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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 handle can be pivoted between first and second positions to thereby pivot the gate between the open and closed positions thereof. The handle and gate are arranged so that at least some portion of the handle extends in directions relative to the mower that are the same as the directions the gate extends relative to the discharge opening so that an operator can simply position the handle by observation of the handle portion to position the handle portion in an orientation corresponding to a desired orientation of the gate.

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We claim: 1. A mower having a rotary cutting deck with a side discharge opening along one lateral side of the cutting deck for discharging grass clippings laterally from the cutting deck, wherein a side discharge chute overlies the discharge opening and extends laterally outwardly beyond a peripher

We claim: 1. A mower having a rotary cutting deck with a side discharge opening along one lateral side of the cutting deck for discharging grass clippings laterally from the cutting deck, wherein a side discharge chute overlies the discharge opening and extends laterally outwardly beyond a peripheral sidewall of the cutting deck, the discharge chute comprising a front wall that extends laterally outwardly, a rear wall that extends laterally outwardly with the rear wall of the discharge chute being located further rearwardly on the cutting deck than the front wall of the discharge chute, and a top wall that extends laterally outwardly with the top wall of the discharge chute joining the front and rear walls of the discharge chute to provide the discharge chute with a generally U-shaped configuration that is open at a bottom thereof with the open bottom of the chute facing the ground laterally outwardly of the peripheral sidewall of the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) only a single pivotal gate that pivots within the discharge chute beneath the top wall of the discharge chute and between the front and rear walls of the discharge chute, the pivotal gate pivoting on the one lateral side of the cutting deck about a substantially vertical gate pivot axis relative to the discharge opening between a closed position in which the gate substantially blocks the discharge opening and an open position in which the gate substantially clears the discharge opening, thereby providing discharge and non-discharge modes of operation respectively; (b) an L-shared pivotal handle that can be pivoted by the operator about a substantially vertical handle pivot axis defined by a vertical shaft of the handle to move the gate between the closed and open positions thereof, wherein the handle has a substantially horizontal hand grip atop the vertical shaft with the hand grip pivoting within a substantially horizontal plane during pivoting of the handle, wherein the gate pivot axis and the handle pivot axis are two separate axes that are separated from one another along a fore-and-aft direction; (c) at least one elongated connecting member extending in the fore-and-aft direction, wherein the connecting member operatively links the vertical shaft of the handle to the gate for causing the pivoting motion of the handle to be translated into pivoting motion of the gate; and (d) wherein the position of the hand grip relative to the mower mimics the position of the gate relative to the discharge opening such that the operator can observe the hand grip of the handle and set the hand grip in the same relative position on the mower as a desired setting of the gate relative to the discharge opening on the cutting deck. 2. The mower of claim 1, wherein the handle has a first position in which the hand grip is parallel to a forward direction of motion of the mower when the gate is parallel to the forward direction of motion of the mower, wherein the gate when parallel to the forward direction of motion of the mower is in the closed position thereof and substantially blocks the discharge opening. 3. The mower of claim 2, wherein the handle has a second position in which the hand grip is at right angles to the forward direction of motion of the mower when the gate is at right angles to the forward direction of motion of the mower, wherein the gate when at right angles to the forward direction of motion of the mower is in the open position thereof and substantially clears the discharge opening. 4. The mower of claim 3, wherein the handle has at least one intermediate position in which the hand grip is oriented between the open and closed positions when the gate is inclined at less than 90° to the forward direction of motion of the mower, wherein the gate when inclined at less than 90° to the forward direction of motion of the mower partially blocks and partially clears the discharge opening. 5. The mower of claim 1, wherein the gate in the open position thereof lies substantially adjacent the front wall of the discharge chute. 6. The mower of claim 5, wherein the gate pivots about a substantially vertical axis that passes through a top wall of the discharge chute. 7. The mower of claim 6, wherein the discharge chute comprises a flexible body that is shaped into a chute-like form by a rigid shaping frame, and wherein the substantially vertical pivot axis of the gate passes through the rigid shaping frame. 8. The mower of claim 3, further including handle detents for holding the handle in the first and second positions thereof. 9. The mower of claim 8, wherein the handle detents include a first longitudinal detent groove arranged parallel to a forward direction of motion of the mower and a second transverse detent groove arranged perpendicularly to the forward direction of motion of the mower, and wherein the handle detents include a detent pin on the handle that is received in the first longitudinal detent groove when the handle is in the first position and in the second transverse detent groove when the handle is the second position. 10. The mower of claim 9, wherein the handle is movable axially to engage and disengage the detent pin on the handle with a selected one of the first and second detent grooves. 11. The mower of claim 10, wherein the handle is spring biased in a direction that moves the detent pin into engagement with one of the first and second detent grooves when the handle is rotated to align the detent pin with the first and second detent grooves, and wherein the handle is movable along the axis of the vertical shaft by the operator against the spring bias to disengage the detent pin from the detent groove with which the detent pin had been engaged to allow the handle to be rotated. 12. The mower of claim 4, further including handle detents for holding the handle in the first, second and intermediate positions thereof. 13. A mower having a rotary cutting deck formed by a top wall and a peripheral wall that enclose a plurality of cutting chambers each of which houses at least one rotary cutting blade that rotates in a substantially horizontal cutting plane, wherein the peripheral wall of the cutting deck includes a side discharge opening for allowing grass clippings to exit laterally from a lateral side of the cutting deck, and wherein the discharge opening is covered by a generally U-shaped side discharge chute that includes a top wall, a front wall and a rear wall behind the front wall in the direction of forward motion of the cutting deck with the discharge chute having an open bottom facing downwardly towards the ground and with the discharge chute extending laterally outwardly away from the discharge opening of the cutting deck past the peripheral wall of the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) only a single pivotal gate for opening and closing the discharge opening, wherein the single pivotal gate is separate and distinct from the front, top and rear walls of the discharge chute with the pivotal gate being located between the front and rear walls of the discharge chute and beneath the top wall of the discharge chute and with the single pivotal gate pivoting about a single substantially vertical axis located adjacent the front wall of the discharge chute; and (b) a plurality of detents for releasably locking the gate in one of at least three positions relative to the discharge chute comprising: (i) an open position in which the gate is parallel to and adjacent the front wall of the discharge chute to substantially clear the discharge opening; (ii) an intermediate position in which the gate is inclined rearwardly about the substantially vertical axis at an acute angle relative to the front wall of the discharge chute such that the gate deflects the grass clippings exiting the discharge opening rearwardly relative to the discharge chute; and (iii) a closed position in which the gate extends in a direction perpendicular to the front wall of the discharge chute to substantially block the discharge opening. 14. The mower of claim 13, wherein the gate is pivotally supported on the top wall of the discharge chute. 15. The mower of claim 13, wherein the positions of the gate are controlled by a pivotal handle carried on the mower, and wherein some portion of the handle acts as a visual indicator whose position on the mower visually mimics the position of the gate within the discharge chute.