Belt driven roller brush assembly
First Claim
1. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower, which comprises:
- (a) a brush comprising;
(i) a brush shaft;
(ii) at least one flight of brush bristles located around the brush shaft; and
(iii) a pair of fasteners for releasably fixing opposite ends of the flight of brush bristles to the brush shaft to allow a worn flight of brush bristles to be removed from the brush shaft and to be replaced with a new flight of brush bristles; and
(b) a pair of bearings for rotatably supporting opposite ends of the brush shaft on the cutting unit in a position in which the flight of brush bristles contacts an outer diameter of the ground engaging roller.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A rotatable brush is located adjacent to and in contact with a ground engaging roller of a cutting unit of a mower to clean debris from the roller surface. The brush includes a brush shaft having at least one flight of brush bristles releasably secured to the brush shaft by a pair of fasteners. This permits easy replacement of the flight of brush bristles without having to replace the brush shaft. One end of the brush shaft is driven by a belt drive system with the driven end of the brush shaft passing through an elongated slot in a pivotally adjustable tensioning plate. The plate can be pivoted to adjust the tension in the drive belt without moving the driven end of the brush shaft, thus not affecting or changing the position of the brush relative to the roller. Drive can be imparted to the belt drive system using a hardened cap screw that is threaded into one end of the shaft of a rotatable reel on a reel cutting unit. The head of the cap screw mates in a non-circular socket on one end of a drive shaft to transfer power to the drive shaft and, thus, to the belt drive system.
18 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower, which comprises:
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(a) a brush comprising;
(i) a brush shaft;
(ii) at least one flight of brush bristles located around the brush shaft; and
(iii) a pair of fasteners for releasably fixing opposite ends of the flight of brush bristles to the brush shaft to allow a worn flight of brush bristles to be removed from the brush shaft and to be replaced with a new flight of brush bristles; and
(b) a pair of bearings for rotatably supporting opposite ends of the brush shaft on the cutting unit in a position in which the flight of brush bristles contacts an outer diameter of the ground engaging roller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower, which comprises:
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(a) a brush shaft rotatably journalled to the cutting unit with the brush shaft having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller; and
(b) wherein the flight of brush bristles is releasably attached to the brush shaft such that the flight of brush bristles can be removed and replaced on the brush shaft.
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9. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower, which comprises:
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(a) a rotatable brush attached to the cutting unit and having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller; and
(b) a belt drive system for rotating the brush, wherein the belt drive system comprises;
(i) an endless drive belt entrained around a drive pulley and a driven pulley;
(ii) an idler member in contact with the drive belt and movable relative to the drive belt for adjusting tension in the drive belt; and
(iii) wherein the idler member is adjustable on the cutting unit to adjust the drive belt tension without changing the position of the brush relative to the roller. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower, wherein the roller is rotatably journalled in spaced roller supports that are vertically adjustable to change the cutting unit'"'"'s height of cut, which comprises:
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(a) a brush comprising a brush shaft which carries at least one flight of brush bristles;
(b) a pair of bearings for rotatably journalling opposite ends of the brush shaft, the bearings being carried in a pair of bearing housings;
(c) a pair of brackets for supporting the bearing housings on the roller supports such that the brush moves up and down with the roller as the height of cut is adjusted;
(d) wherein the bearing housings are vertically adjustable on the brackets to allow each end of the brush shaft to be adjusted towards and away from the roller to compensate for wear in the brush bristles. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a reel cutting unit of a mower, the reel cutting unit having a rotatable reel that sweeps uncut grass against a bedknife, one end of a shaft of the reel being having an interiorly threaded bore, which comprises:
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(a) a rotatable brush attached to the cutting unit and having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller; and
(b) a belt drive system for rotating the brush, wherein the belt drive system is powered by;
(i) a drive shaft having a non-circular socket at one end;
(ii) a cap screw having a threaded shank and a non-circular head, the shank of the cap screw being screwed into the interiorly threaded bore on the one end of the cutting reel shaft and the non-circular head of the cap screw having a shape which matches that of the non-circular socket on the drive shaft to allow the head of the cap screw to be inserted into the socket on the drive shaft to rotatably power the drive shaft from rotation of the cutting reel shaft.
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Specification