초록 ▼

A reel gang mower has a row of front reel cutting units and a row of rear reel cutting units that cut an unbroken swath of grass in each pass. Each cutting unit is connected for propulsion to the mower frame by a four-bar linkage having front and rear pivot links that converge towards a focal point

A reel gang mower has a row of front reel cutting units and a row of rear reel cutting units that cut an unbroken swath of grass in each pass. Each cutting unit is connected for propulsion to the mower frame by a four-bar linkage having front and rear pivot links that converge towards a focal point that establishes a virtual pull point through which propulsive force acts on the cutting unit. The rear pivot links can attach to the mower frame at a selected one of different attachment points to thereby longitudinally shift the pull point fore-and-aft relative to the center of gravity of the cutting unit, thus changing the fore-and-aft weight distribution. The rear cutting units in the gang can be configured to have a tail heavy weight distribution relative to the front cutting units to help eliminate marking in the overlap areas between the cutting units.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An improved reel gang mower having a frame, a plurality of reel cutting units carried on the frame in a gang configuration, each of the reel cutting units comprising a rotatable reel, a bedknife and front and rear rollers for supporting the reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground, a linkage f

1. An improved reel gang mower having a frame, a plurality of reel cutting units carried on the frame in a gang configuration, each of the reel cutting units comprising a rotatable reel, a bedknife and front and rear rollers for supporting the reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground, a linkage for each reel cutting unit comprising at least one pivot link having a first pivot connection between the at least one pivot link and the reel cutting unit and a second pivot connection between the at least one pivot link and the frame with the linkage establishing a pull point through which propulsive force from the frame is transmitted to the reel cutting unit for propelling the reel cutting unit, wherein the improvement comprises: at least one connection point of the linkage for at least one reel cutting unit being selectively movable by a user in a fore-and-aft direction to provide a plurality of alternatively usable and different pull point locations for the at least one reel cutting unit which pull point locations are at different fore-and-aft locations relative to a center of gravity of the at least one reel cutting unit such that different fore-and-aft weight distributions between the front and rear rollers of the at least one reel cutting unit are provided, whereby the user selectively moves the at least one connection point to change or adjust the fore-and-aft weight distribution on the at least one reel cutting unit to achieve different cutting results in different grass conditions. 2. The gang mower of claim 1, wherein there are at least two pull point locations comprising: (a) a first pull point located relative to the center of gravity such that a first substantially balanced fore-and-aft weight distribution is provided; and(b) a second pull point located further forwardly relative to the center of gravity than the first pull point such that a tail heavy fore-and-aft weight distribution is provided in which the front roller sees less weight and the rear roller sees more weight than the amounts of weight they see when the first pull point is used when the cutting unit is cutting grass and the front and rear rollers are in contact with the ground. 3. The gang mower of claim 2, wherein the reel cutting units are disposed in a gang configuration comprising a row of front cutting units and at least one staggered rear cutting unit with the rear cutting unit(s) covering gaps between the front cutting units and with the rear cutting unit(s) being overlapped in areas with the front cutting units such that the front and rear cutting units collectively cut an unbroken swath of grass, and wherein the at least one reel cutting unit comprises the rear cutting unit(s) with the at least one connection points in the linkages of the rear cutting unit(s) having been moved by the user to use the second pull point in each of the rear cutting unit(s) to improve the aftercut appearance of the cut grass swath when cutting grass in grass conditions in which marks would otherwise be left in the overlap areas between the front and rear cutting units. 4. The gang mower of claim 2, further including at least a third pull point location located further rearwardly relative to the center of gravity than the first pull point and at least slightly behind the center of gravity such that a nose heavy fore-and-aft weight distribution is provided in which the front roller sees more weight and the rear roller sees less weight than the amounts of weight they see when the first pull point is used when the cutting unit is cutting grass and the front and rear rollers are in contact with the ground. 5. The gang mower of claim 4, wherein the propulsive force is provided on the at least one reel cutting unit by a pair of longitudinally spaced, front and rear pivot links that comprise the linkage, wherein the front and rear pivot links converge towards one another as the pivot links extend downwardly from the frame of the gang mower to the at least one reel cutting unit, and wherein the first, second and third pull points are virtual pull points formed by the intersection of axes along which the front and rear pivot links extend. 6. The gang mower of claim 5, wherein one end of at least one of the pivot links comprises the movable connection point of the linkage and connects to either the frame of the gang mower or the at least one reel cutting unit in one of a plurality of longitudinally spaced attachment holes to change the fore-and-aft location of the intersection of the pivot link axes to thereby provide the different pull point locations, the pull point locations changing depending on which attachment hole is used. 7. The gang mower of claim 6, wherein a top end of the rear pivot link attaches to the frame of the gang mower in one of the plurality of attachment holes to change the pull point locations. 8. The gang mower of claim 1, wherein the alternatively usable pull point locations are a plurality of discretely different pull point locations. 