GB2068206A

GB2068206A - Disc mower

Info

Publication number: GB2068206A
Application number: GB8102504A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Bucher Guyer AG
Current assignee: Bucher Guyer AG
Priority date: 1980-01-31
Filing date: 1981-01-27
Publication date: 1981-08-12
Also published as: GB2068206B; FR2474809A1; FR2474809B1; CH642816A5; DE3047643A1; DE3051018C2; DE3047643C2

Abstract

The individual mower discs are arranged beside one another on a support beam 6 which, in use, rests on the ground. The drive between said discs is effected by means of gear wheels 24 which are arranged inside the support beam. The rotational axis of one of said discs 3 arranged centrally of the support beam is coincident with the drive axis of the drive shaft 19. The upper end of this drive shaft connected to a bevel gear wheel 29 of a bevel gear transmission 30 which is accommodated in a transmission housing. The other bevel gear wheel 31 of said transmission is connected to a shaft 32 rotatably mounted in a bearing projection 35 of said housing and drivingly connected to the front vehicle power- take-off. The drive shaft is connected to an attachment whose lower part bears a rim to which freely swinging blades 7 are attached. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A free-cutting disc mower which can be coupled to the front end of a vehicle The present invention relates to a free-cutting disc mower.

It is known to couple a mower of this type to the tail end of a towing vehicle. The support beam and the individual disc mowers are mounted at one side of the vehicle and extends transversely to the direction in which the vehicle will travel. The individual disc mowers, which are drivingly coupled to one another via toothed gear wheels, are driven by a vertical drive shaft which is arranged at the end of the support beam and nearer the vehicle. At its lower end, the drive shaft is provided with a toothed gear wheel which, via intermediate gear wheels, drives a toothed gear wheel connected to the adjacent disc mower. At its upper end, the drive shaft bears a bevel gear wheel of a bevel gear transmission which is driven by the power take-off of the towing vehicle via a belt drive and a universal joint shaft.The lateral arrangement of the mower means that the path of travel and the direction of travel cannot be freely selected during mowing. Furthermore the driver must turn his head in order to monitor the mowing process.

In order to avoid these disadvantages it has already been proposed to couple a drum mower to the front end of the vehicle. As the upright mowing drums are mounted at their upper ends in a support beam and are coupled to one another via drive elements arranged in said support beam, although the drive connection to the front power take-off of the vehicle does not present great problems, the mower thereby acquires a very great height. Consequently the direct attachment of follow-up equipment such as hay conditioners, conveyor winches and the like is impossible.

Furthermore, when compared with disc mowers, drum mowers are heavier and in addition require a higher drive power.

In the case of small towing vehicles such as are used in agriculture in mountainous areas, during tow-mowing the tailend disc mower impedes the straight motion of the vehicle, i.e. very great effort is required to maintain the towing vehicle in the desired direction of travel.

It has been attempted to overcome this disadvantage by the use of heavier vehicles with a drum mower attached to the front end.

However, although these vehicles are provided with a front wheel drive it is not possible to avoid deviation from the mowing direction entirely. In addition, the operating and maintenance costs are higher.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a disc mower of the type referred to in the introduction which is simple in structure and as light as possible and which can be coupled to the front side of the vehicle.

This aim is realised in accordance with the present invention by the features described in Claim 1.

The arrangement of the drive shaft within the mowing zone avoids the need to provide the support beam with lateral attachments which would prevent a free selection of the mowing path and direction. The mounting of the drive shaft and its connection to the support beam results in the desired rigidity in the central region of the support beam. Furthermore, the drive connection between the drive shaft and the power take-off of the vehicle can be of simple form. Moreover, it is possible to couple the upper part control of the three-point coupling or linkage of the vehicle to the bearing component of the drive shaft which allows a simplification of the construction of the attachment device of the mower which assures the connection to said three-point coupling.

In a preferred embodiment, the drive shaft whose axis of rotation is also that of a disc mower is connected to said disc mower so as to be resistant to rotation relatively thereto and bears a drive element accommodated in the support beam; the direct drive of a disc mower which is thus attained allows a drive connection between mower and vehicle which requires only a low outlay in terms of structure.

In another embodiment, the drive shaft is arranged behind the disc mowers; therefore, the drive connection between the power takeoff of the vehicle and the drive shaft can be short.

