LAWN MOWER CUTTING IMPLEMENT
The lawn mower cutting implement has an elongated mounting plate adapted for attachment to a lawn mower in lieu of a conventional blade with an end piece attached to opposite ends of the mounting plate. The plate is bent or twisted to generate airflow when the plate is rotated by the lawn mower drive shaft. Each end piece supports at least two cutting elements at different elevations with respect to each other so that there is at least a lower cutting element for cutting grass to a desired height and an upper cutting element for mulching suspended clippings.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lawn mower cutting implement. Specifically, the invention relates to a lawn mower cutting implement that has a cutting element, such as flexible nylon cord, spring steel, or metal wire, extending from opposite ends of a shortened mounting plate that replaces a conventional lawn mower blade.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional lawn mower blades are made of flat plates of steel having an edge ground thereon and a hole for securing same to the lower end of a vertical output shaft of an engine. Typically, the plate has a bend or twist on either side for generating airflow for circulating and expelling grass clippings. String trimmers are also known, which have replaceable or extensible nylon line for cutting grass, weeds, and other undesired vegetation. While there have been attempts at combining these two technologies, there has not yet been a commercially viable system that both utilizes replaceable media for cutting grass and provides necessary airflow for lifting and expelling clippings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,990, issued to Fisher et al. on Nov. 28, 1978, shows a conventional push mower with a circular disc in place of a mower blade, the disc supporting a plurality of nylon pins extending radially. Adjacent each pin, upwardly swept vanes are formed into the disc for creating an upward flow of air and agitating the grass. U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,068, issued Nov. 25, 1980 to Comer, discloses a mower attachment comprising a device for feeding nylon cord that cuts grass. This device is positioned below a fan blade that generates airflow, improves the evenness of the cut, suspends grass particles above the cutting mechanism, and exhausts the particles to a catch bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,642, issued to Thurber on Nov. 24, 1981, describes a lawn mower having a circular disc supporting a plurality of nylon chords extending radially therefrom, the disc having, on its upper surface, a plurality of vertical, radially-oriented flexible fins for discharging cut grass. For the purpose of providing improved mulching action, U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,144, issued Sep. 28, 1982 to Benenati, shows a polymer mower blade having 12 evenly spaced cutting edges disposed at 3 different heights.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,563, issued Apr. 30, 1985 to Roser et al., discloses a lawn mower having a star-shaped hub supporting and capturing enlarged ends of nylon filaments so that the free ends extend radially. U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,665, issued May 15, 1990, to Crosley, teaches a circular disc having a plurality of wire cutters extending therefrom, and radial fins each extending along the disc radius, extending at an angle up from the plane of the disc to generate airflow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,867, issued Jun. 23, 1998 to Carlsen, discloses a similar device having a plurality of radially disposed nylon filaments extending from a hub.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a lawn mower cutting implement solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe lawn mower cutting implement has an elongated mounting plate adapted for attachment to a lawn mower in lieu of a conventional blade with an end piece attached to opposite ends of the mounting plate. The plate is bent or twisted to generate airflow when the plate is rotated by the lawn mower drive shaft. Each end piece supports at least two cutting elements at different elevations with respect to each other so that there is at least a lower cutting element for cutting grass to a desired height and an upper cutting element for mulching suspended clippings.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The lawn mower cutting implement 10, shown in
The end pieces 14 support cutting elements, such as flexible nylon line, flexible metal wire, rigid pins or nails. As shown in
As mentioned above, in place of nylon line, other cutting elements can be used. For example, metal wire, nails, pins, or the like can be inserted or retained at holes 14. The cutting line may be made from nylon or other polymers and/or composites of polymer and fillers, such as fiberglass, abrasive materials, etc.
The ends 20 of lower cutting element 18 extending from lower holes 15a, 15b provide mowing action and cut each blade of grass to the desired height, while the ends 24 of upper cutting element 22 extending from upper holes 15c, 15d provide an enhanced mulching function to chop suspended clippings into smaller pieces.
As shown in
While cutting implement 40 requires cutting elements 34 especially prepared for use therewith, cutting implement 40 promotes safety by ensuring the proper length of cutting line and simplifies installation of the cutting lines by eliminating the step of threading the line through a small hole and cutting it to length.
