Patent ID: 6854250

Claim:
A rotary mower apparatus adapted for attachment to a tractor for towing along the ground in an operating travel direction, the apparatus comprising: a mower deck; a plurality of rear wheels mounted behind the mower deck and at least one front wheel mounted ahead of the mower deck such that the mower deck tides along the ground on the wheels; a cutting blade element rotatably mounted under the mower dock so as to rotate about a substantially vertical blade axis; a floating hitch member pivotally attached at a mower end thereof to a top portion of the mower deck so as to pivot about a substantially vertical mower axis, and about a substantially horizontal mower axis oriented transversely to the floating hitch member wherein the horizontal mower axis intersects the vertical mower axis at a point above the mower deck, and adapted for pivotal attachment at a tow end thereof to the tractor about a substantially vertical tow axis, the attachment at the ends of the floating hitch member further allowing the floating hitch member and mower deck to float with respect to the tractor to follow contours of the ground; a drive adapted for connection to the tractor and operative to transfer power from the tractor to rotate the cutting blade clement; a mower angle control operative to selectively pivot the floating hitch member about the vertical mower axis with respect to the mower deck; wherein the drive comprises a lower vertical drive shaft having a rotational axis coincidental with the vertical mower axis and operatively connected at a bottom end thereof to the cutting blade element, and an upper vertical drive shaft connected at a bottom end thereof to a top end of the lower vertical drive shaft by a double universal joint, and wherein the horizontal mower axis is located substantially in the center of the double universal joint.