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A mower has a rotary cutting deck with a discharge opening covered by a discharge chute. A pivotal gate is placed beneath the discharge chute to pivot relative to the discharge opening between a closed position in which the gate blocks the discharge opening and an open position in which the gate ope

A mower has a rotary cutting deck with a discharge opening covered by a discharge chute. A pivotal gate is placed beneath the discharge chute to pivot relative to the discharge opening between a closed position in which the gate blocks the discharge opening and an open position in which the gate opens the discharge opening, thereby providing discharge and non-discharge modes of operation respectively. A pivotal foot pedal can be depressed by the operator against the force of a biasing spring to move the gate between the closed and open positions thereof. When the gate reaches its open position corresponding to a fully depressed foot pedal, an over center linkage has reached an over center orientation in which the force of the spring now serves to lock the pivotal gate in the open position thereof. Another over center linkage also locks the pivotal gate in the closed position thereof when the foot pedal is in a non-depressed starting position.

대표청구항 ▼

We claim: 1. A mower cutting deck having a discharge opening for discharging grass clippings from the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a movable gate having a closed position in which the gate substantially blocks the discharge opening to prevent the passage of the grass clippings through the dis

We claim: 1. A mower cutting deck having a discharge opening for discharging grass clippings from the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a movable gate having a closed position in which the gate substantially blocks the discharge opening to prevent the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a non-discharge mode of operation and an open position in which the gate substantially clears the discharge opening to permit the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a discharge mode of operation; (b) a pivotal foot pedal operatively coupled to the gate for allowing an operator to control the position of the gate by depressing the foot pedal, wherein the pivotal foot pedal controls the position of the gate independently of and without affecting the cutting deck's ground speed during a mowing operation, wherein the foot pedal can be selectively depressed by the operator between a non-depressed starting position and a fully depressed ending position, wherein the non-depressed starting position of the foot pedal corresponds to the closed position of the gate and the fully depressed ending position corresponds to the open position of the gate, wherein the foot pedal has an over center linkage, the over center linkage moving into an over center orientation when the foot pedal reaches the fully depressed, ending position thereof to lock the foot pedal in the fully depressed, ending position without requiring additional down pressure from the operator on the foot pedal; (c) a spring that applies a spring force to the foot pedal tending to cause the foot pedal to rise to its non-depressed starting position such that the operator has to apply down pressure to the foot pedal to move the foot pedal against the spring force, whereby the spring force opposes movement of the foot pedal at least over a first range of travel of the foot pedal such that the operator can feather the position of the foot pedal by increasing or decreasing the down pressure on the foot pedal to hold the gate in intermediate positions between the open and closed positions of the gate; and (d) a pedal release for allowing the operator to selectively break the over center orientation of the over center linkage to release the foot pedal from its fully depressed, ending position. 2. The mower cutting deck of claim 1, wherein the pedal release is foot operated. 3. The mower cutting deck of claim 2, wherein the pedal release is pivotal and has a first portion undepying the foot pedal and a second portion that is accessible to the foot of the operator, wherein the operator can step on the second portion of the release to lift the first portion of the release to push upwardly on the foot pedal to thereby break the over center orientation of the over center linkage. 4. A mower cutting deck having a discharge opening for discharging grass clippings from the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a movable gate having a closed position in which the gate substantially blocks the discharge opening to prevent the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a non-discharge mode of operation and an open position in which the gate substantially clears the discharge opening to permit the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a discharge mode of operation, wherein the gate pivots adjacent the discharge opening for pivoting between the open and closed positions of the gate; (b) a pivotal foot pedal operatively coupled to the gate for allowing an operator to control the position of the gate by depressing the foot pedal, wherein the pivotal foot pedal controls the position of the gate indepndently of and without affecting the cutting deck's ground speed during a mowing operation, wherein