Lawn grooming and rolling accessories for lawn mowers

This invention provides improved lawn rolling equipment for grooming lawns. To resolve the "Lazarus" effect of recovery of bent over grass stems that make a freshly mowed lawn look unkempt and ragged, a lawn mower accessory is provided with a roller that is manually bistably positioned between a rolling-on-the-lawn-surface working position and a retracted-off-the-lawn-surface idling position so that mowing may be selectively performed with or without the accompanying rolling step. The prior art has not provided simple, inexpensive equipment, such as here provided, that can improve the appearance of lawns even when double mowed by the criss-cross method because there is a higher probability of removing unwanted grain and uneven grass lengths caused by grass stems bent in one direction by the rolling that revive after mowing to introduce graininess and untidiness. This invention overcomes prior art problems introduced by fully engaged lawn rollers carried by lawn mowers and those spring biased downwardly into the lawn, which facilitate scalping or the temporary bending and creasing of grass stems which thereafter revive to provide a grain and unkempt appearance that is particularly intolerable on golf greens or formal gardens, for example.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to lawn mowing methods and apparatus, and more 
particularly it relates to grooming of lawns by roller accessories carried 
by lawn mowers. 
BACKGROUND ART 
It has long been known that the rolling of lawns is beneficial in grooming 
lawns for both short term and long term benefits. It is particularly 
important to roll lawns in such critical areas as golf greens and formal 
gardens, etc. 
However the prior art is deficient in several ways. Roller attachments 
carried by lawn mowers, either power driven or manually pushed tend to 
complicate the machinery and significantly increase the cost of the 
mowers. Although some large and expensive commercial mowers may provide 
lawn rollers, it is particularly difficult to find roller attachments for 
small-sized, hand-steered-from-the-rear types of lawn mowers of the kind 
that are quite useful for homes and in small grassy areas of golf greens 
or formal gardens. The smaller inexpensive mowers that are in use for home 
lawns have not conventionally had any provisions for attachment of roller 
accessories. 
As a matter of fact, even when rollers are provided on lawn mowers they may 
be detrimental to lawn grooming rather than beneficial. That is because 
there is rarely any provision for mowing without rolling at the same time. 
Conventionally the rollers themselves have constituted the mower drive 
wheels in power driven mowers, for example. 
Such mowers with fixed in place rollers under some widely used methods of 
cutting and grooming lawns tend to end up with an unkempt appearance and a 
grainy structure that is unacceptable for example on golf greens. Consider 
the problems they introduce when the special grooming method of double 
mowing in criss-cross patterns is used to reduce the graininess caused in 
particular when mower rotary blades get dull or under other special 
conditions causing the blades to knock over the grass stems temporarily, 
so that they can later by the "Lazarus" effect revive and destroy the 
effect of an evenly trimmed grass length, or a carefully groomed grain 
pattern, so important for example on golf greens. 
Consider the adverse role that the continuously engaged lawn roller has in 
this respect. In the first of two swaths in the popular criss-cross 
double-cut pattern, if a roller is used it tends to crease the grass stems 
which are not cut off against the ground long enough that the second swath 
does not encounter stiffly standing grass stems that cuts evenly and 
completely. Thus the end result is not likely to be evenly trimmed grass 
having a constant known height and grain pattern. 
Also consider the effect of a roller that encounters a rock, a root or a 
small sized mound in the lawn surface. If that roller is firmly attached 
to the lawn mower body or is spring biased thereto to press down upon the 
lawn surface, the tendency is for the mower body to tilt and unevenly 
scalp the grass with rotary blade type mowers. 
Furthermore, roller type mowers tend to be factory designed and therefore 
are quite expensive special purpose lawnmowers with a high cost which is 
out of reach to the large mass of homeowners. Thus, inexpensive roller 
mounts and preferably those that might be retrofit upon existing hand 
steered mowers of the type used by home owners are not found in the prior 
art. 
Accordingly it is a general object of this invention to improve the state 
of the art by overcoming the aforesaid problems of the prior art. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
This invention provides improved lawn rolling equipment for grooming lawns. 
It is a general objective of the present invention to improve the 
functional performance of lawn mowers that carry lawn rollers. 
A more specific object is to provide operator controlled equipment for 
selectively permitting a lawn to be rolled when mowing. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be found 
throughout the following description, claims and drawings. 
For example, to resolve the "Lazarus" effect of recovery of grass stems 
bent over by the roller that make a freshly mowed lawn look unkempt and 
ragged, a lawn mower accessory is provided with a roller that is manually 
actuated into bistable positions where the roller may be retracted into an 
off-the-lawn position so that mowing may be done under control of the 
operator with or without the accompanying rolling step, to thus eliminate 
the rolling step when undesirable or not effective. 
The prior art has not provided simple, inexpensive equipment, such as here 
provided, that can improve the groomed condition of lawns double mowed by 
the criss-cross method with more probability of removing grain and uneven 
grass lengths caused by grass stems that are bent over temporarily by a 
first rolling step to revive and straighten up after mowing has 
terminated. In such cases the prior art fully engaged lawn rollers carried 
by lawn mowers facilitate the temporary bending and creasing of grass 
stems which tend thereafter to revive with a grain and unkempt appearance 
that is particularly intolerable on golf greens, for example. Thus, the 
mower provided by this invention permits the operator to selectively move 
the roller into bistable positions off and on the lawn dynamically as the 
lawn is being mowed, thereby permitting criss-cross double-mowing without 
producing creased grass stems with the roller in the first pass over the 
lawn. 
