Patent ID: 7401456

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a mower deck having a top surface and left, center and right cutting chambers under the top surface; a generally vertical spindle extending into each cutting chamber with a rotary cutting blade attached to a lower end of each spindle and a pulley attached to an upper end of each spindle; an endless belt engaging the pulleys on the upper end of each spindle to rotate the rotary cutting blades; controls to move the left and right cutting chambers between a retracted position and an extended position with respect to the center cutting chamber while maintaining engagement between the endless belt and the pulleys on the upper ends of the spindles; and hydraulic cylinders actuated by the controls and attached to each of the left and right cutting chambers to selectively shift horizontally both of the left and right cutting chambers, or either of the left and right cutting chambers, between the retracted and extended positions, or to intermediate positions between the retracted and extended positions.