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US 3,955,526 AGranted
Cowl apparatus for outboard motors
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorDavid W. Kusche
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorDavid W. Kusche
Estimating the term…
An outboard motor cowl includes separate starboard and port cowl members which are each individually, removably hinged to the rear of the engine by a pair of spaced hinge units which allow separate attachment and removal of the cowl halves. The forward ends of the cowl members are releasably connected to separate and independent mounts. The uppermost aft hinge unit is visible from the front of the motor. Each hinge unit includes a receptacle secured to a mounting plate and a hinge pin secured to the inside of the cowl member in slightly spaced relation to the aft edge. The receptacle is spaced from a back edge sealing bracket and includes a guide member to receive and guide the cowl member. The top hinge pin is longer than the lowermost pin and serves to pilot the lower pin into the proper position. The hinge receptacle and pin support include interfering members which hold the cowl downward in the normal closed position, and require slight pivotal movement of the cowl to release the hold-down members. The front of the cowl members is suspended by a cowl pin which engages an oval shaped ring as the cowl member is pivoted to the closed position. The lower ring is secured to a front bracket plate having resilient clamping pads on the ends which cooperate with similar resilient clamping pads in the adjacent cowl to support the throttle cable to one side and the gas line to the opposite side.
A cowl assembly for enclosing the engine of an outboard motor, comprising a port cowl member, a starboard cowl member, a port hinge assembly, a starboard hinge assembly, each of said hinge assemblies having a first hinge means on the cowl member and a second releasable hinge means adapted to be mounted on said engine with a generally vertical pivot axis, said port and starboard hinge assemblies being constructed and arranged to independently and separately support said port and starboard cowl members on said engine, said first and second hinge means consisting of sole interconnecting means for directly establishing supporting pivot engagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and for directly establishing non-supporting pivot disengagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and permitting removal of one cowl member from the engine without removal of the other cowl member.
A cowl assembly for enclosing the engine of an outboard motor, comprising a port cowl member, a starboard cowl member, a port hinge assembly, starboard hinge assembly, each of said hinge assemblies having a first hinge means on the cowl member and a second releasable hinge means adapted to be mounted on said engine with a generally vertical pivot axis, means connecting said first and second hinge means for directly establishing engagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and for establishing disengagement by vertical movement of said cowl member, said port and starboard hinge assemblies being constructed and arranged to independently and separately support said port and starboard cowl members on said engine, said first and second hinge means being releasably constructed with hinged supporting engagement and with disengagement from said supporting engagement in response to predetermined movement of a cowl member for removal of one cowl member from the engine without removal of the other cowl member including a releasable hold-down latch means including an engine mounted member and a cowl mounted member, said latch means being engaged in response to pivoting of said cowl member about the vertical pivot axis to closed position.
A cowl assembly for enclosing the engine of an outboard motor, comprising a port cowl member, a starboard cowl member, a port hinge assembly, starboard hinge assembly, each of said hinge assemblies having a first hinge means on the cowl member and a second releasable hinge means adapted to be mounted on said engine with a generally vertical pivot axis, means connecting said first and second hinge means for directly establishing engagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and for establishing disengagement by vertical movement of said cowl member, said port and starboard hinge assemblies being constructed and arranged to independently and separately support said port and starboard cowl members on said engine, said first and second hinge means being releasably constructed with hinged supporting engagement and with disengagement from said supporting engagement in response to predetermined movement of a cowl member for removal of one cowl member from the engine without removal of the other cowl member, said first hinge means is separable from said second hinge means in response to upward movement of said corresponding cowl member vertically, a releasably hold-down latch means including an engine mounted member and a cowl mounted member, said latch means being engaged in response to pivoting of said cowl member about said vertical pivot axis to closed position.
A cowl assembly for enclosing the engine of an outboard motor, comprising a port cowl member, a starboard cowl member, a port hinge assembly, starboard hinge assembly, each of said hinge assemblies having a first hinge means on the cowl member and a second releasable hinge means adapted to be mounted on said engine with a generally vertical pivot axis, means connecting said first and second hinge means for directly establishing engagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and for establishing disengagement by vertical movement of said cowl member, said port and starboard hinge assemblies being constructed and arranged to independently and separately support said port and starboard cowl members on said engine, said first and second hinge means being releasably constructed with hinged supporting engagement and with disengagement from said supporting engagement in response to predetermined movement of a cowl member for removal of one cowl member from the engine without removal of the other cowl member, said first hinge means is separable from said second hinge means by upward movement of said corresponding cowl member vertically, each of said hinge assembly includes an upper hinge unit and a lower hinge unit, said upper hinge unit being visible from the front of the outboard motor in the placement of the cowl member to the engine.
