Patent ID: 7469525

Claim:
A flexible guard on a riding mower with a chassis and a mower deck vertically movable relative to the chassis between a highest cutting position closest to the chassis and a lowest cutting position furthest from the chassis, the flexible guard being for protecting and blocking of contact with a plurality of moveable parts of riding mower located between the chassis and the mower deck, comprising: a piece of flexible material; a first support attaching the piece of flexible material to the chassis at a location beneath the chassis; and a second support attaching the piece of flexible material to the mower deck at a location above the mower deck, the first support is configured to provide substantially complete contact between the piece of flexible material and a contour of the chassis and the second support is configured to provide substantially complete contact between the piece of flexible material and a contour of the mower deck to protect and to substantially completely block contact with the plurality of moveable parts within the flexible guard, the piece of flexible material has a dimension measured in the direction between the chassis and the mower deck that is at least as large as the distance between the chassis and the mower deck when the mower deck is at the lowest cutting position furthest from the chassis such that the flexible material is flexed when the mower deck is at any position within a range bounded by the highest cutting position and the lowest cutting position.