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a lawn roller assembly may be 
retrofit upon an inexpensive steer-from-behind mower. Thus a pivotable 
bracket assembly attaches lever arms to each end of the roller and 
pivotably mounts the roller upon the mower frame. A cable attached to one 
lever arm roller junction is movably secured to move along the mower 
handle assembly to its other end, which is attached to a bistable position 
latching lever located on the mower handle for ready manual access by the 
operator as the lawn is being mowed. 
The pivotable bracket permits the roller to rest upon the lawn surface by 
weight of gravity. Thus the roller can conform to aberrations in the 
contour of the lawn surface without a tendency to tilt the mower frame in 
a manner that could scalp the lawn.

THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
FIG. 1 illustrates the simple mechanism afforded by this invention to 
convert or retrofit an inexpensive home lawn type mower 12 into a lawn 
grooming appliance by pivotably mounting upon the movable framework of the 
mower a weighted lawn roller 10. The roller 10 is positioned at the rear 
of the lawnmower 12 for rolling the lawn after it is mowed thereby to 
prevent any roller effect of bending or creasing the stems in a manner 
that could invite later recovery into a standing position making the lawn 
untidy or giving it a random or unplanned grain structure. 
The ends of the roller 10 are journalled to respective pivot lever arms 14, 
15, which in turn are journalled at pivot points 16, 17 to the framework 
of mower 12. Thus, without constraints provided by the cable 20 attached 
to a fitting 21 at one end of the roller 12, the roller freely pivots to 
ride upon the lawn surface by force of gravity. 
However during the course of mowing a lawn, the bistable position of the 
roller 10 is under control of the operator for pivotal movement into a 
retracted state latched in position off the lawn surface so that the mower 
is permitted to mow the lawn without rolling it simultaneously. For this 
purpose the cable 20 freely slides in collars 24, 25 affixed to one side 
rod of the handle assembly 26. Thus the manually accessible control lever 
28 moves the roller into two bistable positions respectively riding on the 
lawn surface and retracted into a latched position off the lawn surface by 
means of a latching detent device in the control box 29. The phantom 
showing of the mower 12 emphasizes the retrofit nature of the roller 
accessory in an inexpensive and substantially universal format that can be 
simply adapted to fit many varieties of commercial mowers in the 
marketplace. 
The embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is mounted by means of a set of 
brackets 30, 31 affixed to the framework of lawnmower 12 having a rotary 
cutting blade 32 driven by a motor 35 at a position that does not 
interfere with the rear wheels 33, 34. As shown in FIG. 3, the roller 10 
is retracted into a stable latched position that pivots it up and away 
from the lawn surface 40, thus permitting the mower to mow grass either: 
(1) in the mowing mode of operation only, or (2) in the rolling and 
grooming mode of operation at the will of the operator. For manipulation 
of the handle 28, it is positioned in a handy position for use by the 
operator as the lawn is being mowed and the operator steers the mower by 
way of the handle 26 extending from the rear of the mower 12. 
FIGS. 4 and 5 show typical simple journalling hardware for mounting the 
pivotable roller lever assembly 41. Thus, the pivot bolt 43 has a 
journalling shank 44 that mates into the levers 14, 15 at the lawnmower 
body end. This bolt is simply affixed to the brackets 30, 31 by means of 
nut 45 and accompanying lock washer or the like. The corresponding 
journalling pivot bolt 21 has the eyelet 49 for attachment of the cable 20 
to the roller mechanism for its pivotal movement between the bistable 
positions on and off the lawn. 
An equivalent operator controlled bistable mount may be made upon other 
mower arrangements including power driven or riding mowers to give the 
operator control of two modes of mower operation, namely mowing only and 
grooming by combined mowing and rolling. 
To better understand the improvement in grooming a lawn afforded by this 
invention, reference is made to FIG. 6, which represents an isolated 
section of a lawn that has been mowed in a double-mowed criss-cross mowing 
pattern. The arrows 60 thus represent the direction of mower movement back 
and forth in a first cutting pattern slanted between upper left and lower 
right. A second cutting pattern as represented by arrows 61 illustrates 
the direction of a mower moving back and forth in the columns slanted 
between lower left and upper right. 
If the first pass of this double pass mowing method is done with the 
roller, there would be a tendency to bend over and crease grass stems. 
Some of these stems, then can revive after the second mowing pass is 
completed and result in untidy appearance and can introduce an unplanned 
grain structure defeating the purpose of criss-cross mowing patterns in 
both establishing a known grain pattern and uniform grass length. Thus, 
with the bistable positionable lawn roller provided by this invention, the 
operator may adjudge the proper times for using the roller and for cutting 
without rolling. 
It is to be recognized therefore that the state of the art is advanced by 
this invention and therefore those features of novelty representative of 
the nature and spirit of the invention are set forth with particularity in 
the following claims.