In the following, exemplary embodiments of a free-cutting disc mower according to the present invention will be explained in detail making reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a disc mower coupled to the front end of a tractor; Figure 2 is an axial section along the line Il-Il in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a side view of a variant of the mower shown in Fig. 1; Figure 4 illustrates an axial section (similar to that of Fig. 2) of a further embodiment of a disc mower; and Figure 5 is an axial section of a variant of the mower illustrated in Fig. 4.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is illustrated therein a free-cutting disc mower 1 which comprises four disc mowers 2, 3, 4 and 5 which are mounted beside one another in a support beam 6 which extends transversely of the mowing direction which is indicated by the arrow A. This support beam 6 rests on the ground. Each of the disc mowers 2 to S possesses blades 7 (see also Fig. 2) which project beyond its periphery and which are arranged diametrically opposite one another.

The blades 7 are arranged on the disc mowers 2 to 5 in such a manner that the cutting zones of the blades of the adjacent rotors overlap one another, although there is no contact between the blades and the adjacent mowing disc. The mower 1 is arranged at the front end of a tractor 8 which has been only partially illustrated. In order that the mower 1 can be coupled to the tractor 8, the mower 1 is provided with an attachment frame 9 whose opposite ends are attached to the corresponding ends of the support beam 6 and which is supported via spacing elements 10 on the tractor axle 11 and which is connected to the upper control, not shown in Fig. 1, of a threepoint coupling or linkage of the tractor 8.Two guide elements 1 2 which ensure that the cut material is laid in a swathe which is located within the track of the tractor 8 are also attached to said opposite end of the support beam 6.

The mowing discs 2 to 5 are driven from the front power take-off 8a (Fig. 1) of the tractor 8 via a drive connection which has been merely indicated in dash-dotted lines. In order that this drive connection may be as short as possible, one of the two disc mowers 3, 4 (which are nearer to the power take-off pathan the other mowing discs 2, 5) is driven; in the illustrated example, the disc mower 3 is driven. This means that, in a mower having an even number of disc mowers, one of the two disc mowers arranged near to the centre will be driven, whereas in the case of mowers having an odd number of disc mowers the drive will take place via the central disc mower. The nature of the drive of the mower 3 will be explained in further detail making reference to Fig. 2.

The drive connection between the individual disc mowers 2 to 5 is established in known manner by means of toothed gear wheels accommodated in the support beam 6. As illustrated in Fig. 1, in the case of an even number of disc mowers these are driven in opposite directions in pairs, whereas in the case of an odd number of disc mowers it is ensured that the disc mower which is directly adjacent to the material waiting to be cut rotates in a direction which allows the cut material to be conveyed away from the still upright (uncut) material.

In order to be able to achieve a clean cut of both high and matted or extremely long stalked material such as corn, tobacco etc., the support beam 6 is of flat formation. The cutting height is adjusted in known manner by means of said upper control of the threepoint linkage of the tractor 8.

The drive of the disc mower 3 will now be described in detail making reference to Fig. 2.

This disc mower 3 is provided with an attachment 1 3 which is of frusto-conical shape but which could alternatively be of right cylindrical formation. This attachment 1 3 includes a casing 1 4 which is closed at the top by a cover 1 5. At its lower end the casing 14 continues into a projecting rim 1 6 on which the two blades 7 are mounted, only one of said blades having been shown in Fig. 2. In order to increase the rigidity of the rim 16, in the attachment region for each of the blades 7, this rim 1 6 is provided with a strengthening component 1 7 to which the blade 7 iS attached -by means of a securing pin 18.

These blades 7 are secured in such manner that when they strike against an obstacle they can turn -back around the pin 1 8. On its outside the casing 14 bears radially projecting~ ribs 1 4a which exert a conveying effect upon the cut material.

The attachment 1 3 is connected to a hollow drive shaft 1 9 so as to be resistant to rotation relatively thereto, said shaft being rotatably mounted in a bearing component 20 by means of ball bearings 21. This bearing component 20 extends upwards from a support beam cover 22 and forms an integral part thereof. This support beam cover 22 is screwed to a support beam trough 23. The inside of the support beam 6 is sealed from the exterior by means of a seal (not íllustrated) inserted between the cover 22 and the trough 23. At its lower end the drive shaft 1 9 bears a drive toothed wheel 24 which is arranged inside the bearing beam 6.This wheel 24 moves in an oil bath and engages either with pin ions arranged on the adjacent rotors 2 and 4 or with intermediate gear wheels which themselves engage with the pin ions on these adjacent mowing discs 2, 4. A drive connection is likewise established by means of toothed gear wheels between the mowing discs 4 and 5.

