Mobile leaf shredding and bagging machine

Claim 2

In a leaf shredding machine, casing means forming a chamber having horizontal top and bottom walls and a curved vertical sidewall, a central inlet opening in said bottom wall for receiving leaves, and an outlet opening in said curved sidewall for discharging shredded leaves, a vertical shaft fan centrally journalled in said top wall, said fan having a pluralilty of blades with vertically extending outer edges in spaced relationship with said curved sidewall, a breaker grilll spanning said outlet opening and being detachably connected to the sidewall of said chamber, said grill including an arcuate portion having its center of curvature substantially on the fan axis and being arranged to be closely swept by the outer edges of said fan blades, and said grill comprising a curved plate having a series of elongated vertically spaced bars and intervening slots extending horizontally across said outlet opening.

Claim 3

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 1 wherein the adjacent sides of said horizontal grill bars diverge outwardly with respect to said chamber and form acute angles with the inner face of said grill, whereby the width of said slots is greater at the outer face than at the inner face of said grill.

Claim 4

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 1 wherein said horizontal slots in said grill terminate in sharp knife edges at least at one end.

Claim 5

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 1 having means accessible exteriorly of said chamber for detachably connecting the ends of said breaker grill to said chamber sidewall at opposite sides of said outlet opening, and in which said grill is removable exteriorly of said chamber from its opeprative assembled position in said outlet opening.

Claim 6

The construction and arrngement claimed in claim 4 in which said curved chamber sidewall has a volute form and which includes means forming an outlet passageway leading from said outlet opening and extending generally tangentially from said volute sidewall, and said grill being of such size and shape as to permit its passing through said outlet passageway when removing it from entering it into its detachably assembled position in said outlet opening.

Claim 7

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 4 wherein said means detachably connecting one end of said breaker grill to said sidewall at one side of said outlet opening is adjustable to permit movement of said one end toward or away from the arc described by said fan blades and said means detachably connecting the other end of said grill being such as to permit such movement of said onE end of said grill.

Claim 8

In a leaf shredding and bagging machine, casing means forming a shredding chamber having a central inlet, a peripheral outlet and upwardly directed outlet passage means, motor-driven fan means in said chamber operative to discharge shredded leaves and the like through said outlet passage means at considerably velocity, an elongated vertically arranged bag for accumulating the shredded discharge from said outlet, said bag having an upper closed end and an open lower end with means for selectively closing it, bag support means carried by said casing and suspending said bag from its closed upper end, and said elongated vertically arranged bag hanging freely from its upper closed end with a substantial portion of the length of said bag above the upper end of said outlet passage means, conduit means connecting said outlet passage means with the upper closed end of said bag comprising a sleeve portion of said bag extending freely from the upper closed end of said outlet passage means, and said bag further including an open mesh portion at its upper end for exhausting air whereby the bag is filled essentially by gravity and will empty by gravity when said lower end is open.

Claim 9

In a leaf shredding and bagging machine, casing means forming a shredding chamber having a central inlet, a peripheral outlet and upwardly directed outlet passage means, motor-driven fan means in said chamber operative to discharge shredded leaves and the like through said outlet passage means at considerably velocity, an elongated vertically arranged bag for accumulating the shredded discharge from said outlet, said bag having an upper closed end and an open lower end with means for selectively closing it, bag support means carried by said casing and suspending said bag from its closed upper end, and said elongated vertically arranged bag hanging freely from its upper closed end with a substantial portion of the length of said bag above the upper end of said outlet passage means, conduit means connecting said outlet passage means with the upper closed end of said bag comprising a sleeve portion of said bag extending freely from the upper closed end of said outlet passage means, and said bag further including an open mesh portion at its upper end for exhausting air whereby the bag is filled essentially by gravity and will empty by gravity when said lower end is open.

Claim 10

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 7 having bag support means comprising a length of tubing with a vertical portion extending upward from said casing means and a bag supporting portion extending horizontallly from the upper end of said vertical portion, means including a socket in said casing means slidably receiving the lower end of said vertical tubing portion for convenient detachable connection thereto, and a transverse pin near the lower end of said vertical tubing portion cooperating with vertical slots in the wall of said socket for the selective angular positioning of said bag support means.

Claim 11

In a machine having an upwardly directed outlet through which cut or shredded material is discharged by air flow, an elongated vertically arranged collector bag having a closed upper end and an open lower end and hanging freely suspended from its upper closed end, support means carried by said machine supporting the closed upper end of said bag above said outlet, said bag including a sleeve portion connected at one end to and in communication with the upper end of said bag and extending downwardly free of said bag and connected at its other end to said outlet, said bag further including an open mesh portion at its upper end to permit the discharge of air and said lower open end of said bag being provided with means for selectively closing it.

