Textron Corporation

Other

Frank R Allen

Brian T Mallaney

John W Hopkins

Charles Gaymon

J Jiri Olmr

A cutter head for a lawn mower which has a plurality of fingers arranged in two sets, one above the other, that extend forward in the direction of travel to channel grass between them. Between the fingers is a conveyor belt carrying a set of short blades moving transverse to the direction of motion of the mower for shearing the grass that is channeled by the fingers. The blades are preferably arranged at different levels to mulch the grass. Each blade is preferably split and bent to form multiple cutting edges at different levels. In one embodiment, the lower set of fingers extends farther forward than the upper set to better lift the grass for cutting. In an alternate embodiment, the upper set of fingers extends forward of the lower set and curves downwardly to lift objects out of the path of the mower. The continuous conveyor belt is conveyed around three sheaves that carry the plurality of blades and a sweeper to sweep grass from the cutter head.

Endless cutting head for lawn mower

A cutter head, for a non-rotary power lawn mower, having a multiple-blade, multiple levels of blades assembly. The cutter head includes a stationary assembly in the form of a plurality of fingers arranged in several levels that cooperate with a continuous plurality of blades moved by a blade-carrying assembly. The fingers preferably extend parallel to the lawn mower's direction of motion in order to catch the grass and set it up for cutting. The blade-carrying assembly is preferably a chain conveyed around a pair of sprockets that carry the plurality of blades. These blades are arranged in several levels and interleave several levels of fingers. The grass entering the spacing between the fingers is sheared at each level of the stationary assembly by movement of the blades across the fingers. The cut grass is directed to the rear area of the cutter head, where it falls below the cutter head as mulch.

Cutting head for lawn mower

The invention is directed to a debris collector bag for receiving grass clippings, leaves and debris which has a concave surface in which includes a concave slit opening from which the collected debris is removed.

Debris collector bag

A lawn mower is described having a high collection efficiency. This is accomplished by constructing a housing having a toroidally-shaped skirt defining the interior space in which the blade rotates in a horizontal plane. The interior space has a generally circular cross-section, the radius of which gradually increases toward a region of maximum radius between upper and lower portions of the housings. The blade is positioned to rotate in the lower portion of the housing and a discharge port is positioned to encompass the region of maximum radius.

High efficiency lawn mower housing

The invention is directed to a cover assembly for the discharge opening of a lawn mower, which cover assembly serves the unique triple function of (i) mulching, (ii) side-discharging with a fail-safe anti-damage feature, and (iii) enabling the attachment needed for rear bagging to be mounted without removing the cover assembly. The cover assembly also includes transition means for dispersing the cuttings over a wide area as the cuttings are discharged from the discharge opening.

Growing community of inventors

Columbia, SC, United States of America

Frank R Allen