Reel lawn mower with main body, reel cutting unit, and connection structure for connecting reel cutting unit to main body such that reel cutting unit is rollable

Abstract

A reel lawn mower which has a connection structure for connecting a reel cutting unit to a main body. The reel cutting unit has a spiral cutting reel which is rotated by a prime mover to cut grass together with a bedknife. In the connection structure, in order to connect the reel cutting unit to the main body so that the reel cutting unit rolls around a virtual horizontal line perpendicular to the shaft center of the cutting reel in the center of the axial direction of the cutting reel, the reel cutting unit includes a connecting arm with an arc portion shaped so as to follow a virtual arc centered on the virtual horizontal line. The connecting arm is slidably supported so as to prevent the arc portion from coming off the virtual arc.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A reel lawn mower comprising:
 a main body of which a running direction is determined;   a reel cutting unit connected to the main body and located on a front side in the running direction;   a pair of rollers which are located on the reel cutting unit rotatably around a horizontal axis perpendicular to the running direction, to support the reel cutting unit at front and rear positions thereof in the running direction;   a spiral cutting reel which is located on the reel cutting unit between the pair of rollers rotatably around the horizontal axis perpendicular to the running direction;   a bedknife which is located on the reel cutting unit and touches the cutting reel under rotation and mows a lawn together with the cutting reel; and   a connection structure which connects the reel cutting unit to the main body, wherein the reel cutting unit is rollable around a virtual center point which is in a vertical projection plane covering the cutting reel with a minimum usable diameter and located in a center of an axial direction of the cutting reel, as a rotation center.   
     
     
         2 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 1 , wherein the connection structure includes a connecting arm which is located on the reel cutting unit and includes an arc portion shaped so as to follow a virtual arc centered on a virtual horizontal line parallel to the running direction passing through the virtual center point, and support parts which are located on the main body to support the arc portion slidably and connect the arc portion to the main body. 
     
     
         3 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein both an upper face and a lower face of the arc portion are shaped so as to follow the virtual arc; and   wherein the support parts include a pair of bar-like members for supporting the lower face of the arc portion and a bar-like member for holding the upper face of the arc portion down.   
     
     
         4 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 3 , wherein the bar-like members include flanges for preventing the arc portion from coming off the bar-like members horizontally. 
     
     
         5 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 3 , wherein the bar-like members are bolts. 
     
     
         6 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 3 , wherein the bar-like members are stud pins. 
     
     
         7 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 3 , wherein the bar-like members have a roller which rotatably touches the arc portion. 
     
     
         8 . The reel lawn mower according to  claim 1 , wherein the virtual center point is on a shaft of the cutting reel.