Trim control
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorsThomas D. Wenstadt, Cary J. Chmielewski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sensor (43) responds to the operation of a marine transportation system to sense on-plane and off-plane conditions of a boat (21) to operate a trim control (44) to automatically position a trimmable drive (25) for a desired boating operation. The preferred embodiment senses engine speed while an alternative embodiment senses fluid pressure opposing boat movement. The drive (25) is moved to an auto-out position (34) at high speeds and to a trimmed-in position (33) at lower speeds.
Claims28
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising sensing means operating independently of the attitude of said boat to monitor the operation of said marine transportation system to provide an output distinguishing a boat operation in an off-plane condition and a boat operation in an on-plane condition, and drive trimming means operable by said sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said sensing means output.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means monitoring the operation of said marine transportation system to provide a speed indicative output which is a function of sensed operating speed, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means including a monitor providing a speed signal indicative of the speed of at least some operating portion of said marine system, a speed responsive switch providing a speed indicative output and operable from a first output to a second output in response to said speed signal having a first magnitude and operable from said second output to said first output in response to said speed signal having a second magnitude different than said first magnitude, and drive trimming means operable in response to said second output to operate said drive at a first trim position and operable in response to said first output to operate said drive at a second trim position different than said first trim position.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means including a monitor providing a series of electrical pulses varying in accordance to the speed of at least some operating portion of said marine system, a pulse forming circuit operating in response to said speed varying pulses and providing a series of corresponding pulses each of constant magnitude and pulse-width, an integrator operating in response to said series of constant pulse-width pulses and providing a varying D.C. speed responsive signal inversely proportional to the frequency of said constant pulse-width pulses, a speed responsive switch continuously comparing said speed responsive signal with a reference signal and providing a speed indicative output, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means monitoring the operation of said marine transportation system to provide a speed indicative output, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output and including a control to operatively transfer said drive from an in trim position to an out trim position in response to a predetermined speed indicative output signifying a high speed operation and having delay means operating to initiate transfer of said drive from said in trim position to said out trim position at a predetermined time following the initiation of said high speed operation.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means monitoring the operation of said marine transportation system to provide a speed indicative output, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output and including a control to operatively transfer said drive from an in trim position to an out trim position in response to a predetermined speed indicative output signifying a high speed operation and having disable means to prevent the transfer to said in trim position in response to said predetermined speed indicative output signifying a high speed operation.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means monitoring the operation of said marine transportation system to provide a speed indicative output, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output and including a control to operatively transfer said drive from an out trim position to an in trim position in response to a predetermined speed indicative output signifying a low speed operation and having timing means operating to terminate the movement of said drive to said in trim position in response to the expiration of a predetermined time.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising speed sensing means monitoring the operation of said marine transportation system to provide a speed indicative output, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to said speed indicative output and including a control to operatively transfer said drive from an out trim position to an in trim position in response to a predetermined speed indicative output signifying a low speed operation and having disable means to prevent the transfer to said out trim position in response to said predetermined speed indicative output signifying a low speed operation.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit within a marine transportation system including a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising engine speed sensing means to detect engine speed, trim sensing means to detect the position of said drive, and drive trimming means operable by said speed sensing means and said trim sensing means to position said drive at a desired trim position in response to the sensed engine speed and trim position.
A trim control to trim a marine propulsion unit of a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive comprising engine speed sensing means to detect engine speed, and drive trimming means operable by said engine speed sensing means to move said drive to an out trim position in response to a sensed high engine speed and to move said drive to an in trim position in response to a sensed low engine speed.
An apparatus to trim a marine propulsion unit of a boat having an engine and a trimmable drive, comprising a hydraulic apparatus including a reversible electro-hydraulic pump connected to move the trimmable drive, an in trim electric relay connected to operate the hydraulic apparatus to move the trimmable drive to an in trim position, an out trim electric relay connected to operate the hydraulic apparatus to move the trimmable drive to an out trim position, a monitoring circuit connected to said engine to provide a series of pulses which vary in number per unit time in response to engine speed, a mono-stable multi-vibrator responsive to said series of pulses to produce a series of corresponding pulses each of constant magnitude and pulse width, an integrator responsive to said series of constant pulse-width pulses and providing a varying D.C. speed responsive output inversely proportional to the frequency of said constant pulse-width pulses and indicative of engine speed, a speed responsive switch to compare the varying D.C. speed responsive output with a first magnitude speed reference signal to transfer from a first output to a second output when the D.C. speed responsive output equals the first magnitude speed reference signal at a first magnitude engine speed and to compare the varying D.C. speed responsive output with a second magnitude speed reference signal to transfer from said second output to said first output when the D.C. speed responsive output equals the second magnitude speed reference signal at a second magnitude engine speed different than said first magnitude speed, and means responding to said first and second outputs to activate said out trim relay in response to said second output to provide a trimming-out sequence and to activate said in trim relay in response to said first output to provide a trimming-in sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.