Heavy duty nylon line should be capable of cutting and mulching three acres or more of grass before replacement is required. Replacement of the nylon line takes only a few minutes and does not require removal of cutting implement 10 or 40 from the mower deck. Since cutting implements 10 and 40 have no moving parts, the implements are very reliable and could potentially last many years. This avoids having to periodically purchase new mower blades and pay for periodic sharpening thereof, and could therefore potentially save a consumer a great deal of money over the life of the implement.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
1. A lawn mower cutting implement comprising:
- an elongated mounting plate having opposing ends, the mounting plate being adapted for attachment to a rotating cutting element driver of a lawn mower;
- an end piece attached to each of the opposing ends of the mounting plate; and
- a cutting element attached to and extending from each of the end pieces, the cutting element being adapted for cutting vegetation at a desired height;
- wherein said mounting plate has a center hole defined therein adapted for receiving a drive shaft of the lawn mower, the mounting plate being formed with a twist disposed between the center hole and each of the opposing ends of the mounting plate for aerodynamically enhanced airflow; and each of the end pieces comprises a riser normal to the mounting plate and a landing extending from the riser parallel to the mounting plate, the landing having a plurality of holes defined therein;
- wherein said cutting element comprises a ball having a flexible line extending therefrom, the ball being inserted through a first of said plurality of holes in said landing and retained between said landing and said mounting plate.
2. The lawn mower cutting implement according to claim 1, further comprising at least one other cutting element attached to and extending from each of the end pieces at an elevation higher than said cutting element, the at least one other cutting element being adapted for mulching the cut vegetation.
3. The lawn mower cutting implement of claim 2, wherein said cutting element and said at least one other cutting element being defined respectively as lower and upper cutting elements, and lower and upper cutting elements include flexible nylon cutting line.
4. The lawn mower cutting implement of claim 2, wherein said cutting element and said at least one other cutting element being defined respectively as lower and upper cutting elements, and lower and upper cutting elements include flexible metal wire.
5-9. (canceled)
10. The lawn mower cutting implement according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of other cutting elements, each of the other cutting elements being a ball having a nylon cutting line extending therefrom, the ball being inserted through the other ones of the plurality of holes in said landing and retained between said landing and said mounting plate, each of the other cutting elements being spaced apart at different elevations above the cutting element, so that each of the cutting elements rotates in a different vertical plane.
11-15. (canceled)
16. A lawn mower cutting implement comprising:
- an elongated mounting plate having opposing ends, and a mid point, the mounting plate being adapted for attachment to a rotating cutting element driver of a lawn mower;
- wherein said mounting plate has a twist therein between the mid point and each one of said opposing ends, said mounting plate having a center hole defined at said mid point and adapted for receiving a drive shaft of the lawn mower, the twist of said mounting plate being disposed between the center hole and each of the opposing ends of the mounting plate for aerodynamically enhanced airflow, whereby each of the cutting elements are spaced apart at different elevations and rotates in a different plane;
- an end piece attached to each of the opposing ends of the mounting plate, each of the end pieces having a riser normal to the mounting plate and a landing extending from the riser parallel to the mounting plate, the landing having a plurality of holes defined therein; and
- a plurality of cutting elements attached to and extending from each of the end pieces, each of the cutting elements being a ball having a nylon cutting line extending therefrom, the ball being inserted through one of the plurality of holes in the landing and retained between the landing and the mounting plate, each of the cutting elements being spaced apart at different elevations, so that each of the cutting elements rotates in a different plane.
17. (canceled)
18. The lawn mower cutting implement according to claim 1, wherein said ends of said mounting plate are angled to provide aerodynamically enhanced circularly outward airflow.
19. The lawn mower cutting implement according to claim 2, wherein said ends of said mounting plate are angled to provide aerodynamically enhanced circularly outward airflow.
20. The lawn mower cutting implement according to claim 16, wherein said ends of said mounting plate are angled to provide aerodynamically enhanced circularly outward airflow.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 25, 2004
Publication Date: Dec 29, 2005
Inventor: Andrew Compton (Yukon, OK)
Application Number: 10/875,393