Height of cut adjustment system for mower cutting deck
A mower carrying a rotary cutting deck has a height of cut system for adjusting the vertical position of the deck relative to the mower frame for changing or adjusting the height of cut. The height of cut system comprises a pair of parallel cross shafts that carry a plurality of pivotal suspension linkages that connect to the deck, the cross shafts and linkages pivoting jointly with one another and with a pivotal control lever. One of the cross shafts carries a torsion spring to counterbalance the weight of the deck. The control lever is maintained in a plurality of adjusted pivotal positions by a height selection bracket fixed to the frame with the height selection bracket being capable of having its position changed or adjusted relative to the frame by a single adjustment bolt. Each suspension linkage has its effective length adjusted by turning a threaded adjuster carried at the upper end of a connecting rod that is part of each linkage to allow the deck to be leveled relative to a reference plane. The adjustment of the height selection bracket is accomplished without affecting the length adjustments previously made to any of the suspension linkages.
1. An improved mower of the type having a mower frame, a rotary cutting deck carried by the frame, a height of cut system for vertically moving the cutting deck upwardly and downwardly relative to the frame to adjust the height of cut of the grass, wherein the height of cut system comprises a plurality of pivotal suspension linkages connecting the cutting deck to the frame, a single pivotal control lever pivotally carried on the frame with pivoting of the control lever causing joint and corresponding pivoting motion in all the suspension linkages, and a height selection bracket fixed to the frame and coacting with the pivotal control lever to set and maintain the control lever in different pivotal positions corresponding to different heights of cut, wherein the improvement relates to the height of cut adjustment system and comprises:
a) a latch movably carried on the height of selection bracket for latching the control lever in a maximum height of cut position;
b) a handle movably carried on the height of selection bracket for moving the latch out of engagement with the control lever when the operator slides the handle in a first direction on the height of selection bracket;
c) at least one spring that biases the latch into a position in which the latch engages the control lever and that biases the handle in a direction opposite to the first direction in which the operator slides the handle to release the latch; and
d) a locking slot into which the operator can move the handle after the handle is first moved by the operator in the first direction sufficiently to release the latch, wherein the operator can move the handle into the locking slot by movement of the handle in a second direction that is different than the first direction with the bias of the spring retaining the handle in the locking slot thereafter to thereby disable the operation of the latch until the handle is moved back out of the locking slot by the operator.