Rotary mower having ground supported frames

Claim 1

In a rotary mower having a translatable ground supported main frame adapted to be connected to a towing vehicle having a power take-off unit: (a) a transmission unit carried by said main frame and operatively connected in driving relation to said power take-off unit, (b) at least one translatable wing frame hingedly connected along one side thereof to an adjacent side of said main frame and adapted for pivotal movement selectively to a lower operative position and to an upper inoperative position, (c) a depending shaft carried by and supported for rotation on said main frame and on said wing frame, (d) a cutter element carried by each said depending shaft, (e) means operatively connecting said transmission unit in driving relation with said depending shaft on said main frame, (f) an extensible drive shaft that is extensible along an axis and that is operatively connected at one end to said depending shaft on said wing frame, (g) a clutch unit operatively connecting the other end of said extensible drive shaft to said transmission unit and having a clutch actuator adapted to move a component of said clutch unit along an axis that is generally parallel to said axis along which the drive shaft is extensible, whereby the clutch unit is selectively moved to an engaged position and to disengaged position, (h) an extensible clutch rod operatively connecting said wing frame to said clutch actuator to move said clutch actuator in a direction to move said clutch unit to said engaged position while said wing frame is in said lower operative position and to move said clutch unit to said disengaged position in response to movement of said wing frame to said upper inoperative position, said extensible clutch rod being extensible along an axis that is generally parallel to said axis along which the drive shaft is extensible, and (i) means to move said wing frame selectively to said lower operative position and to said upper inoperative position.