Patent ID: 8112976
Filing Date: 2012-02-14
Classification: A01D,Y10S

Abstract:
1. An improved rotary cutting deck having at least one rotary cutting blade for mowing grass, wherein the improvement relates to a roller striper for pressing or laying down cut grass in a stripe behind the cutting deck, which comprises: (a) a frame movably carried on a rear of the cutting deck; (b) a roller body rotatably carried on the frame for rotation about a substantially horizontal rotational axis; (c) a spring acting between the cutting deck and the frame for pressing downwardly on the frame with a force sufficient to cause the roller body to lay the cut grass down; (d) a bracket that is fixed to the cutting deck with the bracket having a vertical wall and a horizontal top wall containing a fore-and-aft extending longitudinal slot, wherein the slot has a narrower front portion and a wider rear portion; and (e) a handle that is pivotally mounted on the vertical wall of the bracket by a substantially horizontal pivot pin with a compression spring being located around the pivot pin with the spring acting between the vertical wall of the bracket and one side of the handle to exert a lateral biasing force against the handle, wherein the handle has a sufficiently loose fit on the pivot pin to allow the handle to be laterally rocked by a user against the lateral bias of the compression spring to permit the user to selectively move the handle laterally relative to the wider rear portion of the slot, wherein the handle is operatively connected to the frame selectively vertically moving the frame and the roller body relative to the cutting deck from a lowered operative position relative to the cutting deck in which the roller body engages the ground to a raised non-operative position relative to the cutting deck in which the roller body is above and out of contact with the ground, wherein the handle is within the narrower front portion of the slot when the roller body is in the lowered operative position thereof and is positively latched within the wider rear portion of the slot when the roller body is in the raised non-operative position to positively retain the roller body in the raised non-operative position, and wherein an upper end of the handle is sufficiently adjacent and close to an operator's seat on a lawn mower that carries the cutting deck to permit an operator to reach the upper end of the handle and move the handle while the operator is seated on the operator's seat.