In the region of each of the disc mowers 2 to 5, the underneath of the support beam 6 is attached to a landing skid 25 which reduces the friction between the mower and the ground and protects the bearings of the disc mowers 2 to 5 from the influence of undesired foreign bodies, such as e.g. stones.

Along its front or forward most side, the trough 23 possesses a protective rim 26 which engages under the blades 7 and which advantageously consists of two parts, namely, a fixing bracket 27 and a cover plate 28. The fixing bracket 27 extends approximately over the entire width of the mower 1, whereas the cover plate 28 has the form of the circular segment formed by the rotating blades 7 in front of the support beam 6.

The upper end (as seen in Fig. 2) of the drive shaft 1 9 is fixedly connected to a bevel gear wheel 29 of a bevel gear transmission 30 of which the other bevel gear wheel 31 is secured to a shaft 32 which forms a drive connection with the front power take-off 8a of the tractor 8 (Fig. 1). This shaft 32 is rotatably mounted by means of ball bearings 33, 34 in a bearing projection 35 which forms part of a transmission housing 36 in which the bevel gear transmission 30 is accommodated. The bevel gear wheel 29 which is connected to the drive shaft 1 9 is mounted by means of a ball bearing 37 in a transmission housing 36 and, in order to avoid the oil contained in the transmission housing 36 escaping, a sealing ring 38 is provided.This transmission housing 36 is attached to a stationary support tube 39 which extends through the bevel gear wheel 29 and the drive shaft 1 9 and is firmly connected to the support beam trough 23. At its lower end, the transmission housing 36 is provided with a protective rim or skirt 40 which covers the region between the cover 1 5 of the attachment 1 3 and the transmission housing 36.

If the shaft 32 is set in rotation by the tractor power take-off 8a, the drive shaft 1 9 is likewise rotated via the bevel gear transmission 30. The drive shaft 1 9 itself now directly rotates the disc mower 3 to which it is connected and indirectly rotates the other disc mowers 2, 4 and 5 via the toothed gear wheels accommodated in the support beam 6.

The attachment 13, and in particular its ribs 1 4a serve to convey the cut material backwards in addition to the conveying action of the mowing discs 2 to 5.

In contrast to the attachment of the mower 1 to the tractor 8 which has been explained making reference to Fig. 1, in the case of the mower shown in Fig. 2 the upper part or control of the three-point coupling of the tractor 8 is connected to the transmission housing 36. For this purpose the transmission housing 36 is provided with a coupling element (not shown) which is connected to said upper part or control. As a result of this connection, the mower 1 can be adjusted in known manner both in respect of its height and its inclination.

Fig. 3 illustrates a variant of the mower illustrated in Fig. 2. The mower 1' illustrated in Fig. 3 differs from the mower 1 shown in Fig. 2 by virtue of the different nature of the drive of the drive shaft 1 9. In place of the bevel gear wheel 29 (Fig. 2), in the mower 1' a double V-belt pulley 41 is attached to the upper end of the drive shaft 1 9. This pulley 41 is driven by two V-belts 42 and 43 which have only been illustrated schematically and which run around or over a guide roller 44 mounted on the attachment frame 9' so as to be freely rotatable and which run across drive discs (not shown) which are connected to a back gear driven by the power take-off 8a of the tractor 8.The upper side of the pulley 41 is attached to a rotating plate 45 which is provided with deflecting elements 46 which extend obliquely outwards and upwards.

These deflecting elements 46 are to prevent cut material from winding round the pulley 41. It goes without saying that, in place of the guide roller 44 which is rotatable about a horizontal axis, it would also be possible to use a guide roller which could be rotated about an approximately vertical axis.

As can be appreciated from the preceding description of Figs. 2 and 3, the disc mower 3 can be driven either via a bevel gear transmission or via a belt drive. In both of the illustrated embodiments, the drive connection between the individual disc mowers 2 to 5 (which is accommodated in the support beam 6) can be effected other than by means of toothed gear wheels. The attachment 1 3 which, in addition to producing the above described conveying effect, also serves to protect the bearing of the drive shaft 19, can likewise be provided in the other disc mowers 2, 4 and 5 in order to achieve an improvement in the backwards-conveying action.

