No Stop Trimming Mower

No Stop trimming mower HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers (38) 16-2-2 The need for a better way to mow a 7- acre farmstead that's home to some 400 trees led to the development of a new-style"no-stop" trimming mower by Missouri farmer David Gates. "There's not another mower like it on the market anywhere. When I'm through mowing, I put the tractor away and go to the house. I don't have to do any hand trimming and the yard looks like it's been hand-groomed," says Gates, who's worked on the new-style mower for three years and recently received a patent for it. He's started building the mower for sale and hopes to have about 100 units on the market this year. Gates says his goal in designing the mower was to build a unit that would mow up close around trees, shrubs and buildings without any need to slow down his rate of travel. The add-on mower arm- which bends backward 90? - supports two 17 1/2-in. dia. cutting discs. Edges of the housings around the discs are covered in rubber and small roller wheels on front help roll the cutting arm around obstructions without doing damage. The outer cutting disc can be fitted with unbreakable plastic cutting cord, rather than blades, in order to reduce potential damage to trees. Gates has also used chain-saw chain on the outer disc. The 35-in. wide trim arm is designed to mount off to the side of a 16 to 22 hp. tractor. Can be used with either rear-mount or belly mowers. Gates uses his with a 60-in. wide rear mower fora total cutting width of 95 in. The arm is held in place by a pair of springs that run out along the length of the arm. A small closed hydraulic compression cylinder mounts on the front side of the arm. The cylinder pulls the cutting arm back up into position after it's pushed backwards. The cutting arm can also float down below the horizontal in ditches. The cutting discs float over the ground on rounded, smooth concave discs which are also used to set cutting height. The cutting discs are powered by two hydraulic orbit motors that turn at about 4,460 rpm's. They require 3.5 gpm at about 1,950 psi. Gates says the trim arm could be used on smaller garden tractors but it would probably not work as well as a larger tractor. The mower plugs into one set of outlets. "It so gentle you can use it even around your most precious and delicate fruit trees. It's great for mowing in orchards and around shelter belts," says Gates, noting that when you're out in the open the trim arm simply works as a normal mower, increasing cutting width by the full 35 in. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David Gates, Rt. 5, Box 148-B, Chillicothe, Mo. 64601 (ph 816 646-2654).

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