Patent ID: 7712294

Claim:
A power lawn mower including a deck lift system for raising and lowering a cutter deck assembly of the mower comprising: a pivotal deck lift lever for selectively raising and lowering the cutter deck assembly of the mower when the lever is pivoted about a pivot axis, a latch pin being connected to the deck lift lever for movement therewith; a pivotal latch adapted to engage the latch pin; wherein, when the latch is not contacting the latch pin, a biasing member applies a biasing force against the latch to position the latch in a first position so that the latch is ready to engage the latch pin should an operator raise the cutter deck assembly; wherein, when the deck lift lever is moved in a first direction to a first extent from a grass cutting position, the latch engages and latches the latch pin in order to hold the cutter deck assembly in a raised position, and when the deck lift lever is moved still further to a second extent in the same first direction force applied against the latch causes the latch to become unlatched from the latch pin thereby releasing the latch pin; wherein, when weight of the cutter deck assembly causes the lever to move in an opposite second direction along with the latch pin after the latch pin has been released by the latch, the latch is disengaged with the latch pin and the biasing member automatically resets the latch to the first position, and the height of the cutter deck assembly is lowered to a desired grass cutting height as the lever moves in the second direction and comes into contact with a stop member which is for maintaining a grass cutting height of the cutter deck assembly; and wherein the latch includes first and second detents defined adjacent to one another along an edge of the latch, and wherein the biasing member engages the first detent when the latch is in the first position and the latch pin is not engaged with the latch, and the biasing member moves at least partially into the second detent when the deck lift lever is moved to the second extent in the same first direction.