Patent ID: 7263819

Claim:
A lawn mower having a mower unit and a grass discharge conduit extending rearwardly therefrom, the lawn mower comprising: a grass collecting container support; at least one grass collecting container mounted on the container support and having an upper end opening edge for receiving mowed grass through the conduit; a guide hood for covering the grass collecting container from the above; a support portion for supporting the guide hood while allowing its displacement from a closed position to a fully-opened position; a fixed sealing plate provided to the grass collecting container support in the vicinity of the support portion; and a movable sealing plate provided to the guide hood in the vicinity of the support portion; wherein the movable sealing plate is disposed in opposition to the fixed sealing plate, and a free end of the movable sealing plate, which is displaceable in association with a displacement of the guide hood, approaches the fixed sealing plate at least as the guide hood approaches the fully-opened position, said support portion is configured as a pivot axis and a free end of said movable sealing plate is displaced along an arcuate path about said pivot axis in association with the opening/closing displacement of the guide hood and the free end of said movable sealing plate is a lower end of the movable sealing plate, and further wherein a relative position of the movable sealing plate with respect to the pivot axis is in a manner that: the lower end of the movable sealing plate is located adjacent a top face of the fixed sealing plate at a location rearwardly with respect to the pivot axis when the guide hood is in the closed position, and the lower end of the movable sealing plate is located adjacent a top face of the fixed sealing plate at a location forwardly with respect to the pivot axis when the guide hood is in the opened position.