Cutting height adjustment for lawn mower

• US 7,441,392 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2006
• Issued: 10/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Husqvarna AB (HUSQVARNA)
• Original Assignee: Husqvarna AB (HUSQVARNA)
• Inventors: Mejegård, Peter, Lilliestielke, Fredrik, Axelsson, Mats
• Primary Examiner(s): Will; Thomas B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Mai T
• Application Number:
  US11/512,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20070051082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 56/147, 56 149- 152, 56/171, 56/172, 563/201
• US Class Current: 56/15.9
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 34/74 Cutting-height adjustment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a lawn mower (1), comprising a front mounted mower deck (5) comprising at least one cutting knife, wherein the cutting knife is rotatably arranged in a substantially horizontal plane (10), a wheel suspension arrangement (19) connected to the mower deck (5) and comprising at least one wheel (17) to be in contact with the ground so as to support the mower deck (5) during mowing, wherein the wheel (17) is connected to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) by means of an axle (21) to be in perpendicular alignment with the ground during mowing, and a cutting height adjustment (27) device adapted to move the wheel suspension arrangement (19) with respect to the mower deck (5) for adjusting the mutual height relationship between the wheel (17) and the mower deck (5), so as to adjust the distance between the plane of the cutting knife and the ground. The lawn mower is characterized in that the axle (21) is pivotal about an axis (35) with respect to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) and connected to the cutting height adjustment device (27) in such a way that the axle (21) is parallelly displaced when the wheel suspension arrangement (19) is moved.

Claims

1. A lawn mower (1), comprising:

a front mounted mower deck (5) comprising at least one cutting knife, wherein the cutting knife is rotatably arranged in a substantially horizontal plane (10),

a wheel suspension arrangement (19) connected to the mower deck (5) via a first pivot connection (33),

at least one wheel (17) to be in contact with the ground so as to support the mower deck (5) during mowing, wherein the wheel (17) is connected to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) by means of an axle (21) in perpendicular alignment with the ground during mowing, and

a cutting height adjustment device (27) connected to the mower deck (5) via a second pivot connection (37) and adapted to move the wheel suspension arrangement (19) with respect to the mower deck (5) for adjusting the mutual height relationship between the wheel (17) and the mower deck (5), so as to adjust the distance between the plane (10) of the cutting knife and the ground, the wheel (17) and the axle (21) being connected to the mower deck (5) through the suspension arrangement (19) and the cutting height adjustment device (27), characterised in that the axle (21) is pivotal about an axis (35) with respect to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) and connected to the cutting height adjustment device (27) in such a way that the axle (21) is parallelly displaced simultaneously with the movement of the wheel suspension arrangement (19) such that the perpendicular alignment of the axle (21) with the ground during mowing is automatically maintained.

2. The lawn mower according to claim 1, wherein the axis (35) is horizontal.

3. The lawn mower according to claim 2, wherein the cutting height adjustment device (27) comprises an adjustment disk (27) which is connected to the mower deck (5) and which is provided with a first curved slot (39), wherein the axle (21) comprises a track rod (45) having a first pin (47) which is slidable along the first slot (39) for pivoting the axle (21) about the axis (35), when the suspension arrangement (19) is moved with respect to the mower deck (5) so as to parallelly displace the axle (21).

4. The lawn mower according to any of claims 1-3, comprising at least two of said wheel suspension arrangements (19) and at least two of said cutting height adjustment devices (27), wherein the cutting height adjustment devices (27) are adapted to move a respective wheel suspension arrangement (19) independently of each other with respect to the mower deck (5).

5. The lawn mower according to claim 1, comprising at least one support arm (9) connecting the mower deck (5) with a chassis (7) of the lawn mower, wherein the support arm (9) can lift the mower deck (5) to a position in which the mower deck (5) is pivotally suspended by the support arm (9) along a horizontal pivot axis (11), wherein the mower deck (5) has its centre of gravity located in front of the pivot axis (11), with respect to a forward direction of the lawn mower (1), and wherein the mower deck comprises a mower deck suspension arrangement (13) for suspending a rear edge of the mower deck (5) to the support arm (9), at a point which is located behind the pivot axis (11) with respect to the forward direction of the lawn mower (1).

6. A lawn mower (1), comprising:

a front mounted mower deck (5) comprising at least one cutting knife, wherein the cutting knife is rotatably arranged in a substantially horizontal plane (10),

a wheel suspension arrangement (19) connected to the mower deck (5) at an end (78) via a first pivot connection (33),

at least one wheel (17) to be in contact with the ground so as to support the mower deck (5) during mowing, wherein the wheel (17) is connected to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) by means of an axle (21) to be in perpendicular alignment with the ground during mowing, and

a cutting height adjustment device (27) connected to the mower deck (5) via a second pivot connection (37) and adapted to move the wheel suspension arrangement (19) with respect to the mower deck (5) for adjusting the mutual height relationship between the wheel (17) and the mower deck (5), so as to adjust the distance between the plane (10) of the cutting knife and the ground, the wheel (17) and the axle (21) being connected to the mower deck (5) through the suspension arrangement (19) and the cutting height adjustment device (27), characterized in that the axle (21) is pivotal about an axis (35) with respect to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) and connected to the cutting height adjustment device (27) in such a way that the axle (21) is parallelly displaced when the wheel suspension arrangement (19) is moved,

wherein the axis (35) is horizontal, the cutting height adjustment device (27) comprises an adjustment disk (27) which is connected to the mower deck (5) and which is provided with a first curved slot (39), wherein the axle (21) comprises a track rod (45) having a first pin (47) which is slidable along the first slot (39) for pivoting the axle (21) about the axis (35), when the suspension arrangement (19) is moved with respect to the mower deck (5) so as to parallelly displace the axle (21), and

wherein the adjustment disk (27) is provided with a second curved slot (41), and the wheel suspension arrangement (19) comprises a second pin (51) which is slidable along the second slot (41) when the wheel suspension arrangement (19) is moved with respect to the mower deck (5), and which is second pin (51) is adapted to lock the adjustment disk (27) with respect to the wheel suspension arrangement (19) at positions along the second slot (41).

7. The lawn mower according to claim 6, comprising at least two of said wheel suspension arrangements (19) and at least two of said cutting height adjustment devices (27), wherein the cutting height adjustment devices (27) are adapted to move a respective wheel suspension arrangement (19) independently of each other with respect to the mower deck (5).