the foot pedal can be selectively depressed by the operator between a non-depressed starting position and a fully depressed ending position, wherein the non-depressed starting position of the foot pedal corresponds to the closed position of the gate and the fully depressed ending position corresponds to the open position of the gate; (c) a spring that applies a spring force to the foot pedal tending to cause the foot pedal to rise to its non-depressed starting position such that the operator has to apply down pressure to the foot pedal to move the foot pedal against the spring force, whereby the spring force opposes movement of the foot pedal at least over a first range of travel of the foot pedal such that the operator can feather the position of the foot pedal by increasing or decreasing the down pressure on the foot pedal to hold the gate in intermediate positions between the open and closed positions of the gate; (d) a flexible cable operatively linking the foot pedal and the gate; and (e) a gate pivot linkage between one end of the flexible cable and the gate, wherein the gate pivot linkage includes an over center linkage that moves to an over center orientation when the gate is disposed in the closed position thereof to lock the gate in the closed position thereof. 5. The mower cutting deck of claim 4, wherein the spring is part of the gate pivot linkage. 6. The mower cutting deck of claim 5, wherein the spring holds the over center linkage in the gate pivot linkage in the over center orientation thereof after the over center orientation is reached. 7. A mower cutting deck having a discharge opening for discharging grass clippings from the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a pivotal gate adjacent the discharge opening, wherein the gate has an open position to substantially permit the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening and a closed position to substantially prevent the passage of the grass clippings through the discharge opening for opening and closing the discharge opening, respectively; (b) a pivotal control that may be selectively raised and lowered by an operator; (c) a gate pivot linkage linking the pivotal control and the gate for raising and lowering the gate in response to the raising and lowering of the pivotal control, wherein the raising and lowering of the pivotal control are inversely related to the raising and lowering of the gate such that raising the pivotal control lowers the gate to move the gate from the open position to the closed position thereof and lowering the pivotal control raises the gate to move the gate from the closed position to the open position thereof; (d) a first over center linkage which moves into an over center orientation when the pivotal control is lowered and the gate reaches the open position thereof to retain the gate in the open position such the operator can thereafter release the pivotal control and the gate will remain in the open position; and (e) a second over center linkage in the gate pivot linkage, wherein the second over center linkage holds the gate in the closed position thereof. 8. The mower cutting deck of claim 7, wherein the first over center linkage is in the pivotal control. 9. The mower cutting deck of claim 8, wherein the pivotal control comprises a foot pedal. 10. The mower cutting deck of claim 9, wherein a flexible cable connects the foot pedal to the gate pivot linkage. 11. The mower cutting deck of claim 10, further including a biasing spring acting on the gate pivot linkage to bias the cable in a first direction in which the foot pedal is biased towards a raised, starting position thereof. 12. The mower cutting deck of claim 11, wherein the first over center linkage does not reach its over center orientation until the foot pedal has been depressed through a first range of travel and substantially arrives at a fully depressed, ending position. 13. A mower cutting deck having a discharge opening for discharging grass clippings from the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a movable gate having a closed position in which the gate substantially blocks the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a non-discharge mode of operation and an open position in which the gate substantially clears the discharge opening to place the cutting deck in a discharge mode of operation; (b) a pivotal foot pedal operatively coupled to the gate for allowing an operator to control the position of the gate by depressing the foot pedal, wherein the foot pedal can be selectively depressed by the operator between a non-depressed starting position and a fully depressed ending position; (c) an over center linkage moving into an over center orientation when the foot pedal reaches the fully depressed, ending position thereof to lock the foot pedal in the fully depressed, ending position without requiring additional down pressure from the operator on the foot pedal; and (d) a foot operated, pivotal pedal release, wherein the pedal release is pivotal and has a first portion undepying the foot pedal and a second portion that is accessible to the foot of the operator, wherein the operator can step on and depress the second portion of the release to lift the first portion of the release to push upwardly on the foot pedal to thereby break the over center orientation of the over center linkage.