In a sectional illustration similar to that of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 illustrates a disc mower 100 which comprises (just like the Fig. 1 embodiment) a number of individual disc mowers 101 which are arranged beside one another along a support beam 102 which extends transversely to the mowing direction A. A drive connection is provided between the individual disc mowers 101 by means of toothed gear wheels accommodated in support beam 102. The mower 100 is likewise connected to the front three-point coupling of a vehicle by means of an attachment frame.

The mower 100 illustrated in Fig. 4 differs from the mower 1 illustrated in Fig. 2 by virtue of the fact that the drive shaft driven by the power take-off 8a of the vehicle does not simultaneously form the axis of rotation of the driven disc mower but is arranged behind the latter, as now explained: As can be seen from Fig. 4, the driven disc mower 101 possesses a frustum shaped attachment 103 which, however, can alternatively be of right cylindrical formation. This attachment 103 possesses a casing 104 from which project radial ribs 1 04a which serve to help to convey the cut material rearwardly.At the top the casing 104 is closed off by means of a cover 105 and at the bottom is provided with a projecting rim 106 to which are attached two blades 107 which are arranged diametrically opposite one another and of which only one has been shown. In the attachment zone of the blades 107 this rim 106 is strengthened by a reinforcing component 108 to which the blade 107 is attached by means of an attaching pin 109. The blades 107 are attached in such manner that when they strike against an obstacle they can turn back in an unobstructed manner.The cover 105 of the attachment 103 is fixedly connected to a shaft 110 which is rotatably mounted in a bearing component 111 by means of ball bearings 11 2. The bearing component 111 extends upwards from a support beam cover 11 3 and forms an integral part thereof.This support beam cover 11 3 is on the one hand bolted to a support beam trough 114 and on the other hand securely connected to a cover plate 11 5 which is itself connected to the support beam trough 11 4 by means of bolts/nuts or screws.A sealing element or elements is/are inserted between the three aforementioned parts which are connected to one another in order to seal off the interior of the support beam 102 from the exterior, At its lower end the shaft 110 bears a toothed wheel 116 which is arranged inside the support beam 102 and moves in an oil bath. This toothed wheel 116 engages directly or via intermediate gear wheels with toothed gear wheels arranged on the axes of rotation of the adjacent disc mowers. A drive connection formed by toothed gear wheels likewise exists between the other disc mowers so that a rotating drive of the disc mower 101 results in the rotation of the other disc mowers.

In the region of each disc mower the underneath of the support beam 1 02 is attached to a landing skid 11 7 which reduces the friction between the mower and the ground and protects the bearing of the mowing discs from the influence of undesired foreign bodies such, for exarffiple, as stones.At its front, the support beam trough 114 possesses a protective rim 11 8 which extends below the blades 107 and which preferably consists of two parts, namely an attaching element 11 9 and a cover plate 1 20. The attaching element 11 9 extends approximately over the entire width of the mower 100, whereas the cover plate 1 20 has the form of the circular segment correspending to the arcuate sweep made by the rotating blades 107 in front of the support beam.

From the support beam 102 in the backwards direction, there extends a transmission housing 121 which is formed by the aforementioned cover plate 11 5 and an extension ofthe support beam trough 114. In this transmission housing 121, there is accommodated an intermediate gear wheel 1 22 which engages with the toothed gear wheel 11 6.

This wheel 1 22 is rotatably mounted by means of a ball bearing 1 23 on a bearing pin 1 24 which is mounted in the cover plate 11 5.

Said wheel 1 22 also engages with a drive toothed gear wheel 1 25 which is likewise accommodated in the transmission housing 121 and which is connected to an upright drive shaft 1 28 by means of a key 1 26 and a safety snap ring or circlip 127. This drive shaft 1 28 is rotatably mounted by means of axially spaced ball bearing units 1 29 in a bearing component 1 30 which extends upwards from the cover plate 11 5. The drive shaft 1 28 and the shaft 110 of the mowing dise 101 extend parallel to one another.

