DE202015006431U1 - Insect protection for attachment to lawn mowers - Google Patents

Abstract

Insect repellent for attachment to lawnmowers, comprising a device operated in front of the mower, which sells bees and similar insects in front of the grass and can either be integrated directly by the manufacturer or later installed by the user himself.

Description

Technical field of the invention

The invention relates to lawn mowers of all kinds and to the protection of flying insects, especially bees (honeybees and wild bees), before detecting and shredding or killing by the lawnmower. More specifically, it is a device that attaches to lawnmowers, similar to a foliage rake, which brushes through the grass to scare off insects before they are caught.

State of the art

Bees (honey bees and wild bees) are indispensable for plant pollination and honey production. However, they are currently threatened by pesticides, pests and the immigration of dangerous species, threatening crop losses in once fertile orchards, not just in Europe.

It is therefore essential to prevent bees from being killed by lawn mowers, which unfortunately happens very often and additionally weakens their populations.

Swiss agriculture studies show the true danger in "Bee losses when mowing with rotary mowers" (see attachment), in English "Losses of bees during mowing of flowering fields" (see attachment) by Peter Fluri from the Swiss Center for bee research of the Research Institute of Dairy Farming (FAM) in Bern (Switzerland), Rainer Frick from the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agricultural Science and Technology (FAT) in Tänikon b. Aadorf (Switzerland) and Andreas Jaun.

There are some methods and advice that can be followed to prevent bee killing - eg. As lawnmowers use only before sunrise or after sunset, which is not very practical, because you usually need good visibility and dry fields or a dry lawn to mow easily.

Since this problem is relatively young and did not exist before - when bees seemingly abounded and manual mowing was done with a scythe, for example - research has not yet found it technically necessary to seek solutions.

Therefore, it is the object of the invention described herein to find a suitable lawnmower device which protects bees from being picked up and chipped by the lawnmower.

Technical problem + solution

The problem has been solved by the devices which are mounted and guided in front of the lawn mower in order to drive out bees and similar insects from the lawn to be mowed and thus from the mower deck. This is preferably achieved with combing through the grass. The device can be integrated directly by the manufacturer or later installed by the user.

embodiment

The combing through the grass can be realized by various methods.

The first version, which is the most advanced and technically demanding, could be implemented with nozzles emitting compressed air. Simply irritating you to fly away could be the most gentle way to save bees. However, side effects make it questionable whether this method is applicable: Whirled pollen can irritate allergic people mowing even more. The biggest drawbacks will be power consumption, noise and equipment - probably as bad as a leaf blower.

Another advanced solution could be a set of elliptically rotating rakes, similar to a combine header, but possibly rotating the other way round. It could also be used to make the grass blades up for a better cut, but it would certainly make the whole machine cumbersome and awkward to maneuver - not to mention that it would take even more energy to move it.

A very simple form could be a net pulled across the lawn in front of the mower, but it would take a lot more energy to move the whole machine.

In the preferred embodiment, a rake is provided with elastic tines in which the tines are shaped like a fork or a leaf rake and are held so as to gently comb through the grass. If tines get caught, they will bend and spring back to the starting position once the resistance has been overcome. The tines may be made of resilient, elastic material, such. Fiber reinforced nylon or something similar as known from industrial brushes.

To make it an integral part of the mower, the rake on the hood can be attached to a fold-down, sprung parallelogram holder so it can be easily folded away when not in use. It could be screwed as an accessory to welded threaded bolt or plugged into the front hood. But to make it easily interchangeable, it makes sense to fix it by means of magnets or vacuum cups, which would make complicated mechanisms during assembly and disassembly superfluous.

Claims (8)

Insect repellent for attachment to lawnmowers, comprising a device operated in front of the mower, which sells bees and similar insects in front of the grass and can either be integrated directly by the manufacturer or later installed by the user himself. Insect repellent for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 1, comprising a rake with elastic tines which brushes through the grass like a fork or a leaf rake. Insect mower for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 1, including a rigid net pulled over the lawn in front of the mower. Insect mower for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 1, including a set of elliptically rotating rakes, operated in front of the mower, similar to a reverse combine harvester attachment. An insect screen for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 1, including a fan unit which ejects concentrated air jets in front of the mower. Insect screen for attachment to lawnmowers as in claim 5, wherein air blasts are directed in different directions in front of the mower on the lawn. Insect mower for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 5, including a blower unit which is driven by the mower engine by means of turbine technology known from the leaf blower. Insect screen for attachment to lawnmowers, as in claim 5, comprising a set of adjustable nozzles connected to a replaceable high pressure gas cylinder by means of a pressure reducing valve.