Patent ID: 7934364

Claim:
A mower, which comprises: (a) a frame supported for movement over the ground; (b) a plurality of individual reel cutting units carried on the frame to be propelled by the frame over the ground, wherein each cutting unit is individually supported for rolling over the ground by at least one ground engaging member carried on each cutting unit, wherein each cutting unit further comprises: (i) a cutting unit frame having a to wall and a pair of laterally spaced side walls; (ii) a reel having a plurality of blades, the reel being rotatably journalled between the side walls and positioned beneath the top wall of the cutting unit frame; and (iii) a bedknife secured to the cutting unit frame to be positioned adjacent the reel such that grass is swept by the blades of the reel against the bedknife to be cut by the bedknife; and (c) an individual mass damper mounted on the cutting unit frame of each one of the individual cutting units, wherein each mass damper comprises an autonomous body that is coupled to the cutting unit frame by a pair of elastomeric couplers which permit the body to move relative to the cutting unit frame and with the body having a mass and the couplers having a stiffness that is chosen to produce a vertical movement of the body of the mass damper that counters a vertical bouncing or bobbing of the cutting unit as the cutting unit rolls over the ground, wherein the body is generally U-shaped and comprises a pair of forwardly extending attachment arms located on either end of a central bar shaped portion with one attachment arm being secured to each of the elastomeric couplers, the central bar shaped portion of the body being located below and behind the to wall of the cutting unit frame when the body is mounted by the attachment arms thereof to the couplers to facilitate the connection of the cutting unit frame to the frame of the mower.