At its upper end the drive shaft 1 28 carries a bevel gear wheel 131 of a bevel gear transmission 1 32. The other bevel gear wheel 1 33 of this transmission 1 32 is secured to a shaft 1 34 which is mounted in a bearing projection 1 36 by means of axially spaced ball bearing units 1 35. This bearing projection 1 36 forms part of a transmission housing 137 which is bolted or screwed to the bearing component 1 30. A drive connection exists between the shaft 1 34 and the power take-off 8a of the vehicle 8.A sealing ring 1 38 serves to prevent the oil escaping from the trans is sion housing 1 37.

In order to prevent the cut material accumulating on the bearing component 1 30 or on the transmission housing 137, a faired guide element 1 39 is arranged forwardly of the bearing component 1 30 and of the transmission housing 1 37 and tapers appropriateiy towards the disc mowers 101. This guide element 1 39 is detachably secured to the transmission housing 1 37 and to the cover plate 1 14 and extends directly to (right'up to) the adjacent disc mowers 101 and into the interspace between any two adjacent disc mowers.

The drive shaft 1 28 is set in rotation by the vehicle 8 by means of the shaft 1 34 and the bevel gear transmission 1 32. This results in the shaft 110 and thus the disc mower 101 being set in rotation via the meshing gear wheels 125, 122 and 116. The other mowing discs are likewise driven via the toothed gear wheels accommodated, as described above, in the support beam 1 02.

Fig. 5 illustrates a variant of the mower shown in Fig. 4 and the same references have been used in Fig. 5 for components which are identical to those in Fig. 4. In the case of the mower 100' shown in Fig. 5, the construction of the individual disc mowers and of the drive mechanism is identical to that of the mower 100 shown in Fig. 4; solely for improved clarity, the guide element 1 39 has not been illustrated in Fig. 5.

In addition to the bevel gear wheel 131, in the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 5 the bevel gear wheel 1 33 drives two further bevel gear wheels 141 which are likewise accommodated in the transmission housing 137; only one of these two bevel gear wheels 141, arranged one on each side of the bevel gear wheel 1 33 and obviously in mesh therewith, has been shown. Each wheel 141 is mounted on a shaft 142 which extends, fundamentally, in the horizontal direction. and extends laterally away from the transmission housing 1 37 parallel to the longitudinal axis or median plane of the support beam 1 02. On each shaft 142 there is arranged a conditioning element which has been provided with the general reference 140 and which comprises a plurality of striking elements which are not shown in detail, but which are known per se and which are arranged beside one another on the shaft 1 42. When the shaft 142 ro tates, the outermost ends of these striking elements describe a circular path which is shown by the circular arc line which is indicated by the reference numeral 1 43. These rotating striking elements form an overshot conveyance channel 145 together with a guide plate 144 of which only a part is illustrated in Fig. 5.

In a manner which is known per se, the conditioning element 140 receives the cut material from the disc mowers 101 and conveys said material rearwards whilst simultaneously bruising or damaging this material.

in place of the conditioning element 140, it is also possible to use other follow-up devices, e.g. conveyor winches. Naturally, it is also possible, in the embodiments corresponding to Figs. 2 and 3, to provide conditioning elements of the kind described above and/or conveyor elements.

The three-point coupling or linkage of the vehicle 8 to which the mower 100 or 100' is coupled acts on the two ends of the support beam 102 similarly as shown in Fig. 1. The upper part or control of this three-point coupling is connected to a coupling element (not shown) which is arranged on the transmission housing 1 37. The connection to this upper part or control allows the inclination and the height of the mower 100 or 100' to be adjusted.

It goes without saying that the drive shaft 1 28 can be driven not via a bevel gear transmission 1 32 but, as in the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 3, by means of a belt drive from the power take-off 8a. Furthermore, it is also possible to form the drive connection from the drive shaft 1 28 to the individual disc mowers 101 not, as shown, by means of toothed gear wheels but by other types of drive elements, such for example as belt or chain drives.

The attachment 103 which contributes to the conveyance of the cut material can also be omitted, in which case the disc mower 101 can be of dish formation as already known in tail-end disc mowers. On the other hand, it is also conceivable to provide all of the individual disc mowers 101 with an attachment 103 which provides an effective conveyance.

