Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Hiroshi Hojo

Fumio Minami

Hiroshi Kobayashi

Kenzo Shimada

Shuhei Maruyama

James C Keane

Christopher Wayne Vaughn

Kazuhiro Sakamoto

Yasuji Hashimoto

Nobuyuki Hirose

Shigekazu Sakata

Yasuhiro Sugimoto

Kazuki Shimozono

Akira Amano

Masanori Takeishi

Brian C Doklovic

Tetsuya Kobayashi

George B Graus

Shinji Katayama

Dai Koumoto

A lawnmower is provided. The lawnmower includes a prime mover, a first pulley assembly, a second pulley assembly, a cooling fan, and a blade assembly. The prime mover includes a drive shaft. The first pulley assembly is coupled to the drive shaft. The second pulley assembly is coupled to the first pulley assembly. The blade assembly is coupled to the prime mover via the second pulley assembly. The cooling fan is coupled to the second pulley assembly.

Lawnmower propulsion system for use with DC power source

The rear shield of a walk-behind lawnmower extends downward from a rear end part of a housing and is in the form of an elastic sheet. The sheet has a thin-walled part formed in a central site in a heightwise direction between an upper end part and a lower end part, the upper end part being attached to the rear end part of the housing. The thin-walled part has a thickness set to be smaller than a thickness of other parts.

Walk-behind lawnmower having a rear shield

A lawnmower capable of being switched between a bagging mode and a mulching mode is disclosed. The lawnmower includes a shutter mechanism provided on an internal peripheral surface of a housing which opens downward for storing a cutting blade. The shutter mechanism is switched, by the operation of the shutter mechanism, between a bagging mode for delivering cut grass from the housing to a cut grass storage container and a mulching mode for discharging the cut grass out below the housing. The shutter mechanism has a kicker on a shutter body positioned in the interior of the housing. The kicker guides the cut grass to the bottom of the housing during the mulching mode.

Shutter mechanism for a lawnmower

A lawnmower including a cut grass storage container for storing cut grass. The lawnmower also includes a cutting blade, a downwardly-opening housing, and a cut grass conveyor passage. The cut grass storage container is provided to the cut grass conveyor passage. Grass that has been cut is delivered to the cut grass conveyor passage while revolving about a shaft inside the housing. A guide member is provided inside the housing. The guide member guides the revolving grass to the cut grass conveyor passage while guiding the grass to the outer periphery of the housing.

Guide member for a lawnmower

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for controlling a variable speed transmission including an actuator, a cam follower, and a speed adjustment cam. The actuator is rotatable through a first phase and a subsequent second phase, and includes an actuator cam surface and a variator. The cam follower is movable in response to contact with the actuator cam surface during rotation through the first phase, for actuating a coupler of the transmission between a disengaged position and an engaged position. The variator is movable along the speed adjustment cam during rotation through the second phase for enabling adjustment of a torque transfer mechanism associated with the transmission. By this configuration, control over the coupling of the transmission to a torque input such as a motor and control over the speed of the transmission are both enabled through rotation of a single actuator, and thus can be implemented in a self-propelled machine such as a lawnmower using a single operator-manipulated control.

Apparatuses and methods for controlling a variable speed transmission

A lubrication and breather system for an engine that is generally adapted for use as either a vertically-oriented crankshaft-type engine or a horizontally-oriented crankshaft-type engine. The crankcase has first and second bearing bosses supporting first and second journal portions of the crankshaft. The second bearing boss lies above the first bearing boss when the engine is of the vertical-type. The system includes a cap that is secured over the second bearing boss and cooperates with the second bearing boss to define an annular chamber for receiving splashed oil produced in the crankcase. The cap has a plurality of ribs formed thereon that reduce an amount of oil, which is entrained in the blow-by gas, sent from the annular chamber to the breather chamber. The second bearing block includes an oil feed hole, a plurality of oil sumps, and a plurality of oil return holes, with the oil return holes being of relatively smaller size. Each of the oil sumps is associated with one oil return hole. A volume of oil ordinarily remains in the oil sump to limit entry of blow-by gases into the annular chamber via the oil return holes.

Oil seal and drain structure for engine

An apparatus and method for adjusting the height of a wheel, particularly a caster wheel, in relation to a structure such as a mower deck of a lawnmower includes a frame member, a hollow guide member, a transverse element, and a lever. The frame member is interconnected between one or more caster wheels and the structure. The frame member includes an angled section disposed along an angled adjustment direction. Spaced recesses are formed in the angled section and arranged along the adjustment direction. The guide member and transverse element are attached to the structure. The angled section is slidable through the guide member. The lever is pivotably connected to the transverse element and includes a locking element. By pivoting the lever, the locking element can be brought into engagement with a selected one of the recesses to fix the angled section at a desired position relative to the guide member and thus the height of the structure relative to a ground surface over which the caster wheel or wheels roll.

Height adjustment apparatus and method

A lawn mower has a cutter blade rotatable in a substantially horizontal plane, and a cutter housing with the cutter blade being rotatably accommodated therein, the cutter housing comprising an upper wall having a raised scroll, and a circumferential wall having a discharge duct contiguous to the scroll and defining a discharge port. A first inner member is detachably disposed along inner surfaces of the upper and circumferential walls of the cutter housing, the first inner member having an inner surface of arcuate cross section. A second inner member is detachably disposed in the discharge duct contiguously to the first inner member in closing relationship to the discharge port, the second inner member being separate from the first inner member and having an inner surface of arcuate cross section.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Hiroshi Hojo