Controllable pitch propeller and watercraft drive
OwnerPeter Mullerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A controllable pitch propeller assembly has an inner housing attached to a main drive shaft, the housing having rails on the outer surface thereof. Modules carrying the propeller blades are positively mounted on the rails, each module having a housing receiving a hub cylinder and bushings axially aligned at opposite sides thereof. Each pair of bushings receives an adjusting piston having an adjusting pin which engages a groove forming a control path in a propeller hub. Each blade is adjusted by a control lever which adjusts each adjusting piston through a mechanical linkage including an adjusting sleeve and a thurst bearing and flange.
Claims9
A controllable pitch propeller assembly for driving a watercraft comprising
- a main drive shaft;
- housing means attached to said shaft for rotation therewith, said housing means including an inner and a plurality of separated outer housing portions attached to said inner housing portion;
- a plurality of propeller blades;
- a plurality of rotatable propeller hub means for rotatably supporting said blades for rotation about their own axes, each said propeller blade being associated with one of said hub means in a propeller-hub means assembly;
- a plurality of adjusting mechanisms, one on each of said outer housing portions, each said mechanism being operatively associated with one of said propeller and hub means assemblies, each said adjusting mechanism including
- a hub cylinder rotatably supporting one of said hub means,
- an adjustment piston,
- first and second cylinder bushings integrally attached to said hub cylinder and extending from opposite sides thereof, said bushings forming a cylinder for said piston, said piston being longitudinally movable in the cylinder formed by both of said bushings, and
- means coupling said piston to said hub means so that longitudinal movement of said piston rotates said hub means;
- an adjustment lever;
- and
- linkage means for connecting said lever to all of said piston so that movement of said lever concurrently moves said pistons and rotates said hub means and said propellers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.