Also, in the case of the mowers 100 or 100' corresponding to Figs. 4 and 5, as in the case of the exemplary embodiments illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, the drive is likewise effected to a disc mower 100 or 100' which is arranged in the central region of the support beam 102. In the exemplary embodiments illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, a disc mower 101 is directly driven by the drive shaft 1 28 via the intermediate toothed gear wheel 1 22. However, it is also possible to drive via the intermediate toothed gear wheel 1 22 another intermediate toothed gear wheel (not illustrated) which is accommodated in the support beam 102 and which in turn engages both of two toothed gear wheels arranged on the shafts of the twq adjacent disc mowers 101; in this case, two disc mowers 101 are driven.

In all of the illustrated exemplary embodiments, the support beam 102 is free from lateral attachments so that mowing can take place satisfactorily regardless of whether the upright material to be mown is located on the right or on the left of the mower. By comparison with the exemplary embodiments illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the exemplary embodiments shown in Figs. 2 and 3 have the advantage that, due to the direct introduction of the drive to a disc mower, the drive connection to the power take-off can be achieved with a low outlay.

It is stated, in the description of Fig. 1, that the blades 7 are arranged diametrically opposite to one another on the disc mowers 2 to 5. However, other arrangements are known; for example, it is known to mount three blades on a disc mower, preferably equally spaced from one another along the periphery of said disc mower.

The cover plates 28, 1 20 in the respective embodiments help or improve the cutting action and also provide protection for the disc mowers against accumulation of dirt.

Claims

1. A free-cutting disc mower comprising a number of individual disc mowers which are arranged one beside another on a support beam which extends transversely of the direction of travel of said beam, said disc mowers being connected to one another gear-wise by means of drive units arranged inside the support beam and being coupled to an upright drive shaft which is adapted to be driven by the drive mechanism of a vehicle, said drive shaft being arranged within the mowing zone which is defined by the outermost of said number of disc mowers and being drivingly connected to at least one of the disc mowers which are arranged in the central section of said support beam.

2. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the axis of rotation of the drive shaft is coincident with the axis of rotation of said at least one disc mower which is fixed to said drive shaft, said drive shaft carrying a drive element which is accommodated in the support beam.

3. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said drive element consists of a toothed gear wheel which is connected either directly or indirectly via intermediate gear wheel(s) to other toothed gear wheels which are arranged on the disc mowers which are adjacent to said at least one disc mower.

4. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the said at least one disc mower is provided with an attachment which effectively conveys the cut material.

5. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the drive shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing component which is arranged between the drive shaft and the attachment and which extends upwards from the support beam.

6. A disc mower as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein, at its upper end, the drive shaft which is hollow is connected to a bevel gear wheel which is part of a bevel gear transmission which is accommodated in a housing, said housing being attached to a support which is connected to the support beam and which extends inside the drive shaft.

7. A disc mower as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein, at its upper end, the drive shaft is connected to a pulley of belt drive.

8. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the pulley is provided with deflecting elements which rotate with the pulley.

9. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the drive shaft is so arranged that its axis of rotation is rearwardly of that of said at least one disc mower.

10. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the drive shaft bears a toothed wheel which is accommodated in the support beam and which is connected either directly or indirectly via intermediate gear wheel(s) to said at least one disc mower.

11. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 9 or Claim 10, wherein the drive shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing component which extends upwards from the support beam, which drive shaft is also connected at its upper end to a bevel gear wheel which forms part of a bevel gear transmission.

1 2. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 11, wherein on its forwards4acing side which faces towards the disc mowers, the bearing component is provided with a guide element for the cut material.

1 3. A disc mower as claimed in any one of Claims 9 to 12, wherein at least one disc mower which is arranged in the central section of the support beam is provided with means which effectively convey the cut material.

14. A disc mower as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein a follow-up element which receives the cut material, for example a conditioning and/or conveyor element, is arranged rearwardly of the mowing discs.

1 5. A disc mower as claimed in Claim 14 as appended to Claim 11, wherein a drive connection exists between the follow-up element and the bevel gear transmission.

1 6. A disc mower as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the bearing component of the drive shaft is connected to a coupling element which serves to couple the disc mower to the upper control of the threepoint coupling or linkage of a vehicle.

1 7. A free-cutting disc mower constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3 or Fig. 4 or Fig. 5 of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

1 8. Any features of novelty, taken singly or in combination, of the embodiments of the invention hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.