Quick-change blade system

1. A lawn care vehicle comprising:

a rotatable shaft;

a cutting deck housing at least one blade; and

a blade mount operably coupled to the rotatable shaft and configured to releasably engage the at least one blade, the blade mount comprising:

a blade mount base comprising:

an orifice in a center portion of the blade mount base in which a bolt is configured to pass in order to operably couple the blade mount base to the rotatable shaft; and

sidewalls that extend in a direction substantially parallel to a direction of extension of the rotatable shaft to form a recess, wherein the recess is configured to releasably receive a shaped protrusion attached to the at least one blade, and wherein the shaped protrusion comprises an opening for receiving a head of the bolt upon the recess releasably receiving the shaped protrusion; and

a blade release assembly operably coupled to the blade mount base such that the blade release assembly extends around a circumference of the sidewalls of the blade mount base,

wherein the blade release assembly is configured to facilitate holding the shaped protrusion within the recess in a first position of the blade release assembly and to release the shaped protrusion responsive to movement of the blade release assembly to a second position,

wherein the blade release assembly, the recess, and the shaped protrusion are disposed between the at least one blade and the rotatable shaft,

wherein the shaped protrusion comprises a pin reception slot disposed at an outer surface thereof, the pin reception slot being configured to receive a retractable pin of the blade release assembly, the retractable pin retracting from the pin reception slot to release the shaped protrusion from the blade mount and extending into the pin reception slot to hold the shaped protrusion to the blade mount.

2. The lawn care vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the shaped protrusion extends substantially perpendicularly away from a surface of the at least one blade and tapers inwardly along a length of the shaped protrusion extending away from the surface.

3. The lawn care vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the recess is shaped to correspond to a shape of the shaped protrusion.

4. The lawn care vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the pin reception slot comprises a first pin reception slot disposed at one side of an outer surface of the shaped protrusion and a second pin reception slot disposed at an opposite side of the outer surface of the shaped protrusion, wherein the first and second pin reception slots are configured to receive respective ones of a first retractable pin and a second retractable pin of the blade release assembly, the first and second retractable pins retracting from the first and second pin reception slots, respectively, to release the shaped protrusion from the blade mount and extending into the first and second pin reception slots, respectively, to hold the shaped protrusion to the blade mount.

5. The lawn care vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the retractable pin is disposed within a pin channel of the blade mount such that the retractable pin is moved within the pin channel based on movement of the blade release assembly between the first position and the second position.

6. The lawn care vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the pin channel is slanted relative to a plane in which the at least one blade lies responsive to mounting of the at least one blade in the blade mount.

7. The lawn care vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the retractable pin is slideable within the pin channel such that at least a middle portion of the retractable pin extends into the recess while ends of the retractable pin remain in the pin channel over a range of travel of the retractable pin within the pin channel.

8. The lawn care vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the pin channel terminates at the pin reception slot responsive to insertion of the shaped protrusion into the recess, and wherein movement of the blade release assembly from the first position to the second position causes the retractable pin to be removed from the pin reception slot.

9. The lawn care vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the pin channel is positioned to correspond to the pin reception slot responsive to insertion of the shaped protrusion into the recess, and wherein the retractable pin is biased to be inserted into the pin reception slot unless the blade release assembly is moved to the second position.

10. A blade mount for a lawn care vehicle, the blade mount comprising:

a blade mount base disposed to operably engage a rotatable shaft of the lawn care vehicle at a center of the blade mount base, the blade mount base comprising:

an orifice in a center portion of the blade mount base in which a bolt is configured to pass in order to operably engage the blade mount base to the rotatable shaft; and

sidewalls that extend in a direction substantially parallel to a direction of extension of the rotatable shaft to form a recess, wherein the recess is configured to releasably receive a shaped protrusion attached to a blade, and wherein the shaped protrusion comprises an opening for receiving a head of the bolt upon the recess releasably receiving the shaped protrusion; and

a blade release assembly operably coupled to the blade mount base such that it the blade release assembly extends around a circumference of the sidewalls of the blade mount base,

wherein the blade release assembly is configured to facilitate holding the shaped protrusion within the recess in a first position of the blade release assembly and to release the shaped protrusion when the blade release assembly moves to a second position responsive to application of a force substantially parallel to the direction of extension of the rotatable shaft, and

wherein the blade release assembly is configured to force movement of a retractable pin through a pin channel disposed in the blade mount base such that ends of the retractable pin remain in the pin channel while a middle portion of the retractable pin engages a pin reception slot of the blade to hold the blade proximate to the blade mount base responsive to the blade release assembly being in the first position.

11. The blade mount of claim 10 , wherein the retractable pin is removed from the pin reception slot responsive to movement of the blade release assembly to the second position.

12. The blade mount of claim 10 , wherein the pin channel is positioned to correspond to the pin reception slot responsive to insertion of the shaped protrusion into the recess, and wherein movement of the blade release assembly from the first position to the second position causes the retractable pin to be removed from the pin reception slot.

13. The blade mount of claim 10 , wherein the pin channel is positioned to correspond to the pin reception slot responsive to insertion of the shaped protrusion into the recess, and wherein the retractable pin is biased to be inserted into the pin reception slot unless the blade release assembly is moved to the second position.

14. The blade mount of claim 10 , wherein the blade release assembly is biased to be in the first position and a force exerted by an operator is required to overcome biasing of the blade release assembly to move the blade release assembly to the second position.