a top wall extending from the side wall; and a portion of the top wall. defining a first chamber extending arcuately over and around a portion of said top wall and extending arcuately in the direction of rotation of the cutting blade over and around another portion of said top wall; wall means defining a second chamber extending downwardly from the chamber;
an edge provided in the wall means defining a top outlet aperture and mountable to the housing in sealing engagement with the top outlet aperture, thereby permitting grass clippings to exit the outlet aperture; a cover plate for preventing escape; a grass discharge chute communicating with the top discharge hole and attachable to the housing when the cover plate is not attached to the housing; The grass discharge chute is further provided with deflection means extending into the housing for deflecting cut grass into the grass discharge chute.

Therefore, when the cover plate is attached, the cut grass is deflected downwardly by the second chamber in response to the rotation of the cutting blade and discharged to the lower part of the housing to provide mulch. Moreover, when the grass discharge chute is attached, it becomes possible to discharge the cut grass to the outside of the housing in response to the rotation of the cutting blade.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following general description and the accompanying drawings.

The drawings show a lawn mower 10 that includes a housing 12 supported by wheels 14 for movement over the ground. Mower motion is controlled by pushing a handle 16 extending upwardly and rearwardly from the housing 12. The engine 20 (FIGS. 1, 2, and 3) attached to the housing 12
The cutting blade 18 is cut by a rotary cutting blade 18 which is supported within the housing on an output shaft (shown in phantom in the figure). Although the cutting blade 18 can be rotated in any direction, the description assumes that it is rotated clockwise when viewed from above.

Housing 12 includes a continuous sidewall 22 and a top wall 24 extending from the sidewall. Grass is cutting blade 1
During the rotation of the cutting blade 8, the cut grass is then thrown upwardly towards the inner surface of the top wall 24 of the housing 12, where it continues its pivoting motion in the direction of rotation of the cutting blade.

Wall means 25 extends arcuately over and around one portion of the top wall 24 and includes a first chamber 27 (FIG. 1) for containing grass clippings and a first chamber 27 (FIG. 1) for containing grass clippings extending in an arc over and around a portion of the top wall 24; extending in an arc around the first
A second chamber 35 is formed which extends downward from the chamber 27 and also in the direction of rotation of the cutting blade. The wall means 25 has a top outlet hole 32 which opens into the first chamber 27 thereof in the preferred embodiment.

More specifically, the wall means 25 is connected to the first chamber 27.
a first wall means 26 defining a chamber 35 and a second wall means 34 defining a second chamber 35.

The first wall means 26 includes a top panel 28 spaced upwardly at increasing distances over the entire length of the first chamber 27 from a generally horizontal plane of the top wall 24 and a top panel 28 extending downwardly from the top panel to cover the first chamber 27 . and an annular side wall 30 completing the envelope. Top panel 28 includes an edge 31 that defines a top outlet aperture 32 .

A second wall means 34 also extends from the top panel 28 of the first chamber 27 like the first wall means 26 and also extends from the top panel 28 of the first chamber 27.
The second chamber 35 includes a top panel 38 that gradually decreases in height from the second chamber 27 to the top wall 24 of the housing 12 and an annular side wall 40 that completes the envelopment of the second chamber 35.

As shown in detail in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the first chamber 27 extends approximately around the top wall 24.
It extends across the entire front face of the housing 12 for 180°. Second chamber 3 connected to first chamber 27
5 extends from the first chamber 27 around the top wall 24 to another approximately
It extends in an arc over 90 degrees.

1 and 2, a cover plate 42 may be mounted to the housing 12 in sealing relation to the outlet hole 32 to prevent grass clippings from escaping through the outlet hole 32. Yes (Figure 2). Thus, when the cover plate 42 is attached to the housing 12, the mower 10 moves the swirling grass clippings collected in the first chamber 27 to the second chamber 35 in response to rotation of the cutting blade. The housing 1 is deflected downward into the rotating path of the cutting blade 18, thereby colliding with the cutting blade 18 and being shredded.
Forms mulch material that is discharged to the ground below 2.

More specifically, cover plate 42 includes a peripheral edge 44 adapted to sealingly fit with edge 31 defining top outlet aperture 32 . The peripheral edge 44 includes a leading edge 46 having a front cover tab member 48 and a trailing edge 50 having a rear cover tab member 52. Similarly, outer edge 54 of peripheral portion 44 includes side tab members 56 .