9. The gang mower of claim 8, wherein the discretely different pull point locations are provided by a plurality of fore-and-aft spaced holes provided on either the frame of the gang mower or on the at least one reel cutting unit, and wherein one end of the at least one pivot link comprises the movable connection point by virtue of being received in one of the fore-and-aft spaced holes to choose a particular pull point location. 10. The gang mower of claim 1, wherein each linkage connects each reel cutting unit to a cutting unit carrier frame provided on a lift arm of the gang mower, the lift arm being attached to the frame of the gang mower. 11. An improved reel gang mower of the type having a plurality of laterally spaced front reel cutting units having lateral gaps therebetween, each gap being covered by a rear reel cutting unit that spans the gap and that extends beyond opposite sides of a pair of adjacent front cutting units to also overlap by an overlap distance portions of the spaced front cutting units such that all the front and rear cutting units collectively cut an unbroken swath of grass during a single pass of the mower, each of the front and rear reel cutting units having front and rear rollers engaging the ground for independently supporting each reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground as the reel cutting units are cutting grass, wherein the improvement comprises: (a) a first pivot linkage that connects the front reel cutting units to a frame of the reel gang mower for propelling the front reel cutting units in a forward and rearward direction as the frame of the reel gang mower moves forwardly and rearwardly, the first pivot linkage providing a first pull point on the front cutting units that establishes a first fore-and-aft weight distribution between the front and rear rollers as the front reel cutting units are cutting grass; and(b) a second pivot linkage that connects the rear reel cutting units to the frame of the reel gang mower for propelling the rear reel cutting units in a forward and rearward direction as the frame of the reel gang mower moves forwardly and rearwardly, the second pivot linkage providing a second pull point on the rear cutting units that establishes a second fore-and-aft weight distribution in which the front roller sees less weight and the rear roller sees more weight than they do in the front reel cutting units as the rear reel cutting units are cutting grass, whereby the lighter front roller weight on the rear reel cutting units helps eliminate or minimize marking in the overlap areas between the front and rear reel cutting units. 12. The gang mower of claim 11, wherein the first second pivot linkage of each rear reel cutting unit is selectively reconfigurable by a user into at least two different first and second orientations with the first orientation providing a pull point that is substantially the same as the pull points of the front cutting units and the second orientation providing the second pull point. 13. The gang mower of claim 12, wherein each reconfigurable second pivot linkage changes orientation depending upon where one end of the second pivot linkage is connected to either the frame of the reel gang mower or to the rear reel cutting units, a plurality of attachment holes being provided for the one end of the second pivot linkages with use of one hole providing the first orientation and use of a different hole providing the second orientation. 14. An improved reel gang mower having a frame, a plurality of reel cutting units carried on the frame in a gang configuration, each of the reel cutting units comprising a rotatable reel, a bedknife and front and rear rollers for supporting the reel cutting unit for rolling on the ground, a linkage for connecting each reel cutting unit for propulsion to the frame with the linkage establishing a pull point through which propulsive force from the frame is transmitted to the reel cutting unit for propelling the reel cutting unit, wherein the improvement comprises: (a) the linkage of at least one reel cutting unit comprising a pair of fore-and-aft spaced, front and rear pivot links whose top ends are pivotally connected to the frame of the gang mower and whose bottom ends are pivotally connected to the at least one reel cutting unit, wherein the front and rear pivot links converge towards one another as the pivot links extend downwardly from the frame of the gang mower to the at least one reel cutting unit to form a virtual pull point at the intersection of axes along which the front and rear pivot links extend, and(b) a plurality of alternatively usable connection points for pivotally connecting at least one end of at least one pivot link to either the frame of the gang mower or to the at least one reel cutting unit to provide a plurality of alternatively usable and different virtual pull point locations for the at least one reel cutting unit, wherein the different virtual pull point locations are at different fore-and-aft locations relative to a center of gravity of the at least one reel to provide different fore-and-aft weight distributions between the front and rear rollers of the at least one reel cutting unit, and whereby a user can selectively vary the fore-and-aft weight distribution between the front and rear rollers of the at least one reel cutting unit to achieve different cutting results in different grass conditions by varying which of the alternatively usable connection points are being used to connect to the at least one end of the at least one pivot link. 15. The gang mower of claim 14, wherein the plurality of reel cutting units comprise at least one front reel cutting unit and at least one rear reel cutting unit that trails behind the front reel cutting unit in a fore-and-aft direction and that is at least partially staggered in a lateral direction relative to the front reel cutting unit such that a cutting swath cut by the rear reel cutting unit at least partially extends laterally beyond a cutting swath cut by the front reel cutting unit, and wherein the at least one reel cutting unit having the plurality of alternatively usable connection points comprises the rear reel cutting unit. 16. The gang mower of claim 15, wherein the plurality of alternatively usable connection points is provided in the frame of the gang mower with any one of the connection points being used at any one time for receiving the upper end of the rear pivot link.