How does lawn mower work

To start the engine of a lawn mower, one must simultaneously hold the brake bar, which can be found parallel to the handle, and pull the starter cord. The starter cord will start the fly wheel to spinning, which in turn starts the crankshaft moving. The crankshaft is connected to the single piston in the engine, and so by pulling the starter cord, many of the vital pieces of the engine are set into motion. Another important part of the engine is the spark plug , which is designed to light the gas in the engine and cause combustion.

The spark plug is powered by two magnets, which are attached to the fly wheel. As the fly wheel spins it carries the magnets past the ignition coil with every rotation. This causes a magnetic field, which is used to power the spark plug. While that is going on outside of the cylinder, inside it the piston is completing its four stroke process , the first of which is the Intake Stroke.

As the piston moves to the bottom of the cylinder and the intake valve releases, a mixture of gas and air is allowed to flow into the carburetor. That rope you have to pull on ten times to get the mower started manually spins the engine, which forces it to suck in air and fuel.

This mixture is ignited by a spark plug , which gets its electricity from a flywheel that rotates along with the engine. As it spins, magnets attached to the flywheel pass over an ignition coil to create a magnetic field, which generates electricity and sends voltage to the spark plug. The flywheel also serves as a cooling fan thanks to fins attached to it and as a shock absorber when the blade hits a rock or tree roots.

It also provides momentum to keep the engine rotating between combustion cycles. The ignition of the air and fuel mixture results in a controlled explosion that drives a piston down and rotates a crankshaft. A typical engine on a walk-behind mower is about cubic centimeters in size, whereas the engine in a compact car is over ten times that. But on a lawn mower, that rotation is directly transferred to a cutting blade. In her spare time, she likes to garden, raise chickens, and mow the grass with her battery-powered lawn mower.

Your email address will not be published. Lawn Care Blog Lawn Love. What is a self-propelled lawn mower? How does a self-propelled lawn mower work? Who should buy a self-propelled lawn mower? Do self-propelled mowers come with special features? Which brands can I choose from? Share 0. Tweet 0. Pin it 0. Sarah Bahr Sarah is a writer who has previously worked in the lawn care industry. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

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Is clover a weed? Only if you want it to be. A 3-in-1 mower allows bagging, mulching or side-discharge of grass clippings. If the mower is self-propelled , its motor turns a drive shaft connected to a belt or chain.

That connects to a gearbox attached to an axle that spins, making the lawn mower's wheels move. Those are the basics. Next, we'll see how the evolution of rotary lawn mowers has led to a bigger and more powerful species -- the riding mower.

Two-cycle motors are popular for lawn care tools such as trimmers, but four-cycle motors are the norm for lawn mowers. Two-cycle motors are cheap and simple and produce more power for their given size than a four-cycle motor. They also work fine while being held at different angles, which is important for hand-held lawn care tools.

But four-cycle motors produce more torque for their size, which helps you push through taller grass without slowing down the blade. They're also more fuel-efficient, and they don't burn oil and release as much pollution as two-cycle motors.

For small lawns of a quarter-acre or less on a flat surface, a rotary push lawn mower will get the job done.

For hilly lawns of up to one-half acre, a self-propelled walk-behind mower will do. But for lawns a half-acre or larger in size, a riding lawn mower can make the task much easier. Riding mowers come in different sizes and types, with different horsepower engines and blade sizes. For larger lawns, a garden tractor is a heavy-duty version of a riding mower that can pull attachments behind it to plow or disc a garden, as well as cut grass.

Lawns of 5 acres or more can require a full-size farm tractor to tow a mowing apparatus behind it. Another type of riding lawn mower is the zero radius mower.

Popular for commercial landscaping and professional lawn care, these riding mowers use four-wheel steering to move precisely around trees and other obstacles. Driving a riding mower can be similar to driving any other motor vehicle. The rider guides the mower while sitting on top of its deck. Some have pedals to control acceleration and braking, and a steering wheel to turn. Others use levers to control throttle and steering. The engine powers both the wheels and the blade, just like a walk-behind self-propelled mower.

But instead of being directly connected to it by an axle, the blade on most riding mowers is powered by a belt connected to the engine. In addition to other controls, the rider can also lower or raise the blade, speed it up or slow it down.

Before investing in a riding lawn mower, think hard about what purpose it'll serve. There are other costs associated with operating a lawn mower. In the next part, we'll look at some of the safety and maintenance issues that come with keeping a neat lawn.

Because we always want to know how fast something will go, people have been racing riding lawn mowers in the United States since At 20 races around the country each year, riding lawn mowers chase each other around a course under the banner of the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association.

Racers remove the blades and tweak the motors, suspensions and just about everything else for performance. However, the idea got its beginning in England, where the British have been going at it since In America, riders must wear a helmet and other safety gear and must be 18 years of age, unless competing in a junior league that's open to riders years old.

Their mowers must be commercially sold, self-propelled riding mowers that could still do the job they're designed for, but for the racing modifications made to them. Every year, 75, Americans suffer injuries from mowing the lawn. Nearly 10, of the victims are children [source: University of Michigan].

A majority of those injuries come from flying rocks and debris hitting unprotected legs and faces. Another 22 percent of injuries happen to the hands, fingers and arms and are caused when interacting with a mower blade that hasn't stopped spinning.

Some of the most serious injuries are tied to riding mowers, which combine horsepower, weight and size into a potentially dangerous package. Preventing injury to children involves following a few easy safety tips.