The Toro Company

Thomas F Langworthy

Robert David Patton

Daniel Mark Treu

Gerald Eugene Goman

Walter J Petersen

Herman P Christopherson

Rex R Bergsten

Nicholas John Sirek

Gerald J Pomerening

Richard A Nelson

Joseph W Pfankuch

A walk reel mower has a traction frame that carries at least one ground engaging member operatively powered by a prime mover. A rotatable cutting reel is operatively powered by the prime mower for pushing grass against a bedknife to cut the grass. A handle assembly is used to guide and manipulate the mower, and a traction bail on the handle assembly disengages and engages the traction drive. The traction bail is movable between first and second positions that have a range of motion large enough to permit the user to move the control into at least one intermediate position to produce a reduced ground speed greater than zero but less than the nominal ground speed.

Walk reel mower with handle assembly

A reel mower has a drive and mounting system for easily and quickly installing a turf grooming attachment. A pair of bearing supports on opposite sides of the reel mower frame provides laterally spaced stub shafts between which the through shaft of the attachment can be nested. A pair of identical clamps releasably couples the opposite ends of the through shaft of the attachment to the adjacent stub shafts. Installation and removal of the clamps is sufficient to install or remove the attachment without requiring disassembly or lateral movement of the bearing supports or of the stub shafts rotatably journalled therein.

Reel mower having quick change grooming attachments

A tine holder for holding a plurality of aerator tines has a plurality of substantially vertical, tapered bores. A tapered collar is adapted to be received in each bore with the collar being split so that the collar contracts as the collar is slid into the bore. The upper end of an aerator tine is inserted into each collar before the collar is inserted into the bore such that the contraction of the collar as the collar is thereafter slid into the bore will suffice to tightly grip and hold each tine in the tine holder. A tool is provided for providing enough leverage on the collar to slide the collar over final portions of its movement as the collar slides into the bore during tine installation or to slide the collar over beginning portions of its movement as the collar slides out of the bore during tine removal.

Tine holder for turf aerator

A mower includes a plurality of cutting units carried on a traction vehicle in a staggered and overlapped orientation to provide a cutting swath. The cutting units are rotary type cutting units having cut-outs at each front corner thereof to eliminate or reduce streaking between adjacent cutting units. In addition, each cutting unit has two spaced, ovately shaped ground engaging rollers adjacent each front corner. The ovately shaped rollers are positioned so that a tapered outer end of each roller points to the outside of the cutting unit with the broader, basal end of the roller being positioned closer to the longitudinal centerline of the cutting unit. Such rollers support the front of the cutting unit and allow the front of the cutting unit to roll over the ground.

Rotary cutting unit with ovate rollers and front corner cut-outs

A rotary cutting deck has a rear grass discharge outlet formed by a cut-away portion of the peripheral wall of the cutting chamber located in one or more rear quadrants of the cutting chamber. An annular grass discharge channel is formed between an inner concentric shroud and the peripheral wall of the cutting chamber with the rear grass discharge outlet opening into this channel. A grass deflecting ramp is located within the grass discharge channel with a front end of the ramp located in advance of the entrance to the rear grass discharge outlet and a rear end of the ramp located in one of the rear quadrants of the cutting chamber to be adjacent some portion of the rear discharge outlet. The grass deflecting ramp progressively lowers between its front and rear ends to deflect grass clippings generally downwardly towards the rear discharge outlet. The ramp can have a downwardly extending divider vane to promote more even side-to-side distribution of the grass clippings. A horizontal baffle can be provided on the lower edge of the peripheral wall of the cutting chamber in advance of the rear grass discharge outlet to minimize side streaking or dribbling of grass clippings.

Rear discharge rotary cutting deck for mower

A riding mower having two side cutting units and a front cutting unit operatively connected to a traction frame. Each side cutting unit can pivot about a substantially vertical axis relative to the traction frame when impact shocks occur on the outer sides of the cutting units. A shock absorber cushions and absorbs such impact shocks, and resists the pivoting motion of the side cutting units, in a bi-directional fashion to be effective during forward or reverse motion of the traction frame. The mower also includes a front cutting unit. The cutting units, both the side cutting units and the front cutting unit, have multiple cutting blades and a single drive motor mounted on the cutting unit for driving all the cutting blades contained on that cutting unit. The drive motor is mounted coaxially on the blade spindle of one of the cutting blades and adjacent blades on the cutting unit are driven by one or more drive belts arranged in straight belt runs. The drive belts are identical in size so that common drive belts can be used on all the cutting units.

Belt drive system having a single drive motor for multi-bladed rotary cutting unit for mower

A rotary turf mower (32) suitable for mowing irregular turf areas including a cutting system (60) which includes a plurality of cutting units (102) which are movable over the ground and each carrying at least one cutting blade (114), and a coupler (140) including a span member (144) and a pair of hinges means (150) for interconnecting adjacent cutting units (102), wherein each hinges (150) permits relative pivotal movement about a hinge axis (160), and wherein the hinge axes (160) associated with adjacent cutting units (102) are non-parallel, whereby each cutting unit may display a range of independent motion relative to an adjacent cutting unit. One embodiment of the present invention provides that the hinge axes associated with each span member are substantially directed to a virtual pivot point (184), whereby the motion of adjacent cutting units (102) relative to the virtual pivot point (184) is generally rotational. Tip-to-tip distance variation between adjacent cutting blades (114) is substantially minimized in the preferred mower by positioning the virtual pivot point (184) between adjacent cutting units (102) and substantially at the intersection of adjacent cutting planes (122). A preferred mower also includes multiple degrees of freedom between adjacent cutting units (102), wherein 'pitching' and 'rolling' type motions are permitted between adjacent cutting units (102).

Growing community of inventors

Belle Plaine, MN, United States of America

Thomas F Langworthy