In an outboard motor having an upper powered unit including an internal combustion engine secured to an upper end of a dependently supported driveshaft housing, the improvement in a cowl assembly enclosing said engine, comprising a starboard cowl member, a port cowl member, each of said cowl members including a sidewall, a rear wall, a front wall and a top wall to enclose a corresponding portion of the engine, vertically separable hinge means interconnected to said rear wall and to said engine to independently hingedly mount each of said cowl members to the aft end of the engine, said first and second hinge means consisting of sole interconnecting means for directly establishing supporting pivot engagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and for directly establishing non-supporting pivot disengagement by vertical movement of said cowl member and permitting each of said cowl members being separate from the opposite cowl and movable vertically, upwardly from the hinged position, said hinge means being visible from the front of the outboard motor in the placement of the cowl members to the engine, and a releasable front suspension means coupling the front wall of the cowl members to the front end of the engine.
In an outboard motor having a driveshaft housing and an engine secured to the upper end of said housing, a rear mounting cowl frame assembly including a plurality of spaced resilient mounts connected to said engine to vibrationally isolate the frame assembly in mounted relation to the engine, a first plurality of hinge members secured to the port side of said frame assembly, a second similar vertically spaced plurality of hinge members secured to the starboard side of said frame assembly, a port cowl member and a starboard cowl member enclosing the port and starboard sides of said engine and the adjacent driveshaft housing portion and being slightly spaced therefrom, said port cowl member including vertically spaced upper and lower hinge members secured to the rear wall and aligned with the corresponding port hinge members of the frame assembly, said port hinge members on said frame assembly and said cowl member being releasably interconnected by vertical movement of the port cowl member, said starboard cowl member having corresponding hinge members releasably hingedly connected to the hinge members to the starboard side of the frame assembly, a silencer plate secured to the front of said engine, a top suspension bracket resiliently secured to the upper end of the silencer wall by a plurality of spaced resilient mounts, said bracket terminating in at the opposite end in aligned laterally spaced oval ring openings laterally of the port and starboard cowls, said port and starboard cowls having suspension pin members aligned with said oval-shaped second ring members and supporting said cowl members, said oval rings having a major horizontal axis and a minor axis corresponding to the suspension pin members, said starboard and port cowl members being pivoted outwardly with the suspension pins moving in the oval ring members to disengage therefrom and release the front end of the cowl members, a lower front plate secured to the lower end of the silencer wall by a plurality of spaced resilient mounts, the lower front walls of said port and starboard cowl members having edge openings mating with said walls, clamping pads located between the lateral outer edges of the wall and the adjacent portion of the cowl member, connecting elements located between said pads and physically clamped in position in response to the interconnection of the forward end of the cowl members, said forward ends of said starboard and port cowl members being spaced laterally of each other, a separate front cover releasably interconnected in overlying relationship to the front walls, said top wall including a tongue and groove connection to provide a continuous sealed top wall, said cowl members including a partial bottom wall located generally forwardly of the driveshaft housing skirt portion and including tonge and groove edge connection to seal the cowl forwardly of the driveshaft housing, said skirt portion depending downwardly and having a seal recess, a lip covered with a resilient material formed on the driveshaft housing an projecting into said seal recess to seal the lower end of the cowl about the driveshaft housing, said cowl being thereby vibrationally isolated from the engine and driveshaft housing while maintaining an essentially complete noise dampending enclosure of the engine.
An outboard motor cowl assembly comprising a cowl member having a sidewall with inwardly extended front and rear walls, a pair of vertically spaced rear hinge means fixedly secured to said back wall and each including an upper support extending parallel to the back wall and a vertically depending fixed pin secured to the support and extending downwardly therefrom, and a pair of vertically spaced front pin means fixedly secured to the front wall and each including a horizontally inwardly extending fixed pin located rearwardly of the front wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.