Deere & Company

Cepheid Corporation

Kevin Patrick Lund

Alexander A Gall

Sergey G Lokhov

Ekaterina V Viazovkina

Mikhail Podyminogin

Mikhail A Podyminogin

Jeffrey Paul Chenevert

Brad Allen Hoffman

Ashley Trent Moorehead

Brian Matthew Adkins

A dual lever steering control mechanism for a zero turning radius mower includes left and right steering levers that are independently pivotable fore and aft between reverse, neutral and forward positions. Steering lever grips are attached to and project from the steering levers. Each steering lever grip has a mounting surface with an electrical switch on the mounting surface, and a protective structure extending from the mounting surface.

Electrical switches mounted in steering lever grips of zero turning radius mower

A zero turning radius mower has a dual hydrostatic pump with right and left pump arms. A linkage between the pump arms and a pair of control levers destrokes both sides of the pump simultaneously if engine speed drops below a specified value. The linkage allows each pump arm to have a first stroke range if the engine powering the pump is above the specified value, and a second smaller stroke range if the engine powering the pump is below the specified value.

De-stroking dual hydrostatic pump

A convertible mower deck has a plurality of adjoining cutting chambers under a mower deck, each cutting chamber having a cutting blade mounted to the lower end of a vertical spindle. The deck includes openings between adjoining cutting chambers, a discharge opening from one of the cutting chambers, a blower mounted in a housing outside the discharge opening, and a protective cover between the discharge opening and the blower housing. Gates are mounted under the deck at the openings between adjoining cutting chambers and at the discharge opening. A control structure moves the gates to change the size of the openings. The gates may be in an open position for the grass clippings to be discharged or collected, a closed position for the grass clippings to be mulched, and one or more intermediate positions for some of the clippings to be discharged or collected, and the remainder to be mulched.

Mower deck with multiple modes of operation

Growing community of inventors

Apex, NC, United States of America

Kevin Patrick Lund