Patent ID: 8156722

Claim:
A mower comprising: a mower deck; a plurality of cutting chambers mutually communicated and arranged in a lateral direction within the mower deck, each of the cutting chambers is bounded by a peripheral wall thereof; a blade mounted in each of the cutting chambers to be rotatable about a vertical axis; a grass clippings guide in form of a vertical wall disposed in an upper area within the cutting chamber, to guide the grass clippings flowing within the cutting chamber toward a center of rotation of the blade, the grass clippings guide forming, in plan view, a wedge-shaped space extending from the peripheral wall toward the center of rotation of the blade, the wedge-shaped space having a forward end and a rear end defined with respect to a blade-rotating direction, a bottom side defined in opposition to the blade, and a width defined with respect to the blade-radial direction, the width being increased as the wedge-shaped space extends from the forward end toward the rear end; and a shield member disposed between the grass clippings guide and the peripheral wall of the cutting chamber and disposed in the wedge-shaped space, the shield member having a rear wall and a bottom plate, the rear wall closing the rear end of the wedge-shaped space and the bottom plate closing the bottom side of the wedge-shaped space to prevent grass clippings from entering the wedge-shaped space.