Patent ID: 6910324

Claim:
A rotary cutting deck for a mower, which comprises: (a) a cutting deck having dual, side-by-side, downwardly facing cutting chambers which are open to one another generally over a central portion of the cutting deck; (b) a cutting blade contained in each cutting chamber, wherein each cutting blade is rotatable about a substantially vertical axis in a horizontal cutting plane to cut grass and create grass clippings, wherein the cutting blades in the dual chambers rotate in opposite directions which are chosen so that the grass clippings created by the cutting blades merge together in a stream of grass clippings that is directed rearwardly on the cutting deck between the rotational axes of the cutting blades; (c) a rearwardly extending exit tunnel located on the central portion of the cutting deck between the rotational axes of the cutting blades in a position to intercept the grass clipping stream created by the cutting blades; (d) a pivotal mulch door inside the exit tunnel for pivotal movement between a first position in which the exit tunnel is open and a second position in which the exit tunnel is closed, whereby the exit tunnel can be open in the first position of the mulch door to provide a discharge/collection mode of operation or can be closed in the second position of the mulch door to provide a mulching mode of operation; (e) a laterally extending pivot shaft rotatably carried on the central portion of the cutting deck adjacent the exit tunnel, the pivot shaft being connected to the mulch door for pivoting the mulch door within the exit tunnel between the first and second positions thereof as the pivot shaft rotates in opposite directions relative to the cutting deck; and (f) a laterally extending arm having an inner end overlying the central portion of the cutting deck with the inner end of the arm being fixed to the pivot shaft for rotating the pivot shaft, the arm having an outer end laterally separated from the inner end of the arm and from the mulch door and the exit tunnel with the outer end of the arm being located adjacent one side of the cutting deck when the inner end of the arm overlies the central portion of the cutting deck, the outer end of the arm carrying a member that is selectively operable by a user to rotate the arm and thus the pivot shaft from a position remote from the exit tunnel and the mulch door along the one side of the cutting deck.