Claim 12

In a machine having an upwardly directed outlet through which cut or shredded material is discharged by air flow, an elongated vertically arranged collector bag having a closed upper end and an open lower end and hanging freely suspended from its upper closed end, support means carried by said machine supporting the closed upper end of said bag above said outlet, said bag including a sleeve portion connected at one end to and in communication with the upper end of said bag and extending downwardly free of said bag and connected at its other end to said outlet, said bag further including an open mesh portion at its upper end to permit the discharge of air and said lower open end of said bag being provided with means for selectively closing it.

Claim 13

The construction and arrangement claimed in claim 9 in which one end of said sleeve portion is formed integral with an upper end portion of said collector and bag and extends freely therefrom to its connection with said outlet.

Claim 14

In a wheeled lawn care machine, a body member, an axle having an intermediate straight portion journalled in said body member and axially offset end portions extending from opposite sides of said body, a pair of wheels mounted for rotation on said offset end portions, means for adjustably positioning said wheels with respect to said body to vary the spacing of said body from a surface on which the machine is wheeled and for latching the wheels in an adjusted position, comprising; an arcuate surface on said body having its center of curvature substantially on the axis of said intermediate axle portion and said surface having a series of notches therein, a lever fixed at one end to said intermediate axle portion and having a free end portion extending radially across said arcuate surface, a handle slidably mounted on said free end portion of said lever for radial movement toward and away from said arcuate surface, spring means biasing said handle toward said arcuate surface and said handle having a portion thereof adapted to selectively enter one of said notches when moved toward said arcuate surface.

Claim 15

In a wheeled lawn care machine, a body member, an axle having an intermediate straight portion journalled in said body member and axially offset end portions extending from opposite sides of said body, a pair of wheels mounted for rotation on said offset end portions, means for adjustably positioning said wheels with respect to said body to vary the spacing of said body from a surface on which the machine is wheeled and for latching the wheels in an adjusted position, comprising; an arcuate surface on said body having its center of curvature substantially on the axis of said intermediate axle portion and said surface having a series of notches therein, a lever fixed at one end to said intermediate axle portion and having a free end portion extending radially across said arcuate surface, a handle slidably mounted on said free end portion of said lever for radial movement toward and away from said arcuate surface, spring means biasing said handle toward said arcuate surface and said handle having a portion thereof adapted to selectively enter one of said notches when moved toward said arcuate surface.

Claim 16

In a wheeled lawn care machine for picking up leaves and the like, a body meMber having rear wheels, a pair of front wheels, and a forward pick-up snout, a front axle having an intermediate straight portion journalled in a forward portion of said body and axially offset end portions extending from opposite sides of said body on which end portions said front wheels are mounted for rotation, means for adjustably positioning said front wheels so as to very the spacing of said pick-up snout from the surface on which the machine is wheeled and for latching said wheels in an adjusted position, comprising; a forwardly facing arcuate surface on the front of said body having its center of curvature substantially on the axis of said intermediate axle portion and said arcuate surface having a series of notches therein, a lever having one end fixed to said intermediate axle portion and having a free end portion extending radially across said arcuate surface, said lever having a radially extending slot in said free end portion thereof, a handle slidably mounted in said slot and movable radially toward and away from said arcuate surface, said handle having a portion thereof adapted to engage one of said notches in said surface when said handle is moved toward said surface, and spring means biasing said handle toward said arcuate surface.

Claim 17

In a wheeled lawn care machine for picking up leaves and the like, a body meMber having rear wheels, a pair of front wheels, and a forward pick-up snout, a front axle having an intermediate straight portion journalled in a forward portion of said body and axially offset end portions extending from opposite sides of said body on which end portions said front wheels are mounted for rotation, means for adjustably positioning said front wheels so as to very the spacing of said pick-up snout from the surface on which the machine is wheeled and for latching said wheels in an adjusted position, comprising; a forwardly facing arcuate surface on the front of said body having its center of curvature substantially on the axis of said intermediate axle portion and said arcuate surface having a series of notches therein, a lever having one end fixed to said intermediate axle portion and having a free end portion extending radially across said arcuate surface, said lever having a radially extending slot in said free end portion thereof, a handle slidably mounted in said slot and movable radially toward and away from said arcuate surface, said handle having a portion thereof adapted to engage one of said notches in said surface when said handle is moved toward said surface, and spring means biasing said handle toward said arcuate surface.