In the illustrated embodiment, the housing 12 of the lawn mower 10 includes a cover plate rear tab member 52 when the peripheral edge 44 of the cover plate 42 sealingly engages the edge 31 defining the top outlet hole 32. It includes an engaging shoulder 58 (FIG. 2). When the shoulder 58 engages the rear tab member 52 of the cover plate, the front and side tab members 48, 56 of the cover plate are tightened to the housing 12, such as by bolts 60.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, a grass exhaust chute 62 is attached to housing 12 in place of cover plate 42 in communication with top outlet hole 32 when cover plate 42 is not attached. Therefore, when the grass discharge chute 62 is installed, the swirling grass clippings accumulated in the first chamber 27 are then discharged through the discharge chute 62 and out of the housing 12 in response to the rotation of the cutting blade. Ru.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the grass exhaust chute 62 includes a body portion 64 that is generally curved radially outwardly of the engine 20 and has a rearwardly directed exhaust opening 66. In the illustrated example,
A rearwardly directed discharge opening 66 discharges grass into a grass discharge bag 68 supported on the handle 16.

The body portion 64 of the grass evacuation chute 62 has a peripheral edge 70 (FIG. 4) at the front, which defines an inlet opening and which is connected to the peripheral edge 44 of the cover plate 42.
Similarly, it is fitted into the edge 32 defining the outlet hole 32 in a sealing manner. Also similar to the cover plate 42, the front peripheral edge 70 includes a front edge 72 having a front tab member 74, a rear edge 76 having a rear tab member 78, and a side tab member 82.
and an outer edge 80 having an outer edge 80 . This construction allows the grass evacuation chute 62 to engage the rear tab member 78 of the chute 62 to the shoulder 58 of the housing 12 in a manner similar to the cover plate 42 in effect, with the front and side tab members 74, 82 then being engaged. It is attached to the housing 12 by tightening it to the housing 12 using a bolt 60 or the like.

To facilitate the flow of the grass clippings accumulated in the first chamber 27 through the grass discharge chute 62,
A chute 62 is arranged below the top wall 24 to deflect the swirling grass toward the chute 62 for ejecting the grass out of the housing 12 in response to rotation of the cutting blade (FIG. 5). It includes means extending into the housing 12 in upwardly proximate relation. In the illustrated embodiment, the deflection means provided on the chute extend into the first chamber 27 in a direction substantially opposite to the direction of rotation of the cutting blades, thereby directing the stream of grass clippings toward the grass discharge path. It includes an air scoop or deflection means 84 that provides a pneumatic lift effect toward the chute 62.

To further facilitate the flow of grass clippings from the first chamber 27 through the grass discharge chute 62, in the illustrated embodiment, the top discharge hole 32 allows the second chamber 35 to flow downwardly from the first chamber 27. the grass discharge chute 62 passes through an extension of the substantially upwardly sloping profile at the highest point of the first chamber 27 above the top wall 24 and also The swirling grass clippings form a continuous path.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the rotary lawn mower with the removable cover plate removed, and Figure 2 is the rotary lawn mower with the cover plate attached.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the rotary lawn mower shown in Fig. 1 with a grass discharge chute attached instead of the cover plate; Fig. 4 is a side perspective partial view of the rotary lawn mower shown in Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the rotary lawn mower shown in the removed position, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 3. 10...Lawn mower, 12...Housing, 18
... Cutting blade, 22 ... Side wall, 24 ... Top wall, 25 ...
...Wall means, 26...First wall means, 27...First
chamber, 31... edge means, 32... outlet hole, 3
4... second wall means, 35... second chamber, 42...
...Cover plate, 62...Shute, 84...
...Deflection means.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A housing enclosing a rotating cutting blade and including a continuous side wall, a top wall extending from the side wall, and an arcuate shape above and around a portion of the top wall. defining a first chamber extending therefrom and defining a second chamber extending downwardly from the first chamber over and around another portion of said top wall in an arc in the direction of rotation of the cutting blade; a wall means comprising: a lip formed in said wall means defining a top outlet aperture; a cover plate for preventing the top outlet hole from escaping from the top outlet hole; the cover plate being in communication with the top outlet hole and attachable to the housing when the cover plate is not attached to the housing; It is equipped with a grass discharge chute,
Furthermore, the grass discharge chute has deflection means extending into the housing to deflect grass clippings into the grass discharge chute so that when the cover plate is installed, the cutting blade The mowed grass is deflected downwardly by the second chamber in response to the rotation of the housing, and the mowed grass is discharged downwardly from the housing. A lawnmower characterized in that it is possible to discharge cut grass to the outside of a housing in response to rotation of a blade. 2. A lawnmower according to claim 1, wherein said deflection means extends into a housing below said top wall. 3. The lawn mower according to claim 2, wherein the deflecting means is provided above and close to the rotation path of the cutting blade. 4. A lawnmower according to claim 1, wherein the top outlet hole is provided in the wall means defining the first chamber.