leonz
Super Member
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We have a posting and an attachment here on the forum that Island tractor was so kind in uploading that discussed the use of a flail shredder at a pineapple plantation in a doctoral students study in agriculture.
I have it in my files but I cannot find it right now but its here on the attachment page of the forum.
The Maschio/Land Pride flailmowers with trash doors have been made and used for years. I agree there is some risk with using them; when using them as crop shredders or in vineyards or orchards there are few if any pedestrians in the area.
In one example the INO flail shredders have several options available in mounting where the front mount was attached to the three point hitch in the front of the "standard" row crop tractor and the two rear mowers were attached to the three point hitch in the rear and powered by the 540 or 1000 RPM PTO.
Or they use the gang of three mowers in the rear with gearboxes and cross shafts from the power take off.
If I could attach video here I would be drooling all over the keyboard and probably short the computer in a cloud of smoke.
The Mathews Lawn Genies used air paddles in thier wonderful design which creates
additional air movement to pull the clippings over the flail mower rotor at a very high speed of velocity to remove the clippings with the aid of the slde slicers or blow them into the collection bag or basket just like a full width flail chopper would through hay ensilage into a silage wagon towed behind it.
Any air flow is properly referred to a pressure gradient whether it is under a flail mower shroud or the wind
Some flail chopper harvesters use a cross auger and impeller fan to blow the cut hay ensilage into the wagons.
The side slicers knives originally sold by Mathews for the Lawn Genies were are beautiful
example of mechanical and aeronautical engineering which I can say with a straight face.
This also goes hand with the knife hangers which do not require tools to add or change
knives or install dethatcing blades-i(nsert a heart or happy face here).
The design of these side slicer knives and the knife hangers is an aeronautical engineers dream.
The side slicers when hanging oppose each other at 45 degree angles at the tip.
The cutting edge on the hardened finish cut knive is 37 degrees.
These side slicer knives have tapered cutting edge which begins at the
point where the bend is made for the 45 degree angle of the sie slicer knife.
The tapered cutting edge continues to the point on the side slice knife where there is exacly
one half of an inch of new metal left on the base of the side slicer knive(this is a wear guage for end user)which is 1/4 of an inch for each side.
The key to this is the excellent knife design which sadly is no longer stamped.
The knife was designed with a mounting slot which permits the knives to become airborne but restrained where the knife at speed becomes horizontal in flight around the orbit of the flail mowers rotor to give the user a beautiful flat mowed turf.
The Mott knives are longer as compromise of sorts as they used a piece of round barstock to attach the knife mounting stations using thick drilled piees of bar stock for the knife hanger to save money in the design. The Mathews design is a step up from that.
The Mathews flailmowers were not designed to be towed in large numbers like the Mott Motorised flail mowers that were towed with jeeps and tractors when used in mowing and clearing brush.
I wish I could find out what happened to the three point hitch Mott flail mower that had a Wisconsin V 4 engine on it mounted on the right side of the mower that I personally know of. the mower was owned by a local resident but it has been 30 years since I saw it being used-he may still have it, but I am not sure.
This flail mower rotor which is a beautiful piece of mechanical engineering
is very well constructed.
The only bad part was the wheels of the lawn genies as the bearings did not last very long-but I dont think anyone planned on seeing them last 35 years either like mine with the original 16 horsepower Briggs and Stratton I/C Engine with the cast iron piston sleeve.
It is easier for me to list everything in order for everyones benefit so bear with me; no bears were pestered or harmed during or after this discussion.
1. The Mathews Lawn Genies were made for large lawn and estate care up to five feet wide.
2. They were/ are designed as a standard rear discharge flail mower
3. the flail mower used an 8 horsepower engine drive system for the 36 inch unit and a 16 horsepower single cylinde B+S for 48 inch models you cannot buy the I/C engines anymore ;^(
These smaller units were towed by the garden tractor that was used for the work of mowing and picking up leaves. The throttle control and the basket lifting rope or winch was mounted on a square tube that was attached to the mowers hitch. You could move the throttle stand to allow the garden tractor to turn more sharply and avoid bumping into the throttle stand with a tire or the fender of the garden tractor or the seat back.
4. the 60 inch models were designed with three point hitch mounting and 540 RPM drive and the collection basket was raised and lowered with a hydraulic cylinder, I dont remember if it had a pair of them right at the moment.
The 60 inch model also hasa pair of greasable caster wheels to allow easier turning without digging in the turf.
The collection basket on the 48 inch model was raised with a wire winch. The 36 inch model used a rope to lift the collection bag frame to dump it. I owned my fathers 36 inch model and I now have the 48 model that my father had before me. I also had his 36 inch model that he traded for the 48 inch model(wish I still had it).
The 36-48-60 inch models have a diverter door that throws the clippings back down to the ground rather than directly in the collection baskets of the three models. this helps when cutting tall brush, leaves or wet grass to allow it to dry out quickly.
If I was to bring over a comparable model from Europe it would not have caster wheels and it would ride in side skids to mow or dethatch turf. The same model would require thee point mounting and use a pair of hydraulic cylinders to raise the collection basket and 540 rpm anf would cost about $15,000 USD before shipping from Italy.
Needless to say i wish I had them both just like the two Toro snow pups I had in the herd-978 and 1985 models-should have had them fixed even though they were worn out and I would have had four of them to use.
5. the Mathews Company Lawn Genie had two major options that were available to the purchaser.
a. a leaf recutting screen
b. a front full width roller to prevent scalping on uneven terrain and along curbing.
The leaf recutting screen must be removed for mowing grass.
NOW the flail mower rotor on the 36-48-60 models is and was
a lawn mowers dream and the heart of the system in my opinion
The flail mower rotor was designed with simplicity in mind where the rotor shell is 6 inches in diameter with welded ends with the shaft weldments. (I have to measure it again one of these days before snow falls).
Each knife mounting station was made from a piece of flat bar stock and it was fully welded to the flail mower rotor shell that was bent to allow the knive hanger to be slid in and out.
NOW for the knife hangers:
The knife hangers are were made from a piece of bar stock that also had a theaed end that held the knife hanger in place with a spring and two washers which allowed the easy removal of the knives and dethatching blade.
(The Mott Mowers were also designed to use a dethatching blade with or without the side slicers in place BUT the smaller flail mower rotor used weldments that required them to be secured with nuts and bolts)
I hope I have not bored anyone to tears.
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