Harvesters – Motorized harvester – Having motor on ground-supported carrier
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-24
2001-08-21
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Harvesters
Motorized harvester
Having motor on ground-supported carrier
C056S015900
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276119
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mower suspension apparatus for suspending a mower unit from a vehicle body of a lawn tractor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Broadly, lawn tractors may be classified into two types. One is the ground-engaging type in which the mower unit is operable to cut grass while contacting the ground through auxiliary wheels. The other is the suspension type in which the mower unit is operable to cut grass while being suspended from the vehicle body to be afloat a predetermined distance above the ground The suspension type includes mid-mount type lawn tractors as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Publications H9-328019 and H9-272350. Each of the mower units disclosed in these publications is suspended from the vehicle body through a total of four links, i.e. a pair of right and left front links and a pair of right and left rear links, to be capable of parallel vertical movement. The mower unit is vertically movable by vertically swinging the right and left rear links with a hydraulic cylinder, for example.
The suspension type mower unit basically is supported solely by the vehicle body, so that the entire weight of the mower unit acts on the vehicle body. Thus, this type of mower unit has advantages over the ground-engaging type mower unit in that a grass cutting height may be adjusted easily, and that the mower unit may be constructed lightweight or may be simplified.
On the other hand, however, the suspension type mower unit has the following drawback occurring on a sideways sloping ground, depending on such conditions as an angle of inclination and hardness of the turf. That is, the conventional lawn tractor has a mower unit suspended parallel to the vehicle body. When, for example, the right side of the vehicle body is higher than the left side, a shift in the center of gravity may cause the left wheels to sink deeper into the ground or become dented to a greater extent than the right wheels. This results in the vehicle body inclining to a greater degree than the angle of inclination of the ground. Then, the mower unit inclines by an acute angle to be no longer parallel to the ground. In this example, the mower unit inclines further rightward.
Then, the cutting height increases at the right side, and decreases at the left side. As a result, the mower unit leaves two uneven adjacent rows of grass.
The object of this invention is to provide a mower suspension apparatus with an improved suspension structure to mitigate the above drawback encountered on a sideways sloping ground, while maintaining the advantage of the suspension type.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above object is fulfilled, according to this invention, by a mower suspension apparatus comprising a seesaw arm pivotably attached to a support axis secured to a mower housing. The seesaw arm is connected to a pair of links for suspending a mower unit from a tractor body.
Thus, when one side of the tractor body becomes higher than the other, the mower unit can roll relative to the tractor body. In this way, the mower unit is displaceable to a near horizontal posture relative to the ground.
In an embodiment of the invention, preferably, a pair of housing connectors are provided for relatively displaceably interconnecting the seesaw arm and housing. Preferably, each housing connector has an elastic device interposed between the seesaw arm and housing.
These elastic devices are effective to avoid a rolling of the mower unit occurring to a greater extent than is needed.
The housing may include a pair of right and left auxiliary rollers. Then, the mower unit is reliably prevented from rolling to a greater extent than is needed, to assure stability.
Other features of this invention will be apparent from the following description of the embodiment to be taken with reference to the drawings.
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Hayashi Masaki
Kawabata Hiroshi
Oshima Hiroshi
Tomiyama Yoshio
Kovács Aŕpád F
Kubota Corporation
Pezzuto Robert E.
Webb Ziesenheim & Logsdon Orkin & Hanson, P.C.
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