A work vehicle capable of traveling on a public road and in a working field includes: a public road traveling determination unit configured to generate vehicle body position information regarding a position at which the vehicle body is located, determine based on the vehicle body position information whether or not the vehicle body is traveling on the public road, and output a determination result; and a vehicle speed limiter configured to limit a vehicle speed in accordance with the determination result.

Embodiments of blades for use with lawn mowers are provided herein. In some embodiments, a blade for a lawn mower includes a substantially flat central portion having a rotational axis configured to be coupled to a motor for rotating the blade; a distal portion extending radially from opposing sides of the flat central portion, the distal portion being a cutting region of the blade when mowing and defined by the following: a non-zero leading angle defining an angle of attack; and a non-zero camber percentage; and an intermediate portion disposed between the central portion and the distal portion and configured to minimize an amount of torsional stress between the central portion and the distal portion, wherein each distal portion comprises about 25 percent or less of a total length of the blade.

The present invention includes: a cutting blade; an electric motor (5) that rotationally drives the cutting blade; a clutch that engages and disengages transmission of motive power between the electric motor (5) and the cutting blade; operation means for operating the clutch; and controller (30) for controlling operation of the electric motor (5). By means of the operation means, it is possible to switch between a state in which the clutch is disengaged in which motive power of the electric motor (5) is not transmitted to the cutting blade and a state in which the clutch is engaged and motive power of the electric motor (5) is transmitted to the cutting blade. By stopping energization of the electric motor (5) after a state in which the clutch is disengaged is released, and restarting the electric motor (5) after a prescribed time period elapses from the time of stopping rotation of the electric motor (5), the controller (30) stops rotation of the electric motor (5) during a period that includes a moment at which the clutch is engaged.

A method of autonomously controlling the ground speed of a harvester, such as a self-propelled or towed wind rower, uses both the engine speed and the header speed as control parameters to increase or decrease the ground speed as necessary to maintain efficient harvester operation over varying terrain and crop conditions. A control system includes a controller which receives signals from sensors indicative of engine speed, header speed and harvester ground speed and uses actuators to control the header speed, engine speed and harvester ground speed. An operator interface permits an operator to engage or disengage the autonomous mode of control system operation, as well as to directly control the harvester.

A zero-turn lawn mower having smart mower logic, including a chassis; a seat, a pair of ground engaging drive wheels; an engine; a pair of transmissions for driving the drive wheels; a pair of manually-moveable handle assemblies for independently controlling the transmissions; a mower deck; and a smart mower logic system comprising a controller that enables at least one of the following: incorporating safety logic to increase user safety during normal operation; reducing equipment abuse through controlled reduced speed modes; monitoring hydraulic pressure readings, torque readings, and wheel revolution readings; calibrating and regulating the pair of drive wheels; controlling the sensitivity of the pair of handles; providing real-time GPS locations readings; uploading data in real time to a management server; and transmitting a communication and/or billing to customer upon job completion with optional photograph and/or GPS verified time on job data.

A mulch gate control lever includes a handle that moves a mulch gate on a vertical pivot axis between a first mulching position and a second side discharge position. A torsion spring biases the handle to move into a first position slot at a first end of a slotted bracket to retain the mulch gate at the first mulching position, and into a second position slot at a second end of the slotted bracket to retain the mulch gate at the second side discharge position.

A steering system for a mower can include a wheel-specific driving unit for each wheel and a controller for providing control signals to each wheel-specific driving unit to thereby cause each wheel to be independently rotated at a different speed during a turn. By independently rotating each wheel, the mower can complete a turn without damaging the grass. The controller may also provide control signals to cause each steerable wheel to be positioned in a different wheel direction during the turn.

An electric work vehicle includes a traveling motor to drive wheels, a working motor to drive a work machine, a manipulator to direct a target rotation speed of the traveling motor and operation of the work machine, a controller to control the traveling motor and the working motor according to operation of the manipulator, and a temperature sensor to detect temperature of the working motor. The controller maintains or changes a target torque range of the working motor according to a detected temperature of the working motor, and the controller maintains or changes a target rotation speed of the traveling motor so that a calculated output torque value of the working motor falls within the target torque range.

A sickle cutting system is mounted on a header for forward travel over ground having a standing crop thereon and includes a cutter bar with a plurality of knife guards and two sickle bars driven at a phase angle difference where the drive system has a phase difference control component operable to drive the first and second sickle bars at a first phase angle difference typically at or around 180 degrees difference to minimize vibration when no cutting action is occurring and at a second phase angle difference which can be at or around 90 degrees to minimize variations in loading applied to the drive system when the cutting action is taking place.

In a work vehicle, a pivot axis of an operating lever and a rotary axis of a potentiometer are located on a same axis. An interlocking mechanism includes an input part which inputs power of the operating lever following the operating lever about the pivot axis as a pivot, and an output part which is supported to a rotary operation shaft and outputs power of the input part to the rotary operation shaft. The input part and the output part are operably connected via a connecting pin.