Automatic lawn mower vehicle
First Claim
1. A mower vehicle comprising:
- a drive-wheel assembly;
a trailing sulky;
a hinge with a normally vertical axis and with two hingedly connected parts hingedly connecting said trailing sulky to said drive-wheel assembly,said drive-wheel assembly comprising a drive wheel for standing on the ground and supporting said drive-wheel assembly;
a drive-wheel base member fixedly attached to one part of said hinge, the other of said hinge parts being fixedly attached to an end of said sulky, a drive wheel rotatably mounted in a vertical plane to said drive-wheel base member in a position directly underneath said hinge;
a drive-wheel motor fixedly mounted to said drive-wheel base member, said drive-wheel motor having a drive-shaft turnably coupled to said drive wheel for turning said drive wheel relative to said drive-wheel base member and propelling said mower vehicle when said drive-wheel motor is energized; and
grass cutting means connected to said base member and positioned adjacent to said drive wheel for cutting the grass just above the supporting ground;
a steering-motor connection means including a steering motor having a body and a drive shaft connected between said one hinge part and said another hinge part, for activating said hinge and turning said drive-wheel assembly with respect to said sulky;
an electrical energy source housed in said sulky; and
electrical means for making an electrical connection between said energy source and said drive-wheel motor to energize said drive-wheel motor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic lawn mower vehicle is of a tricycle construction having a forward drive-wheel assembly including a drive wheel and a drive-wheel motor, and having a trailing sulky connected at a sulky hitch end by a vertical hinge to the forward drive-wheel assembly. Steering is accomplished by a motor mounted to the drive-wheel assembly and through a gear reduction system connected to the sulky part of the vertical hinge. A plurality of grass cutters are mounted directly to the drive-wheel assembly for cutting in a horizontal plane however the vehicle may be turning. The outermost two cutters are equidistant from the drive wheel and are centered in the vertical plane of the drive-wheel axle. The grass cutting wake produced by this machine is always equally wide on both sides of any point in the path of the drive wheel, so that the predetermined drive-wheel path, e.g. when the mower vehicle is automated to follow a buried wire, is very simple to pre-construct so that the cutting more exactly follows the lawn boundaries and structures in the lawn. A tippable shroud encompasses and protects the drive-wheel assembly and cutters. When the shroud is displaced and tipped by an article or child in the lawn, the mower vehicle is stopped by a shroud-tipping sensor connected to the drive-wheel motor controller. The same sensor also shuts off the power to the cutters.
154 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A mower vehicle comprising:
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a drive-wheel assembly; a trailing sulky; a hinge with a normally vertical axis and with two hingedly connected parts hingedly connecting said trailing sulky to said drive-wheel assembly, said drive-wheel assembly comprising a drive wheel for standing on the ground and supporting said drive-wheel assembly;
a drive-wheel base member fixedly attached to one part of said hinge, the other of said hinge parts being fixedly attached to an end of said sulky, a drive wheel rotatably mounted in a vertical plane to said drive-wheel base member in a position directly underneath said hinge;
a drive-wheel motor fixedly mounted to said drive-wheel base member, said drive-wheel motor having a drive-shaft turnably coupled to said drive wheel for turning said drive wheel relative to said drive-wheel base member and propelling said mower vehicle when said drive-wheel motor is energized; and
grass cutting means connected to said base member and positioned adjacent to said drive wheel for cutting the grass just above the supporting ground;a steering-motor connection means including a steering motor having a body and a drive shaft connected between said one hinge part and said another hinge part, for activating said hinge and turning said drive-wheel assembly with respect to said sulky; an electrical energy source housed in said sulky; and electrical means for making an electrical connection between said energy source and said drive-wheel motor to energize said drive-wheel motor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification