Lawn and garden tool

A hand-held portable lawn and garden tool having implements. A housing encloses a motor and at least two sets of gears arranged in cascade to provide low speed and high torque to the implements. Each set of gears is a sun gear with a plurality of planetary gears. The tool may be energized by battery packs, line power or internal combustion engines.

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We claim:

1. In a lawn and garden tool, wherein a motor drives a soil-working implement through planetary gearing for a very high-torque low-speed operation, the improvement which comprises ahousing disposed above the ground and including a gear case, a motor mounted directly above the gear case and having a motor shaft rotating about a substantially vertical axis and protruding within the gear case, a plurality of planetary gears in thegear case, arranged in cascade, and driven by the motor shaft, the plurality of planetary gears having an output shaft driving an adapter plate disposed below the housing, and at least one tool implement carried by the adapter plate and rotating about anaxis which is substantially parallel to the axis of the motor shaft.

2. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the plurality of planetary gears includes at least two sets of gears arranged in cascade to provide a low speed, high torque output,

and wherein the motor is an electric motor powered by at least one rechargeable battery pack.

3. The improvement of claim 2, wherein the gear system reduces the speed of the tool implement to less than 100 rpm.

4. The improvement of claim 3, wherein the speed of the tool implement is approximately 30 to 60 rpm.

5. The improvement of claim 2, wherein the housing is attached to one end of a wand and a handle is attached to the opposite end of the wand.

6. The improvement of claim 2, further comprising a single ring gear disposed within the gear case of the housing and engaging the plurality of planetary gears.

7. The improvement of claim 2, wherein the at least one battery pack is inserted in the housing of the lawn and garden tool.

8. The improvement of claim 2, wherein the at least one battery pack is inserted into a handle connected to the housing.

9. The improvement of claim 1, further including:

a wand having a first end and an opposite second end,

a handle connected to the first end of the wand,

the housing being connected to the second end of the wand, and

a plurality of interchangeable implements.

10. The improvement of claim 2, wherein the torque applied to the tool implement is approximately 6 to 12 foot pounds.

11. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the implement is removably attached to the adapter plate by a twist and lock-type connector.

12. The improvement of claim 9, wherein the wand has an adjustable length such that the tool may be long for use by a stand-up operator and may be short for use by a kneeling operator.

13. The improvement of claim 1, A wherein the motor comprises an electric motor powered through a line cord connected to a source of power.

14. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the motor comprises an internal combustion engine.

15. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the implement is selected from the group consisting of a tiller, an auger, a mixer and a core driller.

16. The improvement of claim 9, further including an auxiliary handle attached to the wand, the auxiliary handle facilitating use and balance of the tool.

17. In a lawn-and-garden tool, the combination of a housing having a longitudinal axis and further having respective side portions, each of which has at least one opening formed therein generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing,such that at least two opposed openings are provided, one on each side of the tool, at least one rechargeable battery pack removably received in each of the openings in the housing, such that the housing is balanced, a permanent magnet motor within thehousing and selectively energized by the battery packs, a plurality of planetary gear systems driven by the motor and arranged in cascade in the housing, an output shaft powered by the planetary gear systems, the output shaft having a relatively-lowoutput speed and, conversely, a relatively-high output torque, and a tool implement externally of the housing and driven by the output shaft.