GB1225319A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1,225,319. Mowing machines; tractor hitches. C. VAN DER LELY N.V. 24 June, 1968 [30 June, 1967], No. 30102/68. Headings AlF and AlP. A mowing machine adapted to be towed by a tractor or the like comprises a frame provided with a number of mowing elements rotatable about vertical axes and bearing on the ground through the intermediary of supporting rings, the diameter of each ring being equal to at least half the diameter of the circle traced by the tips of the knives of the corresponding mowing element. Fig. 1 shows four mowing elements supported by hollow beams 1, 2, and connecting frame 3, a gear box 5 being provided at each end of the beams 1, 2 for the rotary support of the mowing elements, and ground wheels 38 conected by links to the frame 3 for the support of the machine. A bearing-mounted tube 6 depends from each gear box 5 and connected to the lower end of each tube 6 are two cones 8, 9 the outer ends of which pivotally support a number of cutting knives 13. A shaft 18 is disposed within and is journalled to each tube 6, each shaft 18 rotatably supporting, via ball bearings 19 and supports 20, a ring 21, the level of which (and thus the level of the knives 13) may be adjusted by spacing rings 23. Each shaft 18 extends into its corresponding gear box 5 with a bevel pinion 26, the teeth of which key with bevel pinions 25 at each end of shafts 24 which extend through the hollow beams 1, 2 respectively. The mowing elements are driven from the power takeoff shaft of the tractor via a telescopic transmission shaft (not shown) leading to the splined end of a shaft 36 which extends through one gear box 5 and to a pulley 35 in a transmission box, the pulley 35 being connected by V-belts or the like to pulleys 33, 30 and 28. A shaft 31 is connected to pulleys 33, 30 and extends through another gear box 5 and is keyed to the corresponding shaft 18, while a shaft 4 is connected to pulley 28 and extends through a further gear box 5 and is keyed to the corresponding shaft 18. The mowing elements are then driven in the directions indicated by the arrows B. A connector 42 connects the machine via a parallelogram linkage 39, 40, 41, 43 to the three-point lifting device of the tractor and may be held in two positions, as shown in full and dotted lines. The outer mowing element (the uppermost as seen in Fig. 1) is pivotable about shaft 4. The knives 13 are mounted, Fig. 4 (not shown), so that should they meet an obstacle, they can turn about pivot 12 to a position in which they are retracted between the feet 10, 11 of the cones 8, 9.