Grass cutter and mulcher for rotary lawn mower

Claim 1

A grass cutter and mulcher for a rotary lawn mower having a rotatable output drive shaft comprising: a main body operatively associated with said shaft and rotatable therewith in a circle about a substantially vertical axis of rotation; a plurality of flexible rods mounted fixedly to said main body to extend outwardly therefrom in a nonradial direction relative to said axis to provide a slicing cut force upon initial impact with upstanding grass and with said force including an inwardly directed force component; each of said rods having a main portion located outwardly of said main body advancing toward said circular direction to provide an inwardly directed force vector on the upstanding grass reducing outward movement of cut grass and to allow following rods to contact and mulch the cut grass, each of said rods located aft of said axis of rotation intersecting said circle and forming a leading angle between each rod and a tangent to said circle whereat said rod intersects and a trailing angle between said tangent and said rod with said leading angle being less than said trailing angle, said rods being immovable relative to said main body except for flexing.