Patent ID: 8701377

Claim:
A walk power mower, which comprises: (a) a mower deck having a downwardly facing cutting chamber which encloses a pair of rotary cutting blades, wherein the blades are arranged substantially directly side-by-side relative to one another and rotate in a substantially common plane with the orbits of the blades intersecting in a central portion of the cutting chamber to collectively cut an unbroken swath of grass that is wider than a width of either blade alone; (b) a plurality of ground engaging wheels carried on the mower deck for supporting the mower deck for rolling over the ground; (c) an upwardly and rearwardly extending handle assembly carried on the mower deck to permit an operator who is walking on the ground behind the mower deck to grip the handle assembly to guide and manipulate the mower deck during movement of the mower deck; (d) a power source carried atop the mower deck for rotating the cutting blades; (e) a drive system operatively connected to the power source and to the blades for rotating the blades in a timed, out of phase relationship relative to one another so that the blades do not hit one another as they rotate, the timed drive system including a pair of vertical spindles carrying the blades; (f) wherein the mower deck comprises: (i) a mount for the power source, the mount having a U-shaped, downwardly facing mounting deck having a top wall to which the power source is fixed, the top wall having an opening for receiving a vertically extending drive shaft of the power source with the drive shaft having a lower end that terminates below the top wall of the mounting deck, the mount further having a substantially horizontal apron that extends forwardly from the mounting deck with the apron having a pair of laterally spaced openings for receiving the spindles of the drive system, wherein the mount including the mounting deck and apron is cast as an integral, one-piece part from metal; (ii) a deck shell that includes a top wall having a downwardly extending peripheral sidewall that forms the cutting chamber, the deck shell having a pair of laterally spaced spindle receiving openings that are aligned beneath the openings in the apron of the mount when the deck shell is fixed to the mount, the deck shell being stamped out of metal as an integral, one-piece part; (iii) wherein the mount and the deck shell are fixed to one another; and (iv) wherein the timed drive system is supported by the apron of the mount so that forces arising from operation of the timed drive system are borne by the mount to help prevent any warping or deformation in the deck shell.